Mid Summer check in

[waverly]

How’s summer going?
What’s working?
What isn’t?
Camps?
When do you go back to school? I hate to mention the school word but it’s only 4 weeks away for us.

[waverly]

Jul 18, 2023 17:24:40 GMT -5 waverly said:

How’s summer going?
What’s working?
What isn’t?
Camps?
When do you go back to school? I hate to mention the school word but it’s only 4 weeks away for us.

We’ve had a fun and adventurous summer. Our vacation was nice. We were camping but it went the best it ever has since the kids are older. Some rain and weather stuff.

All the camps are working but some are more of a pain than others in terms of drop off and pick up.

While DS hasn’t seen his old friends very much, he did hang out with a new friend. And I invited some of the basketball players over for next week. I know he misses them but only 4 weeks left of summer. Horseback riding has been a success!

Overall I think his summer is going better than last summer, and DD is having an equally great summer.

They go back to school August 16.

[sdlaura]

My kids go back to school August 15 and I can't wait. Summer is much more expensive (for childcare) and logistically difficult than the school year. This school year will be our only year ever with 3 kids in the same school on our street. Hooray! I will be so glad to no longer be paying a ton for camps/childcare when school goes back, and have them all able to walk to school and home from aftercare.

I'm pretty excited with how my camp planning worked out this summer. We only had one week where kids were not in camps in the same location, and we had a great carpool that week. It's still more annoying to get them in the car and drive them to camp vs. having them walk to school, but way better than having them in camps all over town. We do have one week before school starts where DD is doing a camp for softball catchers that's an hour away, but it's only a Saturday-Tuesday, so we can handle it. I booked a room that is part of the hotel block since girls come from around the country, and figure DH or I will stay up there a night or two if there are evening events.

We had incredible vacations during June and early July (Tahoe girls trip, family Disneyland trip, Big Sur as a couple, Jackson Hole/Yellowstone as a family), but now I'm enjoying getting to be home and in a normal routine. My credit card will also take a while to recover!

This weekend I need to finally bite the bullet and potty train my youngest. Fingers crossed that he catches on quick!

[waverly]

sdlaura, I don’t know how you fit in 4 vacations in 6 weeks!

We spent more on camps than vacations. We spend zero on childcare during the school year as they haven’t been in aftercare since before Covid. DH has to return to the office in September 3 days a week. I have a feeling no one else will go and that number will become 1-2 days a week. DD gets home at 4 and I’m home by 4:45.

Most if the camps are reasonably priced but the last sleep-away camp is $$.

[librarychica]

We’ve had a great summer. Only negative is I feel like I’ve used way too much PTO — I’ll need to hoard it this fall and winter. Lots of great family time, H took the kids to visit some of his family for the week, I took them to the mountains and then hung with the little up there while the big did her first-ever sleepaway camp. DD1 has been much more capable of managing herself and hasn’t gone too nuts with the electronics or neglected her chores even though she only had a couple weeks of day camp. All in all, a success.

They go back to school 3 weeks from tomorrow. Weirdly they start on a Thursday. I cannot believe I have a middle schooler now.

[polecat8]

I can't believe it is mid July already.
We went on our big family vacation in early June right after school ended which was great for keeping costs and crowds low.
The boys have been attending the local community camp that runs 9am-12pm M-F in June and July (DD aged out of it). It is perfect for them because they get to hang out with their school friends and go outside every day. Community camp has a lot of activities (basketball, tennis, karate, nature walks, wave pool, etc) and is also pretty cheap at $150 per kid.
Each kid also got to pick one special camp for a week. DD picked an outdoor art camp that was full day while the boys picked a Lego Minecraft camp that was half day.
DD, DS1 and I still go to taekwondo 2x per week so we still have a pretty busy summer.
The only bummer is that DD has aged out of a lot of camps so it's difficult to find some activities for her. If we let her, she'll sleep until noon and then play on her phone or laptop all day. She has hung out with her friend group a couple of times and she'll go for hikes once or twice a week with DH while the boys are at camp.
In August, DH is in charge of entertaining the kids. We have a family pass for the local museums and they love going on hikes and creek walks.
School starts on Aug 24th, which is a week earlier than most of the surrounding schools. I can't believe DD is in high school now! That 6am wake-up is going to be rough for all of us!

