Tag: #SummerDayCamp

  • ODDS and ENDS: Summer Day Camp’s Last Day, Vacations, Tottenham Anxiety

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    Today is the final day of the kid’s Summer Day Camp, and it went wonderfully well. I think the wife and I over did it asking the kid if she wants to go back next year. The answer is yes, and hopefully, we can give her a month there, instead of two weeks. The other thing that made me happy about the camp is that our daughter had no qualms about being away from us for 6 hours, and in fact, wanted it to be longer. To me that says she is in a healthy place with being away from her parents; She wants to separate and have her own experiences, like a normal kid.

    Now we start the stretch of vacations. Yes, that is means more than one this Summer. We were lucky if we got away for one vacation a year in the past. And most of the time a “vacation” was just leaving home for a few days, and could also mean visiting family, which sometimes can be the opposite of relaxing. For us to go someplace and actually relax and not doing anything has been rare. This summer, we’re getting two trips. I feel very spoiled in saying that, even a little self-conscious. I know this is due to Covid and being trapped home for the past 15 months, but wow! I really want to get the hell out of this apartment for a couple of days.

    So… Tottenham is a bit of a shit show right now. Have they even picked a manager yet? Is it Nuno? And Harry Kane rumors are all over the place, but Tottenham has him on contract for one more year, and I still hold that Kane made that, “I want to be on a teams that wins championships” statement to get management to do something, like build a team, or keep the talent they have (like Son) and solve that defense issue they have in the last ten minutes of every match! Friendly matches start up next week, so I hope to see some changes myself.

  • Follow Through on Writing

    One of the many benefits of sending the kid to a Summer Day Camp was that I was going to have an opportunity to write. Unobstructed writing was the plan. And I was a little nervous heading into the two week stretch; would I actually follow through?

    Follow through has always been a problem for me. And procrastination. I have had many opportunities in my life to get ahead on creative work, and for one reason or another, I found a way to watch tv, or clean, or snack, or find some errand that I HAD to accomplish first before I could start writing.

    I remember once when I was in junior high, and I was semi-sick, and my dad let me stay home from school. I promised him that if I was home, I would practice my trumpet, as I was in band, all day. The old man agreed, and I stayed home, and watched tv. Didn’t touch the trumpet once. When my dad came home from work, and asked me about the trumpet, I was honest and told him I didn’t practice. He didn’t get mad at me, he just said he was very disappointed that I wasted the day, and didn’t keep my promise.

    That moment still sticks with me. Whenever I have the chance to work creatively, and I decided that I should, instead, watch my favorite episodes of Mad Men, that memory pops back into my head.

    I am testing my follow through this week. To see if I am really serious about this writing thing.

  • ODDS and ENDS – Euro Final: England v Italy, Now What… Olympics?, The Emotion of Summer Vacation

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    Shock beyond shock, I’m going to talk about the Euro 2020/21 Final on Sunday between England and Italy. Looks like I am only about 50% correct when it comes to picking finals, so I am pretty happy about that. It’s not a done deal for England, who I thought didn’t look great against Denmark, and now they have a real competitor, Italy, who is playing at the top of their game. It should be a good match, and no matter what the outcome, this is the best an English team has done is 50 years, so hats off to this squad.

    And then after Sunday… no real big sporting events to look forward to. Some of you might point out the Olympics, but man, should that even be happening? Shit is bad in Japan with Covid, and there won’t be any spectators, and as we have learned in the past year, sports without fans is kind’a dull. I’m not knocking any of the athletes in Tokyo, but this sure must be a little of a letdown for them as well.

    We are two weeks into Summer Vacation, one week in on the Summer Day camp, which leaves nine weeks until school starts up again, and according to my kid, Summer goes on forever. I remember that feeling of optimistic listlessness. Nothing to do, not wanting to do anything, needing to do something, and it felt like this wonderful inertia would go on forever. I thought I remember what Summer Vacation felt like, but I had forgotten. It’s like I knew the right words to say when an adult talks about it, but having the weight of the correct emotion behind it was lacking in me. Now I see it again, living through the excitement of my daughter’s vacation.

  • The Summer Day Camp Saga Concludes

    Today was the big day. It was the first day of Summer Day Camp for our daughter. After everything we went through last week, I was pretty nervous that it might all get derailed. But it worked out; Forms were sent, approval given, protocol followed.

    Yesterday, the wife took the kid out to get a new bathing suit for camp, as her current one is getting a little small. We hit the drug store for sun screen and other camp goodies. The kid picked out her clothes for this morning, and we all help pack her backpack last night before bed. I even got a surprise joy from making the kid’s lunch last night.

    This morning, it all went like clockwork. We all got up on time, without a complaint. Ate breakfast, brushed teeth, and were out the door like we planned. It was a fun walk this morning, just me and the kid, talking about what might be in-store at the camp; Would there be a water slide? New friends? Art classes? Building a robot.

    As we got closer to the camp, other kids began to coalesce around the entrance gate. I could feel the excitement in my daughter build. As we stepped onto the grounds, she asked me, “Can I go make friends?” That was the point, I thought, but I just said, “Yes.” Off she went to introduce herself to two girls.

    I checked my kid in with the councilors, and soon a gaggle of eight 1st Graders were all talking to each other, waiting for the camp to begin. The councilor went over to the kids, took attendance, and started to lead the kids inside for the day camp. My little one looked over her shoulder at me, gave me a quick, little wave, and was off with the rest of the group.

    And it was done. She was back with kids again. After a year and a half, she was with kids her own age, doing and talking to kids about kid things, all away from their parents.

    It honestly felt like we would never get back to something like this.

  • ODDS and ENDS – Euro 2020/21, Summer Camp, Sleep!

    “Odds and Ends” is my continuing series of random thoughts and follow ups…

    Again, I will be talking about Euro 2020/21. As of this moment, Switzerland just got bounced by Spain, and Italy and Belgium just started. Though I was completely wrong about Sweden last week, I still hold that the final will be Belgium against England. Yes, over the Fourth of July Weekend, I will be rooting for England.

    Finally, some good news with Summer Camp, as it has taken up my whole week. The pediatrician’s office got the revised vaccination form to me today; a whole day earlier than they said. The weight taken off, not only my shoulders, but my wife’s shoulders, is enormous! The kid will get to go to summer day camp! She gets to be around kids again! We all get a break from each other! I feel like I won the lottery!

    One last thing. After my wife’s birthday, which was in the middle of June, I decided that I would do another thirty days of no alcohol. I did it last year as a sort of detox and reset on getting healthy. I was told that when you stop drinking you begin to notice changes such as, the ability to sleep through the night, your complexation clears up, you become more focus, and relaxed, and you lose weight. When I did it last year, I noticed none of those benefits. Nothing. I couldn’t sleep, I had a bad complexation, I was foggy, not relaxed, and I put on weight. Sure, it was the middle of the pandemic, but I thought I would have got something. This time around, I can report that I am, in fact, sleeping better, and through the night. As for the other benefits, again, nothing. Seems to be that I might have to do this five more times before I start seeing all the benefits at once.