So long summer, hello new school year!

Summer has just flown right by. Things didn't go exactly as planned, but in the end it all worked out well.

Our plan going into summer was to hire a babysitter even for weeks when it would be just Reed at home, while Amy was at day camp. So that's what we did, and picked a young lady named Megan who'd just graduated from Freedom High School. Then about 2 hours after she finished her very first day watching the kids, she texted us to say she'd been offered a dream internship which she wanted to take, but if we needed her to stay with us she would. Well of course we couldn't do that to her, so...back to square one.

After looking at our schedule more closely, we realized that between camps, my teleworking two days a week, and Tod being able to take an online training from home one week, plus a week of vacation and a week of me being on vacation at home with the kids, there were only 13 days where both kids would be at home. We were okay with Reed being home all day by himself, but didn't think it was a good idea for the two kids to be at home all day together. So we asked a family friend's daughter, Jacqueline, who also just graduated from Freedom, if she could babysit on those 13 days, and the stars aligned and she was available all but one day (Auntie Wanda and Cousin Katie helped that day).

And so went our summer - Amy did two weeks of Girl Scout camps and two weeks of STEM camps, and Reed did one week of 3-D game camp - and that was it!

We're not naive enough to think Reed truly adhered to our screen time limits during all the days he was home alone, but I think he didn't spent ALL day on the computer, either. Somewhere in between what he was supposed to do and outright disobedience all day. LOL. Reed's most frequent wish is to not leave the house, so he was able to accomplish that for the most part, although he would still say we made him do too much stuff. The pool was a constant source of irritation because Reed is now old enough to go to the pool alone, all he had to do was take a swim test (something like swimming one lap and treading water). But no matter how we tried to encourage, cajole, and even bribe him (that was all Dad, BTW), he was NOT interested. It's a little mind-boggling to think he wouldn't embrace the ability to go to a real "somewhere" and be independent, but he stuck with it. We're hoping next year he'll do it???

Amy enjoyed all of the camps she went to, particularly "Harry Potter" Girl Scout camp where she tried zip lining for the first time. We are hoping that next year she'll want to do a sleepaway camp (with Reed I think we may have to force him to do a sleepaway camp, he is just not interested). Amy had lots of time to meet up with her pal Morgan to hang out and go to the pool, and lots of down time as well.

Our summer vacation was to a new spot - Myrtle Beach. We stayed at a nice resort that had a poolside restaurant (okay so the bar was more what I cared about). I was very pleased that we didn't get a lot of whining about our activities - in fact, I don't remember any whining at all. As I said before, Reed is much more happy to stay in and play video games, but he went along easily with all of our outings. Besides the pool and the ocean, we went to a couple of different boardwalk-type shopping areas, a minor league baseball game, a (disastrous) Jeep tour [it poured for the 45 minute ride as we returned after our tour, as we were in the back of an open Jeep], a pirate-themed show, and a visit to a sculpture garden. Oh and one rainy afternoon found us at the movie theater. It was a busy week, but I think all of us had a great time.

Then we had a week at home to recover from vacation and prepare for school. Amy and I were able to volunteer at the school again, sorting the school supply kits and helping put together the first day packets. We did the 7th grade walk-through and the 5th grade open house. We also joined the family at a Nationals game, and joined Katie and the twins for a visit to the National Building Museum.

And then it was time for our traditional "breakfast for dinner, name/grade pancakes" the night before school started. I am so happy that we started this tradition back when Reed was in first grade. All of us were looking forward to it this year - and not just because having pancakes for dinner is awesome. I hope these kinds of traditions really cement our family connection over time and give the kids something terrific to look back on, and maybe even recreate with their own kids one day.

Reed's first day was "fine" by his report. Amy's was a little tougher - she is a bit anxious about some of the boys in her class, and not having some of her favorite girl friends in her class. But overall it was a success and they are now ready for the school year!

Vacation reading

When the kids were littler and we were heading off for vacation, I would buy each of them a few new books for the trip. I could easily pick things that they'd like, and they were so happy to get a bunch of new books. Reed especially would always dive right in. I always felt good about indulging them this way - you can never have too many books, right? And keeping kids busy on a trip is very necessary!

But things are different now. I can't pick books for Reed at all anymore. I think the main reason for that is he's too old for books targeted to his age, but also doesn't feel ready for adult books. He's searched the "YA" section at the library and feels like all he sees there is romance books (side note: seriously, is that all people think girls want to read about??). According to Reed, he read most every book in his Language Arts teacher's classroom last school year - which meant he was re-reading a lot of books he'd already read. He also got some school library books throughout the year, but things definitely aren't like they used to be for him, when reading was akin to breathing.

I am so-so with picking books for Amy now - probably as many hits as misses. At least I still get it right occasionally!

We head off for Myrtle Beach tomorrow morning, and in preparation for the trip I let Amy pick out a few books. I twisted Reed's arm and ordered two history books that I thought he'd like, which he gave a shoulder-shrug approval to.