and so it begins....

Yes, it's the last day of school today before the onset of the kids' two month summer vacation. Actually, it's not even a day, it's an hour and a half, which really translates into about an hour by the time I drop them off, then race back home to retrieve the farewell thank you cards Emily made for her teachers that she forgot and didn't remember until we pulled into the school parking lot, even after I asked them all if they had everything when we were leaving the house....anyway, then I race back to the school to hand over the cards, then home again, and the kids are being "released" at 10:30 after one final assembly which really, couldn't they have taken care of this business yesterday, not that I'm complaining because ultimately it is one last hour of peace before my two month summer boot camp begins. Phew. Some of the other parents asked me if I was staying for the assembly but I just smiled, waved my coffee cup at them and wandered off to my van. I have to psych myself up for summer. Although I have to say, it doesn't feel much like summer today, it's overcast and drizzly, booo. However, as of 10:30am summer is officially on weather cooperating or not, so I'd better get my game on.
Summer tends to be just about the busiest time of year for my husband's business, which translates into us basically spending the summer at home. The girls and I generally become tourists in our own city - I have a couple of guide books to loads of parks, lakes, beaches and trails all around the greater Vancouver area to keep us occupied. We pack some lunch and some water and take off to explore most days of the week. My rule of thumb is, if it's free then I'm all over it! With three kids it's just not financially realistic to take advantage of any of the day camps that run all summer long, much as both myself and the girls would like to at times. Not to mention that even if it were affordable it would still be a logistical nightmare trying to coordinate all three of them into something that each girl actually wants to do, so another good reason to just say forget it, and head off to explore, as I call it. Over the past few summers the kids have gotten used to my system, although it still tends to stress Kate out at times when she realizes that I don't always know exactly where I am...however, so far we have always made it out alive, so I think she has a little more faith in me than she used to.
People always ask if we go away during the summer, to which I say no, other than perhaps one weekend of camping squeezed in somewhere. But I think we stay pretty busy, and I think we have a lot of fun. I mean, who wouldn't want to turn their entire backyard hill into a giant slip and slide? It completely destroys the grass, but hey, this is Vancouver, it'll grow back! The only organized activity I put the kids into is swimming lessons at the local outdoor pool, usually for a few weeks midsummer. We love those mornings, with the girls taking turns in the pool, and whoever isn't swimming is hanging out on a towel with me, reading a book, or whatever. And lets not forget camping out in our own yard, that is a blast, at least for one or two weekends. All in all, summer vacation is a good time, I have to admit.  Being able to be home with the girls is great, I get to feel just like a kid all over again, doing all those lazy summer day things with them - eating freezies, playing in the sprinkler, hanging out at the pool, playing outside on those long summer evenings when it stays light out for ages.
So okay, while I know that there will be times that I long for some peace and quiet all alone, I also know that it will be a great summer. Really, it will. Of course, ask me how I'm doing a month from now, and my thoughts on summer vacation might be completely different, especially if the sun doesn't get into the act and make a decent appearance....but in the meantime I am successfully psyched up and ready to go.
And speaking of going, I have just enough time to top up my coffee and then it's go time - school's almost out!

put me in coach

Well, the soccer experiment has not really played out, so to speak. Back at the beginning of the spring soccer season, I registered a keen Kate, and dragged a kicking and screaming Emily off to their first practice. With one game left a couple of months later, the situation has completely reversed itself; Kate no longer wants anything to do with soccer, and Emily thinks it's the greatest game on Earth. It's not that Kate isn't athletically inclined - she is, but she thinks too much about what she should be doing, and ends up psyching herself out and blowing it. Whereas Emily - as usual - lives in the moment and throws herself with utter abandon into the game, and ends up doing well. Sigh. While it's great fun to watch Emily turn into quite the little soccer player, it's been equally if not more painful to watch Kate retreat further and further away from the game. Every week she cries before she has to go to practice, and every Saturday night she starts to stress because there is a game the next morning. Oh, and just in case I wasn't aware of how my children feel about soccer or how well they have been performing, their coach made it very clear at practice last week. He made his way over to me just before they finished for the evening to ask if Emily was going to be playing winter soccer this coming season. I answered that she was and he smiled and said "oh that's good, she should play, she is very good." Then before I could reply he went on "oh but Kate, she shouldn't play, she can't play soccer." Well. Seeing as how there were other parents present, not to mention several children, I swallowed hard, smiled and said something like, well, that's fine since Kate actually doesn't want to play any more. And I left it at that. But of course, what I wanted to say and swallowed until I have opportunity for either a private conversation or a formal coach evaluation is that perhaps if her coach had been more encouraging, she might have enjoyed the game more. They are seven years old, for goodness sake. However, I did not want to make a big issue out of it for Kate's sake. Which became even tougher for me at the game that Sunday when after almost 20 minutes of play, Kate was still standing on the sidelines, waiting a turn on the field, a turn that every other child had been given. Again, I didn't want to embarrass her by drawing any unwanted attention to her, but when the coach was about to sub in another child who had already had lots of playing time instead of Kate, I had to do something. So I started waving my arms frantically from where I was watching behind her, and pointing at her head to get the coaches attention. Apparently he got the message, and sent Kate in instead, and then looked back at me and said, oh sorry, I must have missed her by accident...and cue the swallowing of harsh words and tongue biting again.
So anyway, one practice and one game left and then she can retire forever if she wants to. I have officially registered both her sisters for the winter soccer season, but not Kate. We are going to find her an activity of her own, one where she doesn't have to compare herself to her sisters at any rate. While I don't want the other girls to think she is getting some kind of special treatment or whatever, I think in the long run it will be a relief for everyone, and hopefully make up for the stress we have all had to endure from Kate for the past couple of months as she suffered through spring soccer. I don't care what she does really, or whether she is actually any good at it or not, it would just be great to find something that she likes to do, that makes her happy and brings some joy to her worried little face.
Anyone need a barely - and I mean barely! - used pair of kids size 13 soccer shoes?