No matter how hard I try, I always have sort of a hard time getting back in the groove after some time away. My 5 am alarm that I normally really have no trouble getting up to felt like a bullhorn going off in my room today. I hit the SNOOZE button (repeatedly), something I pretty rarely do anymore. I had trouble even peeling my eyes open, despite not going to bed TOO late last night (it was maybe 10:20? Not ideal, but pretty average for me).
I stayed up way too late (for me) at my parents’ house over the long weekend, so my body is probably just rebelling a little bit now to getting back into my normal routine. Looking forward to the fact that today I don’t have any meetings, appointments or any kid-related things during the day, so I have a wide open workday.
Yesterday we managed to get mostly unpacked and everything put away and Ivan did laundry last night. I wasn’t too happy that it was my turn to drive the carpool for Asher’s open water swim practice… it’s over 30 minutes away + the time to pick up two other swimmers = 1 hour each way, plus the 45 minute practice. After being gone since Thursday, I wasn’t really in the mood to be gone all night.
But, it was my turn, so it was completely fair! It ended up being a nice 45 minutes of me sitting on a blanket reading my book while they were in the lake. The drive was pretty, too, with a big part of it being through country areas/ fields.
BACK TO SCHOOL…..(?) 😦
I was listening to the kids chatting in the back seats (I was not part of the conversation and I’m not even sure if they knew I was paying attention), and it was interesting to hear their perspective on the pandemic and returning to school when not being prompted by an adult.
The two kids we carpool with are a year older than Asher, a boy and a girl, and they are both supposed to start middle school (6th grade) this year. They were both going on and on about how they just REALLY, REALLY want to be at school for middle school, how they were so excited to start at the new school, etc. It made me feel sad for them.
Those transition years especially are so tough. These kids had to miss their “5th grade graduation” and now have to potentially miss their first middle school year too! ☹ This would be the first year that they change classes for different subjects and all of that, and I remember how that made me just feel so grown up…
Things haven’t been determined yet for back to school here, but I keep hearing lots of buzz about possibly returning in a hybrid manner- something like 2-3 days at school, and 2 days at home, alternating with another group of kids on opposite days. Since my boys’ school is a private school, they have said they do not need to follow the public school district’s plan, so I guess we’ll see what ends up happening. The next month or so should be interesting…
Travel Tuesday:
A little different one this week, but technically it’s travel related…
On this day last year, we dropped the boys off at their first ever, week long sleep away camp, at Camp Luther in Three Lakes (northern Wisconsin). This was a pretty exciting and emotional endeavor, especially for Ethan who can be a little more nervous in these situations. They didn’t know anyone else attending the camp, either.
I think it was amazing for them and I’m so glad they got to go. It was the full, traditional camp experience- hiking, canoeing, games, bonfires, canteen purchases 🙂 Bible songs and stories, and sleeping out in the woods!
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| Their “bunks” for the week- they chose the Treehouse option! At this camp there are various little “villages” scattered around the property out in the woods that the kids can choose from to stay in, or, there is a regular lodge option for those that don’t want to be sleeping outside. |
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a couple rest days from my workouts. I was supposed to start a new program yesterday (going to try Morning Meltdown from Beachbody, the 60 Day Doubles version), but it just didn’t happen. I’m grateful that I allowed myself a couple days off to rest up and I’m hoping to start back up nice and strong today!
GRATEFUL KAE 
It is hard to get back on a schedule after you've been off it for a couple of days! Major kudos to you for getting up at 5am most days! Since WFH I have been getting up at 6:50! The extra sleep has been so nice, though. Tomorrow I have a video meeting at 7am so will need to get up earlier and somewhat get ready so that will be an adjustment! The camp your boys went to last year sounded awesome. I am glad it was a good experience for them. Hopefully they can go back next year!!! I'm so glad I don't have a school-aged kid right now… it would be so stressful to not know what to expect and if your kids are early elementary, it's really not possible for most parents to work and teach their kids on the elearning days… We would definitely need to hire a nanny or tutor if Paul was in school.
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School…. i know.. it's so hard. One family from my work is going to split, father and older son going back to Germany for next school year while the rest of family (2 kids with mom) will stay in Manila. I can't imagine how hard it is for the family to do that for the next year, but at the same time distance learning for the last year of high school is not optimal for the kid.We haven't decided what to do yet, what we do know that we are not splitting the family as our kids are still young they can survive 6 months of distance learning without compromising too much their future. These decisions are so hard, it really makes us think hard what we value as a family.
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