Summer Part 2

Well, the summer can be summed up in a few words….  Academics, swimming, 2 wheels, camping and friends!!!

Academics:

Well, it’s no secret that Tyler struggled a bit through kindergarten.  He did well socially and behavior-wise.  But the reading and writing? Not so much.  I think he was just too busy, had too many other things he was more interested in, you know?  I tried to work with him as much as possible, but our classic head-butting made it difficult.  About 2/3 through the year, I gave up on making him do the homework, which, frankly, I think is a bit ridiculous for kindergarten anyway! But I digress.  Anyway, it was recommended that he attend summer school in order for him to be properly prepared for first grade.

Here he is, boarding the school bus on the first day – my brave little guy!!

 

It was just for three hours a day, for three weeks.  He never had much to say about it, but from the work he brought home, I could definitely see improvement in his writing. And he is getting better in his word recognition.  I still worry about him, academically, but we’ll see.  I know he’ll find his niche eventually and be ok.

Here he is – very happy – on the last day of summer school!!!

 

 Swimming:

 We have spend A LOT of time at the pool this summer!!!  In fact, due to two sessions of swim lessons, we were there almost every day for four weeks straight!!  Evan and Maddy were first for a two week session of lessons, and then Tyler for a two week session.  The lessons are given by one of the pool lifeguards.  We’ve been lucky this year in that we got a very good crop of lifeguards at our community pool, which hasn’t always been the case.  The lessons were taught by a very sweet young man named Nikolai.  Nikolai is from Serbia (as are all of our lifeguards), where he is a professional basketball player!  But here, he is a swim instructor adored by the children!!
 

 Though Madelyn and her friend Madeleine weren’t too interested in listening to Nikolai’s instruction, they sure had fun doing their own thing!! 

And thanks to them being in their own world, Evan essentially was getting private lessons!! :)

 

 

 

And Tyler had four of his friends in his session!

 

 
The lessons were great – and very productive.  Evan’s and Tyler’s swimming skills improved exponentially, and even Maddy came a long way.  On day one of her lessons, she wouldn’t even put her face in the water to blow bubbles.  By day four, she was going under to get rings from the bottom (in the very shallow water, but still!).  So we’ve spent a lot of time at the pool and the kids are really enjoying themselves.  I love seeing them have fun in the water, though it will always make me nervous.  I want them to be the best swimmers they can be, since I’m not that great myself.  And I think they will be, in fact, Maddy keeps saying that she wants to be a lifeguard when she grows up – although I think it has more to do with the whistle…!

 

 

 Two wheels:

This says it all for me:

  

Just one of the major developments for Evan of late.  He also FINALLY this summer started pumping his own swing! I know he’s been capable of it for a long time, but he chose not to. He preferred to keep getting pushed.  Of course! Who wouldn’t?  Lazy little stinker…. J 

AND, Evan has lost TWO teeth and has a third one loose!!  So we’ve had our first visits from the Tooth Fairy!

 

 Camping:

So we weren’t able to get away for a weeklong vacation this summer, but we were fortunate enough to be able to join Mitch’s parents (and sister and family) for a long weekend at Lake Anna State Park.  Fammy and Granddad rented a cute little cabin on the lake, and Ashley and Richard rented a campsite.  During the day, we spent time at the beach and on the dock where the adults enjoyed hanging out and the kids enjoyed jumping off!!

 

Richard brought his canoe and the kids loved going out on it.  And I even conquered my fear of canoes (yes, I have a fear of canoes – what of it!!) and went for a ride myself!!

  And we spent some fun time on the hiking trails too!

 

At night, Mitch and the boys joined Ashley, Richard, Nathan and Charlotte at the campsite!  It was the boys first time sleeping in a tent and they had a blast.  Maddy and I stayed behind at the cabin with Fammy and Granddad.  On the last night, we all hung out at the campsite for a bit and had some s’mores.  Almost made me want to stay overnight in the tent!  Almost…..

 

 

 

 

 

 It was a great weekend and the kids were quite tuckered out at the end of it, which is always a good thing!!!  AND - we even made the paper!! :)  Every summer, the Kids Post in the Washington Post encourages kids to take pictures on their vacations holding up the Kids Post. Well, it took A LOT of effort, but Ashley got a pretty decent shot of all the kids and I sent it in to the Post as soon as we got home. It got published the following week!

 

 Friends:

Madelyn went to a week of summer camp!!  She starts preschool in September, and I thought this was a good way to get her used to going to, and being left at school.  She’s familiar with the school, since she went with me to pick up Evan all the time last year, but she’d never been left there by herself.  I was nervous about how she’d react! She was a bit apprehensive, but she ended up doing quite well!  It helped that she went with her friend Madeleine, who will also be attending Daytime Playtime in September!!

 

 

 

 

 

These two seem to have a real budding friendship and it makes me so happy!  I can already picture them running around as pre-teen girls, and it only scares me a little bit!! J  But I’m not too worried because her mom and I are pretty good at sharing the wine, so it will all be ok!! :)

And the boys have had a great time all summer playing with their friend Ryan who also lives on our street.  They spend a lot of time riding bikes and scooters and playing with their DS’s!  Of course I only have this funny picture of them playing their DS's...... :)

 Ryan’s sister Anna has taken a shine to Maddy too which is sweet!

 

 

 

So, it’s been a good summer – lots of outdoor fun, in and out of the water!!  And in the morning, Tyler starts first grade, and Evan starts kindergarten!!!  Let the next life chapter begin!!!