Well. Hi There. How’ve you been?

Me? Oh, I’ve been really shitty, thanks for asking! Brace yourself, this is a long one. I don’t blame you if you don’t read it all.

Ethan is having a tough time at summer camp. I’ve already mentioned his change in attitude and behavior. He’s been sent to the office a few times, usually near the end of the day, and we’ve done something like taken his DS away for a day and he’s shaped up.

Monday and Tuesday, James had some stuff going on, so I was on my own for both nights.

Monday, I got to the kids’ school at about 5pm, thinking about what I could do with them. It was pretty hot, so I was thinking maybe we could head to the pool, or maybe stop somewhere fun for dinner, like California Tortilla. I had just bought a couple of board games and maybe the three of us could play some. I was in a great mood, looking forward to spending some fun time with my kids, just me and them.

I walked in the school and saw Ethan sitting in the office. He saw me and gave me his grumpiest face.

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Ethan did indeed turn up with a fever this morning and a cough that sounds suspiciously croupy to me. He obviously felt much better after the motrin kicked in, but he and Daddy are kickin’ it at home today.

So me and Jocelyn were on our own on our way to school!

I must say, I’m pretty impressed with the iphone’s camera quality. But the subject still does have to hold still. Will someone please build me a app for “keep kid in place for picture”? I’ll expect that in the app store shortly!

One of the things we did for James for father’s day was make superman t-shirts. One for daddy (SuperDaddy!), one for Ethan (SuperBoy!) and one for Jocelyn (SuperGirl!).

Ethan didn’t want to wear his on Father’s day, but Jocelyn was more than game. A shot of SuperDAddy and SuperGirl at SuperSweetWaterTavern where the supers get their Father’s day sustenance (not to mention beer).

I also made a print of this image and framed it for James:

It was a nice father’s day, even though near the end I did have to say to James, “I realize it’s father’s day and I should be watching the kids so you can relax and all, but you may have to step in in order to keep me from strangling them.”

In other news, summer camp is in it’s first week, which means lots of fun activities for the kids at school. Ethan usually goes somewhere for a specific activity (bowling, pool, mini golf) in a school van in the morning, and then comes back in the afternoon more open playtime. He is also allowed to take his Nintendo DS to school (which wasn’t allowed during the school year by us or the school) and he usually is playing it when I pick him up.

Wednesday as I was tucking him in to bed, he said, “My neck hurts.” Now, James has been sick for the last three days so I immediately checked his forehead for any signs of fever and felt his glands. All fine.

“Is it inside your neck, like your throat? Or more on the outside, like your muscles?”

“It’s on the outside.”

Hmm. I told him he’d feel better in the morning and left it at that.

Yesterday when I picked him up at school, again, he was playing his DS. I tore him away so he could you know, say Hi or give me a hug or something, and noticed his eyes were red-rimmed and somewhat bloodshot. Suddenly I realized what his “sore neck” was from.

“How long did you play your DS today?” I asked him on the way home.
“A LONG time,” he answered.

We have a gamer-boy on our hands, who has strained neck muscles from hunching over and bloodshot eyes from peering at the screen for who knows how many hours a day.

I told him when we got home, the DS was done for the day. I also stressed the importance of taking BREAKS and that there were LOTS of OTHER things he could do at summer camp, he didn’t have to JUST play his DS all afternoon. I also talked to one of the counselors and asked her to maybe encourage him to do some other things this afternoon. We’ll see.

Gamer-boy.

It has been a really nice week.

Children-wise, I mean.

The kids have been so happy go lucky. Last Friday was the last week of “school” and this week was designated as “daycare only” at their school, which means Ethan has gotten to bring his Nintendo DS to school with him and play to his little heart’s content, and probably not much of any change for Jocelyn.

Next week summer camp starts, which is filled with much more exciting things, especially for Ethan, since he is in the “big kids” summer camp. He gets to board the school’s vans each day and head out to the pool, skating, mini golf, & bowling. Jocelyn gets to have game day, splash day, movie day, and imagination station day (all at the school).

So I was kind of afraid this might be a blah week for them, but they’ve been so cheery and happy I am looking back at the week, kind of amazed. In fact on Wednesday when I picked them up, they were so lovey dovey and happy that I commented to them, “You guys are happier than a pile of puppies!” which made them laugh and giggle with even MORE happiness.

We all had so much fun at the pool last Sunday that I promised I would take them after school on Friday. Yesterday Ethan asked, “How many days until Friday?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Friday we’re going to the POOL!”

“Well, you should be happy because TOMORROW is Friday!”

“WAHOO!! I’m going to swim under water again! And I’m going to show Daddy this time!”

These kids. So cute. I hope the “happy” streak continues for a LONG long while.

Saturday recap:

It was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we had Jocelyn’s last soccer game. We all melted into little puddles. Then we went drove over to some air conditioning so the coaches could hand out soccer trophies and the kids could eat cupcakes. Then we went to Target and bought some new pool toys and headed home for lunch and more air conditioning.

When we were ready to brave the heat again, we headed out to Old Town Manassas for their annual train festival.

We heard about it 2 years ago, when we happened to go into town the day AFTER the festival, and then last year we missed it for some reason (probably soccer) so we had it on our calendar and were determined to NOT miss it.

It was hot, and fun. It was under a big pavillion so at least there was shade.

There were about 6 big train layouts and I think Ethan could have stayed there all day.

He didn’t say much, but just kept wandering here and there, eyes never moving from all the trains.

I see lego trains in our future.

Jocelyn was very excited to see one train car with fish in it – She pulled me over to show me, and I was shocked to see that yes, they were real goldfish! We stayed a while, looking at all the layouts and climbing on the old caboose (which is there all the time, not just for the train festival).

Then we headed out to a birthday party/barbeque at one of James’ work friends. They had a kiddy pool and a sprinkler thingee that had a rocket launcher and the kids got their suits on and were in heaven. I let James watch them while I stayed in the blessed air conditioning. The kids and I didn’t get to stay long however, as I had a birthday party to take them too. In retrospect, I should have just RSVPed NO to the party and planned on staying for the BBQ, because they’ve been to about a ZILLION parties in the last 2 months. But oh well.. I’ll know better next time I guess.

Sunday, James took the kids to the pool while I went grocery shopping.

They came back and had lunch and then I took them BACK to the pool, where Ethan finally learned how to hold his breath and go under water! Granted, this was with big goggles, the kind that goes over eyes and nose, but I’ll take it.

He was very VERY excited with his accomplishment and can’t wait to go back to the pool.

Jocelyn escaped with I think a tiny sunburn on her cheeks, Ethan was a bit red on his back and his shoulders, and I got totally roasted on my upper back and shoulders. Ow. Hopefully we all heal before the next time we head back. And next time, I’ll be sunscreening everyone up every HOUR (including myself!)

We have a Code Red on heat here in the DC area until Tuesday. We really were lucky to go as long as we did without the excruciating heat, but summer finally decided to stop looking the other way and blast us with the heat and humidity. Ah well.

Hope everyone’s weekend was good!