1- I “slept in” today because Josh and I went on a date last night. Mustard Seed Bistro was great – we will be back! We spent half of it planning future fun things (weekend in NC, probably me tagging along for ~2 days of Josh’s conference in Orlando). It feels so so so good to plan things again (even if I now have a truer sense of how tentative any plan actually is . . .). (NC = without the kids – currently they would have to quarantine away from school or camp post air travel since they are not yet vaccinated.)
2- The kids love camp. They really do. I have a number of friends who have kids going to sleep away camp and we are considering it for the future, but honesty? Day camp is pretty much best of both worlds in my opinion, for right now. And about 3x cheaper. And 10x-less-anxiety-provoking. I am slightly dreading the next 4 weeks in which I engineered a schedule with 2 drop offs/pickups. IT IS MY OWN FAULT. That said, it may also be worth it because C is really looking forward to soccer camp and A to art camp after that.
3- It’s a 3 day weekend! And a TS/Hurricane Watch weekend! We may be spending some of it hunkered down. But hopefully not all of it.
4- I never got dressed today. Oops. I basically sat at my laptop writing Letters of Recommendation the entire day, interspersed with some meetings. (Each LOR takes me ~45 minutes and I did 7, so that makes sense. There went the day. I managed to clean out my inboxes though.)
5- Since none of my MMD summer reads have come through my library holds list, I think I will dive into Manflu this weekend! The author Simone was a guest on BOBW. I finally feel like I can read something about a pandemic without going into a tailspin.
Anyone else have fun holiday plans? Anyone else going to buy lots of groceries for TS/hurricane prep tomorrow AM? The milk will probably be out already . . .
6 Comments
I definitely don’t see us doing sleep away camp any time soon! I did not do it growing up so I guess it’s not really on my radar. My husband did a couple but in late middle school which sounds about right to me.
We really only have grandparents for extended care so if we ever want a night away we will need to get the kids back used to them enough for that (pandemic was really hard on those relationships, which was very sad) or find some one else I really trust. Tricky!
In another year or two, consider Googling your local Girl Scout council for your oldest to try a few days or a week away (“resident camp”). I loved it, starting the summer after 4th or 5th grade, and both of my daughters have as well. (They have not been active in Girl Scouts in several years, it’s not a requirement; you just pay about $25 more for the annual registration as part of signing up.)They run very safe, quality programs that are a lot of fun for about half the cost of most other camps. My girls come back each year with so much more confidence and independence!
I’ve read 4 books from the MMD SRG. I enjoyed all except ‘Last Exiles’. I was surprised so many became available so quickly but I primarily read ebooks and those seemed to have shorter wait lists sometimes. I have a long wait for the buzzer books like Malibu Sunrise, though.
It will be a quiet holiday weekend for us. We used to go to my parents lake home for the 4th but it’s a busy weekend there so tough to be up there with 2 kids including a baby. We need 2 bedrooms so tend to go up on quieter weekends. A friend is coming over for a walk at 7:30 and then the 3yo and I are meeting a friend and her kids at a pool this morning. Our 3yo is back in swimming lessons and is not loving it so I’m trying to get him into the water in between lessons. Hopefully that helps.
So, neither my husband nor I went to sleep away camp, but literally EVERY kid where we live goes to sleep away camp and so my kids really wanted to go. My kids go to YMCA camps, which are quite affordable. They start going the summer after 3rd grade and only go for 2 weeks the first two years. Getting them packed up and out the door is a little crazy.
Once they are gone though some really interesting and magical things happen. I get a chance to miss my kids. The dynamic between the kids left behind changes in new and interesting ways and the kids that go to camp have a great time and come back feeling really independent and confident. Added plus they get a major screen detox–my kids camps are ZERO screens, at the boy’s camp they still post the baseball scores and standings on wood display made just for that purpose in the center of camp.
For our family sleep away camp has really been a hugely positive experience. My younger two boys can’t wait to go.
I do LOVE the screen free aspect.
Honestly I could go either way!
I did not attend sleepaway camp. Josh did briefly but didn’t love it. My niece + nephew love it though and my SIL actually works at their camp! So it’s possible we will send the big kids there next summer for one session (3 or 4 weeks) but I’m undecided. I also am not sure if G would be happy or sad!
We’ve only ever done sleep-away with church camps, so it helps that we know most of the adults who will be there! I think ours started the summer after 3rd grade, so not terribly young either. I also agree with Sarah that scout camps are a great option for finding something that fits your kids’ interests and schedule!