[rere]

Summer is going...fast. It has seemed like a blur between our beach trip and getting ready for college. We have another trip Friday for all of us to go see Ds in the mountains. Then a couple of weeks before Dds send-off barbecue. It seems that summer is such a blur.

[mommyatty]

Jul 18, 2023 17:24:40 GMT -5 waverly said:

How’s summer going?
What’s working?
What isn’t?
Camps?
When do you go back to school? I hate to mention the school word but it’s only 4 weeks away for us.

I’m enjoying summer. We had a good vacation, and even with business travel (I’m in an airport as I type this), I’ve been able to knock off early some afternoons to swim with the kids or otherwise hang out. DH sees no point in limiting screen time, so that’s a constant battle. DD loved sleepaway camp this summer, and DS tolerated his camp through school. DS goes back in 4 weeks and DD goes back in 5 weeks. DD also starts on a Thursday, which is… something.

[polecat8]

My kids start on a Thursday too, which is weird because other surrounding districts start the following Monday. I wonder what the reasoning is for that...

[dglvrk2]

Jul 18, 2023 17:24:40 GMT -5 waverly said:

How’s summer going?
What’s working?
What isn’t?
Camps?
When do you go back to school? I hate to mention the school word but it’s only 4 weeks away for us.

Summer is going by quickly.! I'm halfway through my time off work this week and I feel like I'm just getting traction. I'm enjoying the needed time to reset.

Summer camps are working well. The girls enjoy them. Carpools are a big help.
At home, we are trying to cut back on sugars -just smaller desserts and fewer sugary snacks and beverages. The Ds don't love this but they're accepting of it.

What's not working: I wish I had a better handle on my anxiety. I haven't seen my therapist in over a month because we've been out of town and she's moved practices. We have our first appointment in six weeks on Friday.
I would love to get DD1 to talk with a therapist too. She's showing clear signs of depression and wants to be happier. However, she doesn't think talking to someone will help.(sigh) So I'm trying to bring up the benefits of therapy occasionally without doing it frequently enough to "nag." Fun times.

School starts on August 28th-ish.

[dglvrk2]

Jul 19, 2023 10:16:18 GMT -5 polecat8 said:

My kids start on a Thursday too, which is weird because other surrounding districts start the following Monday. I wonder what the reasoning is for that...

I don't have a definite answer to this. Just an option: it's counterproductive. Some educators think two days to establish routines and meet children before going into a full week of school is helpful.
Teacher unions and districts negotiate and agree upon calendars. Instructional minutes, teacher work days and district financial cycles all play a part in determining start and end dates to a year.
I think we start on a Wednesday or Thursday too. Then we have a three-day weekend.

[waverly]

We start on a Wednesday. Monday/ Tuesday are teacher institute/ work days and the open houses and meet the teachers are in the evenings. That kind of makes sense, but a random Thursday for what appears to be no reason doesn't make as much sense to the general public.

[mommyatty]

dglvrk2- my kids are in private school. I think their reasoning is the middle and upper school students are on an AB schedule, so starting on Thursday gives them a full rotation of classes. They get one A day and one B day, then a weekend to go get all the crap their teachers ask for that weren’t on our school supply list.

[supertrooper1]

The summer is going fast. Between the end of June and last week, we had 4 camping trips (3 with DS) and a trip to Las Vegas. We celebrated Beau's 50th birthday, went to two concerts, and lots of family stuff. We have one more trip planned to a theme park in Idaho. We did it last year with just Beau, DS, and Beau's grandson. This year, Beau's son, wife, and baby grandson will come with us too. I'm sure we'll fit in another camping trip or two.

DS comes home Friday after two weeks with his dad. I had DS signed up for a camp next week but it was cancelled. I need to ask him Friday when he comes home if he wants me to sign him up for the other one he originally declined, or if I should just take a couple days off from work next week do stuff. I have plenty of PTO I need to use by the end of the year, so I'll probably do the latter. He has one more camp in August. School starts at the end of August.

