August happenings

I am finally finished my coursework for this semester - my 11th of the total 13 semesters I will take to earn my degree. I began waaay back in the fall of 2006, and I have now completed 4 years of part time schooling. Two more semesters to go, thank goodness!
I still haven't heard anything from SelfDesign, but I am looking forward to the fall, especially since all those back to school commercials don't apply to our family. Gosh, they're offensive - "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" playing in the background as dad drags a couch through Staples. Why does our culture think it's so important for parents and teens to be on opposite sides of some argument or fight?
This makes me think of a book I read recently, "Hold onto your Kids" by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Mate. [One of Mate's sons is a friend of mine, so I have quite the collection of his books, all free copies :)] In this book, they focus on the attachment relationship between parents and teens, but argue that it applies to all inter-generational family relationships. They talk about adults and seniors being segregated by age group as well, and argue for the resurgence of attachment communities (or villages? forget which term they chose). I agree :)
August is shaping up to be a busy month of birthday parties and bbq's. We had planned for hubby to take a week off work so we could do some family camping or something, but we may just need to use the time for all these parties! Living in the lower mainland, our community is so spread out - I'm in Surrey, my Dad and little sibs are in Mission, my hubby's sibs are all over, from Chilliwack to Surrey to Coquitlam, his friends are in Burnaby, and mine are in Surrey, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and Port Coquitlam. They're all very close, the furthest being an hour's drive, tops, but there's just so much traffic to contend with!
Maybe we should plan a "not back to school" camping trip for the family? Except I'm going back to school :( so we'll have to plan it around my classes (not too hard, they're Tuesday evening, and Wednesday afternoon and evening, fairly compact schedule).
Let the "relaxing" begin!