Summer--turns me upside down

Lars has started drawing actual things on the chalkboard. Be still my heart. The arches above the stick people are "long hair."

So anyway, summer! Almost here. Actually ours is starting a week earlier than our friends' and neighbors', since we didn't plan on snow makeup days when we planned our summer travels this past winter. We'll be in Utah for a couple of weeks but after that, I'm planning to repeat the Summer Days Series that I found to be so successful last year. My kids still remember Trail Day, Water Day etc. and ask me frequently if we can do it again this summer, especially Ida. 

A few differences this year: for one, Theo will have swim practice every weekday morning. Side note, I never thought I would be so proud of my kid for making it on the swim team. Oh heavens he worked hard and his swim teacher worked hard and I worked hard and Theo and I butted heads and one or both of us cried at various points. But thankfully that's over for now and it's pretty adorable to watch him plow through the water with no recognizable stroke but darn it, he can make it across the pool on his own, and teaching actual strokes is what the swim coaches are for.

I'm hoping that I'll be organized enough each day so that 3 days a week (or maybe 2 this year) we can go directly from his practices to whatever the adventure is, and still be home for quiet time.

Second thing is that last summer, wherever we went, Lars was either in the Ergo or a stroller. That won't be realistic this year. He's too big for the Ergo. Maybe stroller sometimes, but he'll be walking on the hikes.

Third thing is that lately--in part because of the second thing--I've really struggled with herding my cats, I mean children, in public. Lately meaning like the last 2-3 weeks and especially the last week. Sometimes it's a classic and tragic domino effect that has happened more frequently with a tantrum from the oldest leading to tears from the middle one leading to excited jumping up and down from the youngest one.

Other times the problem is limited to only one child. Usually the same child but I won't say which one but you might be able to guess but I'm not telling. OK you dragged it out of me, it's Theo. (I'll go back and delete all my specific complaints about my kids in a few years. Really) Sure love that kid. But not sure how to have a fun summer if things keep going the way they are. I have a number of ideas of how to tackle the problem... one of which involves actual tackling, but that's really a last resort... anywho, now I'm just rambling....

I'm being really vague but let's just say that our broody little foursome gets the side-eye in public a lot these days and I'm trying to change that. With minimal tackling.

Worst case scenario we'll just go to the pool every afternoon. For this summer anyway, we decided that Theo getting better at swimming necessitated joining a swim team which necessitated joining a pool. So for the first time since we moved to this house, we'll have daily access to a pool. We went yesterday at dinner time with Hannah and Rhoda and had a great time and I'm planning to eat dinner there pretty much any day it's not raining. Please join me any time.

I've always thought of myself as being the "fend for yourself" type of mom ("fend for yourself" being what I tell my kids) and that extends to summer vacation, since that's what I remember doing as a kid. But for this season of life my kids seem to need more structure. Is our season somewhat influenced by living in the most OCD/controlling/buttoned up/driven/aggressive/ridiculous county in the nation? Maybe? Or maybe my mom was more organized than I thought she was.

(that last one is by Ida, not Lars. :)