mamajoan

So once again I have woefully failed to keep up on this journal. Alas. But, I return (however briefly?) to LJ with a big update, because we had a pretty big summer!

(Okay, the summer isn't technically over yet, but it sure kinda feels like it because this is the last full week. School starts up again next Wednesday.)

We had a shortened summer this year, because of the ridiculous winter weather that plagued our area this past Jan thru March. We had so many snow days to make up for that the school year had to be extended all the way to the very end of June. (One school in our town actually had to have a couple of school days on Saturdays, because they had a partial roof collapse due to snow buildup and lost extra days.) So, the last day of June was the last day of school. And because Labor Day is extra late on the calendar this year, the school committee decided to start school before Labor Day (for the first time in as long as I've been paying attention to the Somerville school calendar) which makes it feel like an earlier-than-usual start. So, there were only eight full weeks of summer vacation (plus one half-week at the beginning and one half-week at the end, i.e. next week) which really feels awfully short.

Isaac went away to sleepaway camp in Maine for two of those weeks, which was a pretty big deal -- his first time away for that long. Ruthie spent one of those weeks sleeping at sandykidd's house and going to horseback riding camp with cousin Baz, so I had almost a whole week to myself (a workweek, alas, but I still enjoyed the quiet mornings and evenings). Isaac had a great time at camp. Several of his good friends were there, which definitely helped with the comfort factor, and he didn't hesitate at all in saying he wants to go again next year. Score! And Ruthie really enjoyed horse camp, but fortunately, did not come back home begging me to sign her up for regular horseback riding lessons...phew ;)

Anyway, after Isaac came back, both kids had a week of nothing scheduled (we cobbled together a combination of things for them to do while I was at work for that week) and then a week of day camp, and then we all set off on the biggest adventure yet -- a three-week family road trip! It was pretty insane. I shall have to do a separate post about it, so stay tuned. :)

(Cross-posted from Facebook, with some modifications.)

Day Three of the kids attending two different day-camps (after starting their summer with a week and a half of almost complete freedom). This is the first year I've been willing to try this kids-at-different-places thing, and it's mostly only because Isaac is old enough now to get himself places. Although he can't yet get himself to camp, he can at least leave the camp location and go hang out somewhere nearby, if I'm not able to get there in time.

Also, this week he has baseball practice most evenings (did I mention that he was selected for the summer all-star team?), and fortuitously the camp is right across the street from the baseball field, so that should work out nicely. On Monday he left camp by himself, went to the nearby pizza parlor and got a slice, then took himself to the practice. But then a sudden thunderstorm blew in after only about 20 minutes of practice, and the coaches decided to call it off rather than risk being out there on the field with metal baseball bats in the midst of lightning. Good call, coaches. Fortunately Ruthie and I were nearby and could come right over and retrieve Isaac. It didn't actually start raining until maybe 10-15 minutes after we got home, but then it was torrential downpours and major thunder/lightning sporadically for the rest of the night. (On Tuesday, yesterday, we tried all that again and it went well -- no thunderstorm, so the practice proceeded -- the only problem being that the pizza place was out of slices so Isaac was ravenous when Ruthie and I picked him up.)

But I digress. The point being, the different-camps thing. We're doing that for the next four weeks, with Ruthie going to one camp for two weeks and then another for the next two weeks, and Isaac staying at the same place the whole time. I'm hoping to work out the dropoff and pickup process to be a bit smoother than they were yesterday and this morning, but we'll see.

And Isaac has baseball practices or games every Tues/Thurs for the next several weeks, plus both he and Ruthie are doing various classes with the Open Air Circus two evenings per week, so it isn't like we're going to be any less busy now that school's out! Hoo boy. Wish us luck.