Summertime: Week 1

Tomorrow marks the official start of summer.  Any parent will tell you this is NOT the beginning of summer.  Teachers know it too.  The beginning of summer is marked by the first day that your child is no longer in school.   Monday, June 16th was the first day of the summer 2014 season at our house.

Nana and Papa McCollum asked me last week if I had ended up putting Thomas in summer camp for a few weeks.  I casually replied that I calculated how many days we would be in Lake George and how many playdates I thought I could reasonably muster up and how many little trips the boys and I could take and thought I could handle it.  Here is the highlight reel of Week One.

Monday, June 16th (Day 1): When I asked Thomas what he wanted to do on his first day of no preschool, he quickly replied that he wanted to go play tennis at a tennis court.  So I started the 10 minute process of packing us and our things up.  I slathered sunscreen on Ryan and handed Thomas a spraybottle to bring out to the garage, giving him explicit instructions not to spray it until we got to the garage.  He was a good boy and waited until he got to the garage to spray the SPF 50......directly into his eye.  Strangely, it wasn't a scream of pain that busted him, but it was his guilty look.  He immediately fessed up and I dragged him to the back porch to try to flush it out.  I "explained" that now we weren't going to play tennis.  The only benefit of how upset he was about not going to go play was that he cried most of the sunscreen out. 

Instead of tennis, I ended up enlisting Thomas' help with a little yard work, which is not punishment, by the way, but rather fun for Thomas.

We also started some creative projects.  The first involved sidewalk chalk, a favorite and practicing letters (school may be on hold, but learning is NOT over in this house, people).  We made a huge sign to celebrate Nana Honey's last day of radiation therapy.  Yeah Nana Honey!

The other art project was more Thomas-driven and occurred while I was looking online for a birthday gift.

I am not the only one who missed preschool on Monday.  When we went to West Point in the afternoon and passed the road preschool is on, he said," Goodbye preschool.  I missed ya.  It is a shame." 


Tuesday, Day 2:  PLAYDATE!!!  Fortunately for me and for Thomas, we had scheduled a playdate with our friends Sam and his mom Darien.  We loaded our little balls of energy up and went a on a very short hike from our house.

Checking out the Frog House at the trail entrance

As always, Ryan along for the ride

Just a couple of guys taking a pee

Getting cleaned up and ready for our picnic lunch

Cooling off with a little dessert back home

I asked Thomas, "Did you have fun with Sam?" 
Not missing a beat, he replied, "Yes.  Did you have fun with Darien?"

Dad was busy with work and we knew he wouldn't be home for dinner on this hot, hot night, so the boys and I had a lovely dinner outside on the cooler back porch.

Mmmmm.  Worms (spaghetti).

Wednesday, Day 3: Another scorcher. 
In an effort to sell Thomas on dressing himself in the morning, I have tried to bill summertime as a time when three year olds have to dress themselves. 

T: The bull dozer goes in the front?
K: No, it goes in the back.
T: Oh.  It goes in the back because it's a backhoe.
Sheer genius, Thomas.

 Ryan went off for a little fun time with other babies at what Thomas calls "Baby School" (hourly care at West Point).  Thomas and I had fun at a park near the daycare center.  Thomas played with some other kids while I did some Cross Fit with other moms.  It was great.  Right up until the point when I drilled myself in the knee with a kettle bell.  Workout over.  No pictures of that, thank you very much.

When we got home, we dragged out the little pool for the back deck.  Not sure who like it more, Thomas or Ryan.

Later in the afternoon, Ryan either got so enthusiastic about the pool or so tired of being plopped down and left to play that he decided it was time to crawl!!!  10 months, 3 weeks in the making.  You go, Ryan Man!

Thursday, Day 4: A much needed rain that brought some relief from the heat.  The flip side of the rain is that it postponed our playdate.   When the rain finally lifted, we took our show out to the driveway for some much needed running around and fresh air.

Friday, Day 5: Playdate reschedule gets another reschedule.  Knowing my own limitations, I decide that it isn't wise for anyone to spend another full day hanging out at home.  We blend some errands with a trip to a park and have a fairly relaxing day of it.  After a few days of snapping what felt like hundreds of pictures and movies of Ryan crawling, I took a break today, so there are no pictures of our trip to the post office, the wine store, the park, Darlene's house, or watching World Cup soccer.

Summertime has just barely started and it appears, for a myriad of reasons, that we're in for quite a ride.

Hashtag

Hashtags are trendy right now.  In case you don't know what a hashtag is, it's a # with an identifying description that lumps your picture into a group.  For example, #coolestkidever.  Twitter users, Instagrammers, and Facebookers often tag their photos with clever hashtags.  I don't use them.  But I would not want to risk being labeled resistant, reluctant or obstinate, so I will hashtag some of the goings on in our house.  Please feel free to comment with your own hashtag suggestions.

Thomas has always loved to play with balls.  He was kicking a soccer ball the month he learned to walk.  We play tennis, soccer, hockey, and catch (which is quickly turning into dodgeball) every day.  When it's nice, we play golf outside.  It's a fun way to connect with our Little Buddy.
#scholarship2029

Ryan is not one to be left behind.  He is also kicking a soccer ball around (even though he's not walking unassisted yet) and playing catch with tennis balls and beach balls.
#Icanplayballtoo

The other major part of our lives seems to be yardwork.  Our yard is a high maintenance yard, but it is verdant this month and a fun place to bond, even if it is over mowing, raking and blowing.
#hardworkwork  #mccollumfamilylandscaping

To celebrate Father's Day, Mike and Thomas palled around all day long.  The morningful of yardwork mean a little relaxing out on the back deck as only Mike does it.
#howdypartner  #Yankeecowboys

The day culminated with another special moment with Dad.  Ryan was all set for a bath (half naked) but Thomas and Dad insisted we make a quick trip down to the trail near our house to see a Frog Fort and a swinging vine. 
#channelingtarzan  #crazybestdad

All of this activity means we fuel up a lot.  Some of us make healthier choices that others.  It's much easier to feed someone nectarines when they don't know there are brownies in the cupboard.  I, however, know about all the secret sweets stashes.
 #timetomopthefloor  #doublefisted

 When I wrote this post, the following were trending (popular, prevalent).

I don't know what most of the things are, who they are, or where they are.  What I know is
#bestboysever