I haven't done a good job of limiting screen time.

[sdlaura]

waverly only one of our vacations was a week long (well, 9 days including weekends). Girls trip was 3 nights, Disneyland was 2 nights, couples trip was 3 nights. So in total I took 13 days of vacation for those 4 trips. It was a lot of juggling, but the total of my vacation days I'll take between April and October, so not too bad for all that travel!

What do you consider to be a reasonably priced camp? I don't think ours are too crazy, especially for the hours (full day) through the YMCA. But $300 per week per kid adds up when we have 3 kids doing them (and still have a toddler in full time daycare as well)! Our sleepaway camp is also reasonably priced as sleepaway camps go - also through the YMCA. It's about $1,000 per week.

[186momx]

I feel like summer just started.

How’s summer going? We've spent the last few weeks dealing with lots of dental stuff. I need to take a few days off before my dad has another surgery and I can't take time off.
What’s working? The balance of her coming to work with me vs staying home.
What isn’t? Her meeting up with her friends. They can't seem to plan anything the day before and then when they want to meet are the days she isn't available.
Camps? DD didn't want to do any camps and so far I'm not hearing a ton of I'm bored
When do you go back to school? I hate to mention the school word but it’s only 4 weeks away for us. We go back after Labor Day so in about 7 weeks. I'm overly annoyed with all the back to school ads and sales. We won't know anything school related until the last week of August and by then I will have to pay full price. Usually the district supplies the school stuff or asks each family for x dollars but they have not made that announcement yet.

[vasc]

School ended for us around June 2 but all the are schools are pushing their start dates up so my children return August 8. Where I work returns August 3. So it’s an especially short summer for us.

We’ve done quite a bit of traveling. DD (age 10) complains about this every year because she feels she doesn’t have enough time to be spontaneous with playing with friends in the neighborhood. However, if calculating actual number of days, at least half of her summer are unstructured days at home. I think she’d be bored if we weren’t traveling at all.

Both kids have had ample screen time. DD is more of a self-starter and will put the tablet down to find other things to do. DS (age 6) needs more prompting. When not on the tablet, we’ve had plenty of time for swimming and LEGO.

DS will attend a few days of 1/2 day yoga camp this coming week.

DD goes to sleepaway camp the last week of July. She will miss her back-to-school meet the teacher night. It’s her fifth year attending and they make a big deal of recognizing those milestones so she’s excited to “level up.”

We have an exchange student coming July 24-mid-August from France. So we are going to squeeze in one more long weekend at the beach so she can see this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

[waverly]

vasc , every year DS says he just wants to play with the neighbors. He has played with them 1-2 times the whole summer, so yeah that is not enough to entertain him all summer long. This was my long held issue with them that I am the only one who hosts. We had a behavioral issue between my kid and one of the neighbor kids, so I sent them home early one time, and now it is crickets and zero effort even more than before from them. They are traveling a lot too, but given all the times I have hosted they could invite DS over once or twice.

I've planned a few other things for him with non neighbor friends, but again it has been me doing the planning, but one of the things is reciprocity to his basketball coach who took the team to the movies, so I am practicing my matching energy to those that have given freely in the past. 

[186momx]

waverly, we also are having no luck connecting with school friends. The plan was for them to meet a couple days a week at the school for the "free lunch" and hang at the playground. This has happened twice in 4 weeks. DD says it is because everyone's schedules are too crazy. I pointed out to her that her schedule is fixed. Mondays she stays home and I organize a ride, Tu/Th she comes to work, Wednesday she has nothing and is home and Friday I'm off. She has even invited them to meet her for pool, open gym, etc with my mom can drive and all she gets is crickets.

[waverly]

186momx, I've done 2 invitations, and DS did one, but we did have them accept. He did text his one friend and no response at all.

They have 3 weeks of being home so I am trying a little more, but there are also 2 soccer parties, a band party, and a block party, so I am not going to try too hard.

[mae0111]

Summer is absolutely flying by. I can't believe DD1 will be home from her 4 weeks away this weekend.

