Midsummer

It's August already. Can't believe it. The summer has flown by.

Sam had a great time at camp. He "got" a girlfriend. I saw pictures, but she ran away when it was time to meet me ;)

Four days before camp ended, I got a call from the camp doctor. Sam injured his knee, but the amount of pain he was reporting was all out of proportion to the injury, as checked by the camp doc and by a visiting orthopedist (husband of the head of the waterfront). I reminded the doc that Sam had "sprained" his finger last summer, and wore the splint until November. So I wasn't worried. And when I saw this photo, I really wasn't worried:

That's his "big brother" Benzi, a dear friend of ours, who gets to drive a cart around camp.

So we picked Sam up on Sunday (the 24th). He complained about his knee for about 2 more days, but by the end of the week he'd totally forgotten it.

Micah enjoyed his last week of camp, although with Sam home, his anxiety level went up a little bit. But not much. He's been really relaxed and happy all summer. It's great. I definitely need to get that kid a Light Therapy lamp for the winter!

Sofia had fun at "school camp" for five weeks. She spent a long time processing that her preschool teachers would not be there. But she enjoyed being there, which is great, because her kindergarten teacher runs the program!

She also had a blast going to gym camp two afternoons each week. Her attention span has improved immensely - last week, one of the teachers said, with tears in her eyes, that Sofia had paid attention to and participated in every activity that afternoon!

Last weekend we finally got to take a bike ride. We rented a bike trailer in Bedford at the beginning of the Minuteman Rail Trail. So I had about 75 extra pounds on my bike, but Sofia was happy. Of course, she did manage to chuck both her dolls out the side, and when I stopped to retrieve them, she tossed her shoes out. It was a real workout for me to lug all that weight behind, so the boys went ahead, and did the entire 11 miles each way. I got a little past Lexington and then turned around. Sofia and I got back to Bedford, had an ice cream, and visited the little Train Museum:

(which was air conditioned...)

Sam was home about 5 days before I sent him off to my parents. He was full-on ATTITUDE! But after three days with my folks, he's much better behaved now.

While he was away, I took a little field trip - Micah, Sofia, and three other kids - to David Farmland. Both my kiddos love the animals, and there is a splash park. It was really a fun day:







Sofia got to gather a fresh egg, but she promptly dumped it into the feed bin:


The kids all had a blast in the splash park. There was a bubble pit, lots of foam and water, and a slip&slide. I really had to drag them out.

Here are four of my five:


Been going to the pool a lot. Sofia did NOT enjoy the two attempts we made at private lessons, so Micah had two lessons and Sam had one (I'd paid for 5). But she no longer wears a bubble, and she jumps in over and over again. But she will only stay within about 4 feet of the stairs (both sets of stairs - every five minutes it's "change stairs"). So yesterday I tried pulling her a couple of feet further out, and she spent ten minutes screaming and clutching my neck. Stubborn little kid!

Micah passed the deep-end test, and was contentedly floating around. It was so weird to see my "I hate to swim" kid doing that!

Yesterday I also took the kids shopping, and I could not get out of Old Navy without buying this outfit for Sofia:


She'd been clutching it and screaming about it. Refused to let go. It was really cute, so I gave in ;)

Now I'm deep into packing for our trip to Israel. It'll be fun, but I'm so not ready yet!

School plans still going well. I finally got a copy of the Tefillah curriculum I'll be teaching. I've also been working with my bnai mitzvah students, and I'll be doing a tzitzit tying workshop at a local shul in September. Cool.

Have a great summer!