We’re officially in the single-digit countdown to the last day of school. <Insert complete denial here.> Fortunately, my kids will all be headed to day camp in a few weeks, which is a blessing for all of us. But we are still left with several weeks at the beginning and end of the summer with endless days to fill. To help me keep my sanity, and maybe save yours as well, I’ve put together this list of 10 things to fully stock up on. Let’s hope it helps ...

Call me an overgrown kid, but it doesn't seem to matter how old I get. When the temperature starts to rise, I love nothing more than going out in the backyard to play a summer game with a kid where we both end up soaking wet. The wetter, the better, actually.

With schools letting out around the country, and the mercury on the rise, it's time to dive in ... and get wet!

It's the stuff movies are made of. Everyone piled into the family station wagon with the optimistic notion of seeing new sights and spending time together without the daily distractions and preferred electronic devices to turn to. However, if your family is anything like mine, after about an hour, the snacks are gone -- isn't it amazing how hungry you get when you start a drive? -- and the "When are we going to be there?" begins.

Since you know this scenario is inevitable, don't fight it. Simply prepare for the vortex of boredom the same way you would pack your guide books, water, and extra clothes. If you have a range of games at your disposal -- some short term, some that can last for days -- you will all make it out of the car in one piece.

Here are a few options to keep everyone engaged and amused until you get to your next destination.

As summer nears, and children celebrate the final days of the school year, moms everywhere are filled with idyllic visions of the long days that lie ahead of us. We promise ourselves that this summer will be different, better, calmer, more memorable ... just like we do every year.

Only those promises ... well they're just not always kept. Oh, our intentions are well and good, but somehow summer has a way of sidetracking us. Here are seven vows moms make each summer ... and what really happens. At least there's always next year.

What vows have you made this summer?

Image via renee mcgurk/Flickr 

As the school year winds down, I am finding that it's not just the kids who are insanely excited for the final day of school -- and for the many long hot days of summer that will soon follow. But the kids do take year-end very seriously. It seems like all kids keep a countdown, and in our house, my kids not only keep a verbal countdown that is discussed every hour on the hour, at the table during every meal, on the way TO and FROM the bus stop each day, but they also keep a written version of the countdown on a paper calendar. I can only assume that is meant as a “double check” to break up any sort of sibling end-of-school-year-countdown discrepancies. Oh, and they also mention it as their final thought each night as I tuck them into bed -- because I may have forgotten how few days of school are now left, don't you know.

They’re coming. Every other day, it seems, there’s a news box on Google about the impending descent of the II Brood of cicadas, those huge bugs with the bulging red eyes that emerge every 13 or 17 years, depending on where you live, to mate like maniacs, replenish their high-pitch shrieking population, and wreak all kinds of terror on humankind. Specifically me. No, it hasn’t been 17 years yet since we endured their horrifyingly disgusting presence. When we survived the last go-round in 2004, no one was splitting hairs about the possibility of different iterations of those big ol’ nasty things. But we probably should have, because that was Brood X, not expected to intrude again until 2021. Meanwhile, Brood II has been percolating underfoot and once the ground warms to a consistent 64 degrees, they’ll creep up and out and all over the place, and rob entomophobiacs of 3-4 weeks of their summer.

It seems like now is the time when everyone is planning their big family road trip for 2013, my little family included. My husband and I have been debating whether we'll make a big drive with our daughter, not to mention where and when, and I have to admit I've been feeling nostalgic for the trips of my childhood. Nothing we've talked about even faintly resembles the way we road tripped when we were kids. And I know from road tripping!

Back in the early '90s, we'd take the family minivan (not-so-affectionately called the Dustbuster because of its portable-vacuum shape) to Cape Cod every summer. I'd keep the travel log, while my little brother kept me thisclose to tearing my hair out.

Giving you misty water-colored memories, isn't it? Let's take a road trip down memory lane, shall we?

by Adriana Botello

As a mother, the seasonal switch from summer to fall is always bittersweet. Capturing those fleeting moments through my lens is like magic for me. Today, photographer and mom Adriana Botello shares her own magical and intimate view into the final days of her own family's summer. Adriana’s photos are wistful and dreamy and express a nostalgic flare that works perfectly for this time of year. I am so pleased to feature her photo story at Life, Exposed and when you're done here, be sure to take a peek at Adriana's I Am Here photo project too. Very sweet!