Longer Days, Short Nights

When the clock sprung forward last month, it was a welcome change to the short days we had been having for 6 months. But soon, this too became somewhat of an adjustment. You see, the closer you live to the Arctic, the shorter or longer your days become depending on the season. Unfortunately, with the longer days, comes a really early sunrise (5:19 AM today) that continues to come earlier until summer solstice on 6/21. Why they decided to lengthen the day by adding time to the morning baffles me, but the point is that by summer solstice the sun will be rising at 4:13 AM and will then begin its decline until DST begins again. Sunset will be around 9:03 PM.

We have blackout curtains in our rooms. My problem is of a greater nature. We have always taught Thing 1 that he is not supposed to get up before he sees light in his window. Lately, he has been rising earlier and earlier. Not a good prognosis for summer vacation!

Speaking of which, if you are planning European travel, Scandinavian countries and cities along northern Europe are great to take in during the summer. Certainly, it may be crowded, but the weather is usually gorgeous with temperatures rarely getting into the 80's (average is 75) and if you travel in June, you will experience the longest days ever thereby maximing your vacation dollars or euros (especially in Oslo or Helsinki where the sun rises around 3:45AM and will not set until nearly 11PM).