Bad, Bad Blogger

I have chosen quilting over blogging.

I have chosen reading over blogging.

I have chosen hanging out with my kids over blogging.

Add to the list movies/TV, sleeping.

And unfortunately I've chosen Facebook over blogging, though Facebook is a form of addictive, time-wasting micro-blogging.

The headlong rush at the end of the school year swallowed up free time.  The seemingly endless cascade of  the last Girl Scouts meetings, the last Cub Scouts meetings, the end of Mandarin school, the end of religious school (though I like that one best because it drops off the calendar first), the end of Tae Kwon Do class, field days as schools, end of year parties rolled through our lives and dumping us into summer.  Where camps, trips to the pool and other just everyday stuff took over, along with work, there is always work.

There are a few unfinished posts, started before extended hiatus from the blogosphere was in its early days.  They might eventually be posted. Or not.

Right now gearing up for school has started.  Physicals, eye exams, cleaning out closets and dressers.  Teacher assignments won't be posted until the 21st (for Micah) and the 22nd (for Thea).  I've read through the fifth grade supply lists and am hoping she is assigned the teaching team that uses spiral notebooks.  I am so over composition books.  I despised them when I was a fifth grader in Mrs. Isenock's 5th/6th combination class, and that sentiment has not faded four decades later.

Thea has commented on how quickly the summer has gone by - with as few viola practices, as little work on the summer Mandarin homework and as little recreation reading as she can manage.  I have not used time this summer honing my nagging skills.

So I'll either reform my non-blogging ways, or not. 

Friday at Home

Some days with nothing on the schedule turn out to be the best days of all.

Beds made.

Laundry put away.

Laundry room floor swept up.

A little tidying up and dusting upstairs.

Finished an on-line survey that will eventually result in a check in the mailbox.

Much pondering of what to sew next - something from the modern quilt book or a paper-piece pattern ordered from an etsy.com vendor.

A Greek salad made with Jersey tomatoes and seedless cucumber and a heap of feta cheese.

Happy stuff.

Unfortunately, the back to school to-do list is lurking around somewhere:

Haircuts for both kids at Snip-Its with Ms. Flo

New shoes for school

New cleats for soccer

Check-ups for both kids

School supplies lists, including mass quantities of Dixon Ticonderoga #2 pencils

Going through two closets to pull the clothes the kids have outgrown.

Fall and back-to-school is looming large on the horizon.  Ugh.

Wishful Summer Thinking

 A post begun over a week ago. . . .

After two weeks in the WW-P Community Education summer programs, the kids are back to Princeton Friends School Camp next week.  They had a good time, but it seemed like quite a few of the program that we signed up for were cancelled and substitutions made.  Next year I think I want to take more time off during the summer so they can be home, hang out, go on day-trips and what not.

Fall seems like it's coming up quickly: Thea and Micah are registered for soccer, Thea is looking forward to the WWPSA's 3-on-3 tournament; I've got to register her for YingHua for the fall, check the school district's web site for school supply lists.

And even before this was posted, the week at Friends Camp finished and the kids are back to Community Education for one last week before returning once more to PFS for two final weeks.  Time is flying, I'm finding things other than keeping up with blogging to keep me busy.

It's almost August, time to start thinking about haircuts, finishing the remainder of the school supplies lists, starting to stalk the school district web site for teacher assignments, getting an appointment for Micah to get his ears flossed out, school physicals for both kids, and so on, and so on.

Maybe I've spent too much time at the quilt shops, where fall and Christmas fabrics are in abundance and everyone seems to be working on holiday table runners and tree skirts.  Not my thing, though some of the Hallowe'en fabrics are cute.

Meanwhile I haven't seen the Atlantic Ocean this year, I'm already planning for  Summer 2013 and taking more time off during the summer to enjoy it with the kids.

Two months. . .

until school starts. 

Thea volunteered that information today while we were out shopping.  To Thea, it seems like school is going  to be starting soon.  To me, it seems like there is still a lot of summer ahead of us.

Somehow there are people in the world who think that summer is somehow easier.  And it might be in terms of not having homework to deal with, but logistically, it may be more difficult.  It takes looking at my iPad to know where they will be each week for camp, learning the camps' schedules for snacks and lunches and whatnot.  With school, they have cafeteria accounts set up, and most days, I don't make lunches.  For camp, they need a lunch that will survive the heat (and yes, I do use re-usable freezer blocks.)

And in our lives, there is still is homework because we have the 35 page green workbook from Ying Hua Language School that must be finished and turned in on the first Sunday.

When the school year finally does get underway, it will be the first year that Micah stays put in one school for the entire day, and it will be Thea's first year at Millstone Upper Elementary School, which will be a much bigger school.  Wicoff School is the smallest of the district's lower elementary schools, which is nice because the staff and principal seem to know every student in the school but it will make the transition more interesting.

Once upon a time. . .

. . . which was only about three weeks ago, we were on vacation.  Meals were as easy as just showing up, buffets meant that there was no whining about not liking what was being served.

 No beds to make.

 No homework to check up on.

 Sandals or bare feet all the time

Coatis and iguanas clambering around.

 A half dozen swimming pools meant that "I'm bored" was not uttered during that entire week.

A lazy river inner tube ride.

Using the children as my cover, I got to swim with dolphins (which they happened to enjoy as well) and I bought amazing pictures of my children with dolphins, snorkeling, holding macaws, iguanas and parrots.

I watched Thea climb on a rope line over water, twice, and got to snorkel with her and see that she loves it as much as I do.

And yes, there were a few not so magical moments: waiting on a bridge to take pictures of my family.  Waiting, waiting, waiting.  Until I figured they had taken another route back so I hiked around Xel-Ha to the floating bridge, which was bouncing away (? high tide) and only had hand-railings on every other section.  Visions of me and the camera getting bounced into the Caribbean danced in my head, and the humiliation cake was iced by the Xel-Ha lifeguard coming out onto the bridge asking if a) I had too many rum and Cokes and b) did I need any help?  (To which I answered a) No. (I hate rum and Cokes) and b) No, thank you.  Although my interior monologue, was telling him to be gone before I push him off of the bouncing bridge. Then after making it back to the main area, finding no family at any of the meeting places (not to worry, I had the key to the locker, so I had dry clothes and the cash), they come walking up, Steve with a huge smile on his face that I wanted to wipe off with towel that had cleaned the bottom of the seal tank.

The biggest feat of the vacation was going without internet access from Tuesday through Friday because in-room Wi-Fi was $100 per week.  (Seriously?  Internet access is de rigeur in this day and age.)  Wi-Fi at the Iberostar Paraiso Maya was found in a 20' x 6' area in the lobby, the closer to the window the better, which counts as one of the hotel's few faults.

All in all, a good week, until it was over