Swim camp:
On Thursday I dropped Asher and friend off at swim camp. The camp is being held at UW-Stevens Point, and the kids all stay in the college dorm rooms.
Both boys were really excited about it all! They went to camp last year, but this is the first time they are staying in the dorms. (Due to a scheduling issue last year, I stayed with them in a hotel b/c the overnight option was full.)
There’s a whole group of girls from their team staying on the floor below them- I think 6 of them. Asher, his buddy and these girls are all really good friends and always hang out at practice/ meets and have “swim team” group chats on their phones, etc.
I have not heard much from him at all yet, which doesn’t surprise me. Haha. I texted him a couple times, and he finally responded, “All good and having a lot of fun. Can I just tell you all about it when I get home??” (Meaning- “Mom, stop texting me!”) Lol. Okay, okay….
I love camps for the independence factor. Obviously there are camp counselors that check in on them and stuff, but for the most part, they have to manage themselves. Set an alarm, get down to breakfast, hopefully brush their teeth…. (his friend’s mom is a dentist, and when I picked him up I heard his mom say, “Make sure you brush your teeth….” ha 😉 )
My biggest hope is just that all of his sweatshirts, clothing and belongings come home with him. Asher can be a little scatter brained. (e.g. Playing outside, gets hot, takes sweatshirt off, sets it on the ground….and then later goes inside, leaving sweatshirt in a heap on the ground. Then a little while later….. “Mom, I can’t find my sweatshirt anywhere!!” 🙄 Know what I mean?)
I already asked his friend’s mom (who will bring them home on Sunday) to PLEASE make sure to have him triple check he has all his stuff!!!
Solo time w/ Ethan!
In the meantime, we are enjoying having one less kid at home. Hahahaha. Not really, but it is a nice little reprieve to have 50% less children in the house. (Yes, I realize we already only have a small number of children = 2. But still.) Things are 50% quieter!
Ethan asked if he could have a friend sleepover last night, and I said “Sorry, but NO.”
Things have been so busy, and I honestly just want to enjoy the slightly quieter household for a couple days, not add another kid in place of Asher! So, sorry. But not really that sorry. 🙂 (He’s had plenty of sleepovers this summer already.)
Ethan seems to be enjoying being an only child for a few days. Thursday night he crawled in bed by me and we watched an episode of Drain the Oceans on Disney+ (the National Geographic series). If you have older kids and haven’t checked this out, DO IT! It’s so fascinating and incredibly educational. Ethan loves them.
We also walked to get a gas station milkshake on my lunch hour yesterday:
To repay me, he got to spend a couple hours weeding out the mulch bed back by the firepit.
After work, but before Ivan got home, Ethan and I went on a bike ride! Just for an hour or so, but it was really nice. A perfect, blue sky, warm but not too hot summer evening. No pics, because I left my phone at home, intentionally. 🙂 It was fun.
Now, I’m excited to have a FREE WEEKEND!!!! Finally, after sooooo many busy weekends in a row, I have a weekend with NO games, NO travel, NO plans. (Except I have a to-do list that is literally a mile long. But at least I may actually have some time to work on it for once! Yay!)
I hope you have a great weekend. We have some amazing weather coming up.
Current view:
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for an open weekend!! Really in need of some breathing room- and honestly, hopefully some quiet/alone time- right now.
GRATEFUL KAE 
swim camp sounds fun! Sofia will love it. I missed her a lot when she went to Summer camp last week and the lack of communication was very hard for me but we survived. I think it’s a good thing for the kids to practice independence, agency, and go along with others and belong to a group.
solo kid feels less than 50%… when they are tougher, they are so much more than 100% hahaha… I enjoyed solo time with lizzy as well… very relaxing.
enjoy your free weekend, I prefer those than the packed weekend.
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What a lovely backyard oasis…specially after Ethan did some weeding (haha).
I just love the text message exchange. What a fun experience and I feel like our house seems SO different when only one child is around. It completely changes the dynamic. My kids are best of friends and worst of enemies…and when only one is home everything just feels soooo even-keeled.
They don’t like be apart for long, but in small doses, a change can be as good as a rest.
Love the lunchtime treat, too. Those little memories end up being some the richest and more memorable long-term.
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Do your boys do any activities together? It always sounds like they’re great buddies but very independent from each other. Is that right?
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Sadly, not really. I feel in the last couple years they have grown apart a little bit. They still hang out at times and do things together, will play outside, etc, but they each have their own friends and are at the age that they want to go to camps and events with friends, not each other. 😦 When they were younger, they did go to a weeklong summer camp together, maybe in 2018 or 2019? I wish they would just “hang out” a little more together, like just go to the gym together, etc. But they really don’t right now. On family outings/ vacations, they hang out and seem to get closer again, but when we are home and they can choose their own friends, that seems to be the default, currently.
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