Summer Fun

The kids are in swim lessons again. I know they are going to regress over the winter, and they have come so far in just a short amount of time. I don't have to get in the water this time. Yay!

Got back from Girl's Camp. Not much to say about that, and no pictures, either. I was part of the kitchen help, and once again worked with some good ladies. I had a great time.

"The Magic Treehouse" idea for keeping the kids up on reading and learning was a complete flop. However, the library has been a great place to go. I'm afraid that Will hasn't done much reading yet, and that means a loss of skills. I'll have to put him through a mini reading boot camp of sorts to freshen his brain before school starts.

I have been debating over whether or not to put the kids in soccer. All the good things that come from sports, like teamwork, physical fitness, and commitment to a team and practice are valuable experiences. However, I live far away and I don't want to be a soccer mom. Or football mom, or fill-in-the-blank-with-another-sport kind of mom. Not yet. Not until I see some real begging and pleading. After giving it some thought, I've decided to start my own cross country team. All of my kids enjoy running, and it doesn't cost much. We can have daily practice as we run a lap around our 3/4 mile track. I will try and find a suitable fun run this fall and enter them in. They'll get the physical fitness part of it, they'll get the sticking to a commitment part of it, and they'll get the personal competition part of it. They won't get much teamwork because running this style is a solo sport. But, you know? I feel like we get a lot of teamwork training because of the age of my kids being so close, and because of our very close living conditions. Anyone in my area interested in having our own fun runs, let me know. If I can't find anything suitable (distance and schedule), I might be throwing one together before it gets too cold.

On a related note, I have started training for a mud run. Only a 5k, because I think that's all I can handle right now. Time without children is non-existent, so if I wake up before everyone else I can squeeze out 30-40 minutes of alone time. I'm trying out the "Couch to 5k" program via my iPhone app "C25K" which lets you run to your own music while a voice tells you when to run and walk. Actually training for something is the only way I seem to keep myself motivated right now. I know once I get into it I'll be back to my usually fit self. I've had a rough year. Starting now, the next 12 months will be better.