Summer time fun time!

 I love summer. When my kids were younger I enjoyed the freedom from a school schedule and being in charge again. I feel that I've lost that as my kids all go in different directions and I don't get to plan fun outings anymore but it is still wonderful to relax and sleep and play. 

The last week of June Brandon did the county's summer arts camp Monday through Thursday. I was excited for him; his major was band and his minors were percussion ensemble and musical theater. He enjoyed being in the play so much this past year I thought he would like theater but he was the only boy in a large group of middle school girls so that was a bit awkward for him. He liked percussion ensemble and band a lot though and was happy to find some of his neighborhood friends were also at camp. Bummer then when the AC broke so they couldn't have camp Wednesday or Thursday because it was also like 100 degrees that week. But they were able to do camp on Friday and we got refunded for the one day so I suppose it all worked out. There wasn't a performance for us to go see but they made videos Friday and posted those so good enough. 

The other three kids all left on Wednesday for camp. Lily and Emma went off with Sarah and Jess to girls camp in western MD and Curtis to young men's camp in very western VA. Everyone had a great experience. Emma was very nervous as it was her first time going to camp and actually ever camping so it was a lot at once but she had a great time and learned to weather the thunderstorms that happened. Curtis loves camping and they did a long hike and canoed and he loved it all. He would have been a great scout had he been born to parents who cared about scouting. They came home very tired Saturday afternoon and Emma actually slept all day on Sunday; we barely saw her eyes open for more than a few moments all day. 

While they were gone I had planned for two days of kid-free time but since Brandon ended up being home we tried to make the most of it. We went to the pool most of the day Thursday with Michelle and we also played games and had reading time and made fun dinners. Friday he got to go to camp and I had a very lazy day and then that night we went to a Blue Crabs game and it was so fun. We invited the Tripps to join us and we took Ethan and Leisa and Joel and Petra came too. We got free tickets through Little League so we got ice cream and enjoyed a fun game. The Blue Crabs were down 2-7 in the bottom of the ninth inning and came back to win 8-7. It was a very exciting ending and Brandon had so much fun with Ethan and Eli. I have found lately that it is very hard to make all of my kids happy with one activity so it was pretty nice having just one kid for a few days; made it much easier to choose what to do. Saturday we went for a bike ride and had waffles and took it easy until the big kids all got home. 

Last week and this week actually Lily has been teaching or assisting at the dance studio every morning for all the little kid dance camps. Last week the theme was butterflies and this week it is enchanted forest. She has been with the 5-6 year olds and she just loves it. She choreographed their dance this week and they do crafts and she is making good money so it has been a win-win-win! Then she and Emma have been dancing from 3:30-6 every day and that's been good to help keep Emma busy and it has been fun for them to do it together. Tuesday night the four of us went to see F1 and it was so fun and good. Unfortunately there was a crazy storm including a tornado warning while we were in the movie so Emma and Brandon were a bit freaked out at home alone but everyone survived. The week before Josh, Curtis and I went to see Mission Impossible. It is so fun to have movies to go see again; we haven't seen one since Christmas. 

July 4th is one of my favorite days of the year and it is such a great holiday. It is the only summer one, there are fireworks, no traditional or special food I have to make, no presents or any kind so all I have to do is show up and have fun! I love it so much. I really wanted to go to DC this year but my family was not feeling it and I was a bit annoyed but the majority said let's go to the breakfast and then to Solomon's for fireworks. So that's what we did. We went to the breakfast, which was fine (although I really dislike getting up early on a holiday) and then we tried to go to the beach at the rec center but there were tons of jellyfish and the lifeguard wouldn't let us put our kayak in so we left and went to our pool where the Rays met us. It was pretty busy when we first got there but lightened up and we had fun swimming for a few hours and chatting. Then home for showers and we went and got Potbelly sandwiches and got to our spot on Solomon's for a  picnic and then the Rays made it so we played games and talked until it was time for fireworks. The show was pretty good and then for the first time we hung out and talked for a bit before trying to get home. The traffic wasn't bad but it is annoying that they make us go so far out of our way to get over the bridge. It was a  lovely day and I enjoyed getting to hang with Michelle so much since in general the kids and I haven't had a lot of friend time this summer. 

 

Saturday we were so lazy and it felt great. We slept until 10:30 and had a big pancake breakfast and watched the Rock the Block finale and Lily went babysitting and I read my book and we had dinner and then watched Maverick, a 90s movie that I absolutely loved in high school. It is so hilarious and the DVD was $5 so I bought it recently and it is rated PG so I thought it would be a fun family movie. Turns out there is quite a bit of language in it and kind of a sex scene (they don't show anything but you know what is happening) that Brandon said was weird so I felt badly and the kids were giving me a hard time about my movie choice, even though they were all laughing too. 

Emma really wants to be in the gifted and talented ELA class next year so I had to take her Monday morning to the central office for some testing. Hopefully we'll hear back today or tomorrow to find out if she qualifies. Other than that this week has been more of the same; girls have been dancing, Curtis went to baseball yesterday and has been running because cross country keeps getting cancelled, Brandon and I have spent a lot of time at the pool, especially Tuesday and yesterday because a lot of families from our ward are doing swim lessons and then they just stay, Joel is here to play for a couple of days while Leisa is off at camp with her girls and Sam has to work, I have taught a few piano lessons, my kids are working on their summer reading lists, we have played games and eaten a lot of ice cream. Yeah for summer!