If it's Monday, I'm wearing purple.

As we pass the halfway mark for summer I've been trying to work in all the special goodies I bought for our Monkey Summer. We're wearing our monkey shirts. Each child has a special color, and I bought matching shirts so that I can identify with each one in turn. They may not be the most fashionable attire, but they let my kids know I care.
The other new item I've added is the Best of the Monkee's CD to be our summer soundtrack. I couldn't resist the idea of popping open Madame Blueberry's doors and having all the kids deploy in full monkey regalia with "Hey, hey, we're the Monkees..." playing in the background. So far I've been unable to realize that dream, but I'm sure I'll get it all together one of these days. The thing I wasn't expecting was how much we'd all enjoy the other tracks on the disk. There are all the Monkee classics, but also almost forgotten songs like "Auntie Griselda" and "Goin Down." It's nice when a car full of people can agree on music.
The other fun gem we haven't gotten the max out of yet is the book Monkey. It's a Chinese classic that we've only made it through the first chapter of. Summer is a hard time to get the kids interested in sitting quietly to listen to a story. Our oldest has read it by herself 2 or 3 times, and she really enjoyed it. I'm hoping we can be more diligent and expand our understanding of another culture. Maybe I'll bribe them with ice cream.