Busiest. Summer. Ever.

It won't be easy to condense our June activities into one blog post. This will probably have to be Part 1.

My general rule is that the kids can each only participate in one sport and one music at a time. Yes, this is a sanity preserving tactic. No, it isn't working very well at the moment. Adam's baseball season was due to end the first week of June. Mother nature poured rain on us in May though, postponing four games later into June. Then, when the regular season was finally all over, we learned that his team did well enough (5th place in their league) to advance to the state tournament--starting the 12th of July. Thank goodness his coach gave the team two weeks off before they start practicing again next week for the tournament. I love baseball and I enjoy watching Adam play baseball. I never thought I would say I've had enough of baseball. But I have, at least for this year.
That is because swim team started the first week of June. Adam went to his first scout camp that week, skipping baseball and swim team for a few days. I have no pictures of scout camp, but from all reports he had a great time, behaved himself, worked hard, and earned at least four merit badges, including leatherworking, Indian lore, woodcarving, and geocaching. There may have been a fifth as well, but I can't remember it right now.

As much as I love baseball, I'm really hoping to encourage Adam more in swimming. I think he's really got some potential in the pool. In his first meet last Saturday he swam the 50 yd. freestyle, 50 yd. backstroke, 50 yd. breaststroke, 11-12 boys medley relay, and 11-12 boys freestyle relay. He's still getting back in shape, but did pretty well.

I think this would be an awesome photo if it weren't for the yellow line running through the middle of it. It must have been a rope across the pool.

"Swimmers, take your marks."

"Go!"
Jeff was supposed to be a stroke judge, but ended up being the starter for the day. He enjoyed it, but wished he'd brought ear plugs to protect his ears from the whistle and the air horn. (It's interesting the things you can see in a photo that you didn't notice when you were taking it. For instance, the lady to the right of Jeff is my friend, Jenny, and her baby girl. And the boy to the left of Jeff has "Eat my bubbles!" written on his back in marker.)
Adam got a fever and a headache for a couple days after he came home from scout camp. It went away, then came back again three days later. Just when I was ready to take him to the doctor, it went away again. But he's been extra tired--taking naps, cranky, not wanting to even play, let alone do chores. Not completely his normal self. Jeff thought he was just dehydrated. I thought he was just not getting enough sleep. He had commitments though, so I kept sending him to baseball and swim team practice, except when he had a fever. But then this last weekend when he started complaining about a sore throat, I decided to take him in to the doctor after all, even though he didn't have a fever this time. I was imagining all kinds of things that could be wrong with him. His cousin came home from scout camp with swine flu last year. And his other cousin has mono this summer. After comparing scout camp notes, and even showing us his own woodworking merit badge video on his iPhone, Dr./Scoutmaster Liddle diagnosed your basic, garden variety strep throat. Amazing how fast a little amoxicillin can turn things around! I am grateful for nice doctors and antibiotics.

Last week of school

It doesn't usually make a whole lot of sense to me to have the kids go back to school after Memorial Day. However, this year it worked to our advantage. Jeff came home from his trip to Germany the day after Memorial Day, and then he had three days to try to get over jet lag before the boys got out. They actually worked and learned right up until last Friday, then had field day and assemblies and parties and cleaned out desks--all the normal end of school year stuff--this week. Today was their last day and they were released at 10 a.m.

It was nice that Jeff and I were both able to attend the academic awards assembly on Tuesday. Ryan received the Academic Excellence Award for being the boy with the best grades in his class. Jared received a certificate of achievement for exceptional accomplishment in completing the 1st grade. Adam received a Silver Award from the President's Educational Awards Program--equivalent to being on the Honor Roll, or having an A- average. The certificate and accompanying letter are signed by President Obama.


Not to be left out, Dallin got in on the next photo.


They are good kids, and I love them. They do drive me crazy at times--particularly when their daddy is 5000 miles away and can't help--but they are good kids. I am proud of them, not just for doing well in school, but for learning and growing and especially for trying hard to be nice and do what is right.

As usual, my emotions about summer vacation are mixed. I am glad to have a change in the routine. It will be so nice to let Jared sleep as long as he needs/wants to, for instance, instead of getting him up grumpy most mornings. It will also be nice to not have to track, help with, or nag about homework for a few months. On the other hand, I'm not yet mentally prepared for the lack of routine, or for keeping the kids entertained and busy all summer. I realize it is summer vacation and that, theoretically, they should be able to keep themselves entertained--and be happy for the chance! But I am a realist. I know it just won't happen, unless I leave them to their own devices--and those devices would be the TV, the Wii, and the computer, way too many hours of the day. So I'm trying to figure out some reasonable limits, as well as a plan for chores.

We did get an every day pool pass this summer, so that should help some with the entertaining. Adam will be doing swim team again, as well as finishing up baseball season. Jared is just starting his six-week-long coach pitch baseball season. Ryan will probably be reading all summer, at least until soccer season starts. All the boys are enrolled in the summer reading program at the library. I hope I can keep them in books they want to read. (Suggestions are welcome, especially fantasy for preteen boys.) Jeff will have a few weeks off, then start teaching the second summer session. We hope to squeeze in a camping trip or two. I'll be competing in weightlifting at the Utah Summer Games, and trying to keep up with everything else. Phew! Come August, I'm sure I'll be ready for the routine of school again. :-)

P.S. Thank you to those who donated to the boys' Walk-a-thon fundraiser for their elementary school. Adam got $103 in pledges, which was the most in his 6th grade class, earning him an Ipod Shuffle. He is thrilled!