Summer... A Time For Relaxation?

I love summer. The long, lazy days of summer where we can put together playdates and hang out at the pool and just do whatever we want. The unofficial start of summer arrived this week with Memorial Day, and next week is the end of the school year for the wee ones.

Orrrrr not. The wee ones have so much they want to do, and I want to be sure we have time for those spontaneous trips out to Galena to go blueberry picking (fun!) or to hang out at the pool with our friends or whatever we decide we want to do. It ends up being a balancing act, and I don't think the wee ones get it.

I finally decided to show the wee ones visually what they were committing to, so I wrote out a calendar on our whiteboard in the homework room. When I was done, it even blew me away.

There are some things that aren't negotiable. The wee ones are signed up for summer school and really want to do it - and I want them to do it. Mister Man has to do his OT once a week. Little Miss "has" to do Safety Town and Twilight Camp. Mister Man is committed to Tae Kwon Do (and just got his last stripe for his green belt so now we're awaiting testing for him to promote to his red belt, whoo hoo!). Little Miss loves gymnastics. And both really, really want to take swim lessons to get better.

Uh-huh.

When they saw this, they both freaked out. Theater camp was immediately canceled, freeing up three hours five days a week for three weeks - plus the performance. Mister Man I think may give up his chess camp, although that's still up in the air. And they stopped asking to add more activities, fortunately.

Since I did that, Little Miss got asked to join the "preteam" for gymnastics, which is a twice a week for an hour an a half at a time commitment - that she wants to do. And we're still trying to juggle to find a time with the OT that works for both her and us, as her original option was immediately preceding TKD, and I don't see that going well.

I know this is my fault, but holy cow, how does this happen? I still haven't signed up for swim lessons for them and those may be full now. And Little Miss's school strongly requests that they complete a math workbook and read a book every day of summer vacation.

We're continuing to pare away at the activities, but ... I suppose so long as everyone is happy, it's all good, right? It just amazes me how quickly everything adds up! I need some more days like August 5, 12, and 17 where we have nothing scheduled. After all, I still don't have anything about blueberry picking on there!

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