I'm not managing anything well, I don't think. I feel like I'm always frazzled and running around all over the place. I didn't sign DD2 up for very many camps, so there has been a ton of screen time for her. I've tried to do at least a few fun things with her each week, but it's hard to fit it all in. Today was the first "full" (I'm PT for "full" is 5 hours) day in the office since the kids got out of school, except for a client party that I had to work. Next week I signed her up for a 4 hour soccer camp... and they shortened it to 2h45m. And it's 20 mins away. So I'm pretty annoyed about that, but at least she will be out and moving.

Things are going to get even crazier when DD1 gets home because she has no regard for the fact that I work and just makes random plans at random times and stomps her feet until I take her where she needs to go. And I get so annoyed by it all that I just drive her to stop her from pestering me so I can at least work a little.

I just haven't found the sweet spot. The plans in my head... are not matching reality. I'm sure I'll have it all figured out by the time school starts!

[erbear]

Summer is awesome, as usual. We've been on a long trip (2 weeks), had some time to just chill around the house, kids are at MIL's this week so that's been a nice break for me, plus we are going to do 2 weeks at the beach in August with friends. No camps, very 70s summer here.

We don't go back until September 6 or something, but DD1 will start preseason August 21 and I have to go back August 28.

[erbear]

Jul 19, 2023 10:29:01 GMT -5 dglvrk2 said:

Jul 19, 2023 10:16:18 GMT -5 polecat8 said:

My kids start on a Thursday too, which is weird because other surrounding districts start the following Monday. I wonder what the reasoning is for that...

I don't have a definite answer to this. Just an option: it's counterproductive. Some educators think two days to establish routines and meet children before going into a full week of school is helpful.
Teacher unions and districts negotiate and agree upon calendars. Instructional minutes, teacher work days and district financial cycles all play a part in determining start and end dates to a year.
I think we start on a Wednesday or Thursday too. Then we have a three-day weekend.

This is why. It's an awful culture shock for kids (and teachers!) to go from nothing to 5 full days, and the first couple of days of school are overwhelmingly exhausting for everyone. We always start on a Wednesday so we can do three days of not-regular schedule before we dive in.

[mae0111]

My kids are starting at a new school in the fall. They will start the Wednesday after Labor Day, and the first 3 days are nothing but fun. No academics. Tours, games, get-to-know-you activities, class field trips to places like rope courses and bowling. It's going to (hopefully) be the perfect start to a new school for them. Fingers crossed.

[callmekd]

We are exactly at the mid-point of summer vacation. In some ways it feels like we haven’t done much because DD1 has been in a musical with an intense rehearsal schedule, DD2 has been going to summer school and all 3 kids have been playing sports.

We have lots of scouts camping, hockey camp out of town and a weeklong vacation.

School doesn’t start until after Labor Day.

[k3am]

Camps have been going great. My kids love it so much and DD has already worked out her middle/high school “career path”, knows the requirements, pay schedule, etc.

This is the first year that we haven’t had any vacations planned and I really hate myself for it. I’m planning to take the 3 days before school starts off and do Great America, Discovery Kingdom, and the Facebook campus (is that not an amusement park?) with the kids, but that’s still not a vacation.

So I’m dreaming of fall break in October, which is basically hurricane season everywhere…

[twinmomma]

The first half of summer was pure chaos. We sold a house, hosted family for 3 weeks, and got married. Plus the girls were in theater camp which required a half hour drive each way and the performances. It was a lot and totally exhausting. Next year we will not be doing camp the same weeks as SIL's visit to cut down on the chaos. That timing was just too much back and forth and moving pieces. I will also have more PTO to play with next summer because I won't have to take so much time off for moving and house stuff. That will help too, since I had to still work full time in the midst of everything else.

From here on out, summer should be smooth sailing! The girls are in various local day camps just to keep themselves busy and out of my hair. They like having something to do besides sitting around the house and they get to see friends from different schools that all converge on the same few camps in the summer. Beau's son is doing taekwondo classes like usual and has a week of camp there lined up too. Our biggest struggle will be beau's son whining that the girls aren't home to play with him all day when he's here. But that's what happens when he refuses to attend any camps.


School starts the week before Labor Day for us. The girls go back a day earlier than everyone else for orientation since they move up to a new school.