Summer Camps

We have not loaded down our summer with a lot of activities - mostly on purpose. We skipped swim lessons this year - finally, I can say, she doesn't really need lessons anymore unless she just wants to perfect her skills.
I did let her pick some activities - major ones - and we've scattered those throughout our calendar. We've been to Splash Country, and we've painted pottery. We've gone to the library. We went to Jonesborough for lunch one day to hear a storyteller, but the show was sold out so we strolled and bought expensive chocolate instead. In a few weeks, we're going to Forbidden Caverns. We still need to go to Dollywood.
Last week, she had a half day summer camp at her school. The teacher she will have in 4th grade was doing an Ooey Gooey Science summer camp. They made some pretty neat stuff everyday - volcanoes, slime, quicksand, gopher guts, lava lamps, etc. I think they also blew up some stuff with alka seltzer or maybe it was mentos in coke???
This week, she is in an all-day camp associated with the Methodist church. It's out in the boonies, but she is really enjoying it! Maybe next year she might like to try sleep away camp. If we let her.
I'd also like to do an all-day letterboxing adventure with her. We've got to get that on the calendar. After summer camp this week, there are no more summer camps scheduled. We'll spend the rest of the summer drinking Kool-Aid, eating Popsicles, and hanging out. Our weather has been very agreeable this year (I think the last 2 summers have been mild).

Frustration and Fun Stuff

Today, I was very frustrated to find that the landscaping crew took the weedeater to my new corn plants! 5 plants got cut down - I didn't have that many plants to begin with so losing 5 is a big loss. I called my mom in a hurry to find out if the plants would indeed die or if they would continue to grow and grow new leaves. She said they'd probably die so Abbie and I replanted them. I called Paul too and he said he'd put a fence around it so hopefully this won't happen again.

Yesterday, Abbie and I joined my brother and his family for a fun, fun day at Splash Country in Sevierville/Pigeon Forge. This is a large water park owned by Dolly Parton. It is an offshoot of Dollywood. There are 3 water playgrounds, several high thrill water slides, some medium thrill water slides and several tame ones for little kids. There is also a large lazy river and a wave pool. We have had really nice weather lately - sunny, yet breezy, and not too hot. Very, very pleasant! So we did not bake yesterday. When I first arrived at the park (it was my first time there), my brother pointed to the slide that I had to go on first. I said, "Sure!" in a nonchalant way because I've been to a really nice water park in Virginia that had plenty of intense water slides. The slide was called Mountain Scream, and I was excited to ride it. It took me 4-6 seconds from top to bottom, and I was fairly speechless as I got off. I was completely discombobulated. Not only could I not keep my eyes open as I went down, I had no idea where I was, my arms kept flying open, I couldn't tell if I was airborne or still on the slide, and I had water up my nose and felt like I was under a tube of water. Was I drowning? Dead? Was it over? I didn't scream or cuss - I was just speechless at the end. When I finally realized that it was over, I stumbled off the slide and discovered that my brother was laughing at me and I had broken my sunglasses (my brother fixed them though). I didn't ride that one again, but surely I could do it again since I lived to tell about it, right? But I have to draw the line somewhere so I will never ride this one.
We stayed until the park closed at 7 pm. Abbie said, "I never want to leave Splash Country." She really had fun with her cousin in the water. I bought season passes as we left so we can go back as many times as we want, and we can go to Dollywood as much as we want too. We're really looking forward to more of this fun this summer. I told Paul that he and I need to go by ourselves one day (because Abbie won't ride any of the thrill rides and she doesn't qualify for the height requirement for others, but she still had a ton of fun doing all the other stuff) so that we can do all the big slides together. Except for Fire Tower Falls.
In other water news, Abbie is swimming in the deep end. With her instructor with her but not touching or helping her, she can swim across the deep end. She has also learned to tread water, swim on her back, streamline underwater, and has really strengthened her freestyle. But she still lacks confidence and hangs onto to me if we go into the deep end together, but I saw her using many of her skills yesterday at the water park.

Rumble, BOOM, Crack!

Another thing I love about summer - thunderstorms!
The clouds roll in, the sky darkens, the wind picks up, and the first, faint rumble of thunder in the distance makes me happy. Sometimes you see flashes in the dark gray sky without hearing any cracks of lightning. Then the rumbling comes closer and becomes more of a boom, boOM, BOOM - a sound that you can feel in your chest. The rain might begin lightly but usually comes in torrents, and the lightning finally begins. You know the storm is right on top of you when you hear, "BOOM - pause - pause - CRACK!"
Of course, I don't want to be outside during a thunderstorm. Well, on the porch sometimes, depending on how close the lightning is. I know I've loved thunderstorms since I was very young. I think always having a snug house has made me feel safe therefore I can appreciate a good thunderstorm. We've had three storms so far this summer. One fizzled out quickly, but one was a doozy!

Loving Summer

As I was driving in the car today, I was thinking about how much I love summer. One of the big reasons (besides the obvious reasons) is that I have no schedule.
For the last three years, while Paul had his office, I had to work part time in the summer which meant that I had to find child care for Abbie or bring her with me. That was not how either of us wanted to spend our summer.
During the school year, we have a pretty tight schedule and Abbie is not in a heck of a lot of activities. Monday, right after school is ballet for an hour. Then home where Abbie starts homework and I start supper. Then we do some chores - dishes, sweeping, feeding the cat, scooping litterboxes. Suddenly, it is time to start the bedtime routine. On school nights, we expect Abbie to be in bed by 8:00. Since she is slow getting on her pajamas and brushing her teeth and putting away dirty laundry, we usually start bedtime at 7:00. On weeknights, she has to read at least 20 minutes and log it in her daily reading log for school.
On other weekdays, when she doesn't have ballet, sometimes we run errands and sometimes we come straight home, but there is little time for play. It always seems that something gets left undone or we have to compromise and say we'll do some sort of desired activity the next day.
Either before bed or after she goes to bed, we pack lunches, make sure her homework folder is in her backpack (I have to sign the reading log), etc.
The days can get tedious. At the beginning of the school year, I make sure we pack a healthy, balanced lunch. By the end of the school year, we are just throwing whatever in the lunchbox and politely quarreling over who gets to pack the lunch that day. And we all dread the early morning alarm and the getting-ready-for-school routine.
Ahhh, but summer is here. We ignore the 8:00 bedtime. We're still reading a lot each day since we joined the summer reading program at the library, but it feels more carefree when there is no "requirement" to read each day. We have no set schedule. Anything on the calendar is usually a fun activity that we want to do.
So far, we have gone bowling, stayed in a hotel out of town and toured around, gone swimming, browsed the library, went to a pocketbook party, spent the day with my dad and then my mom, made strawberry jam, baked a cake, played outside, gone for walks, baked cookies, had a picnic....
We've got more things planned, but nothing is a have-to, nothing is required. Abbie might take swimming lessons (probably definitely) and she might go to horse camp, but we'll plan it when we want and skip it if we want.
I love these schedule-free summer days, and I love sleeping in while we can!