I’m afraid our sunny summer days seem to be few and far between here in Western WA. We’ve had a run of cloudy, grey days lately. I don’t mean to complain since it’s far better than rain but I do love the sunshine.
Don’t be fooled by those smiling faces–it is NOT warm enough to be washing cars.
We have a picnic planned for tomorrow but I don’t think we’re going to need sunglasses. Ha! Ahh well, getting together with friends is a cheerful diversion whatever the weather.
We’re continuing with our homeschooling through the summer. I’ve tried to cut back as much as I could (to give the illusion of a summer vacation for the kiddos) but still keep things structured and focused on some learning. I’ve found too much freedom results in whiny, bored children not to mention what it does to their mastery of math facts.
David will be in kindergarten next year which is exciting. Those early grades offer all the fun of schooling with few of the drawbacks. Everything is interesting and new and fun. The world of reading is right at his finger tips but we can stop at any time to spend the rest of the day playing. I’m already eager to start him on some early math books. We’ll have to do some tweaking of our schedule to keep Sarah entertained while David’s school increases. Thankfully Sarah is able to play contentedly on her own.
Summer 2005–Sarah makes sure Daniel is behaving!
If the weather ever heats up we plan to join the local pool. Last summer I resisted that idea as we had our own above ground pool and were gone for so much of the summer. This year David has been taking swimming classes at the Y and is much more comfortable in the water. We aren’t participating in any of the Y camps–we actually put our membership on hold this summer which frees up some money for a pool membership. Our Wal Mart pool died last year with several rips in the bottom (our fault–surely I can find some pictures of that little miscalculation).
Although it seemed like a GREAT idea, it turns out a plastic pool (with a rather thin bottom) can NOT handle the wear and tear of a jungle gym placed on top of it. Oops! That was a costly mistake.
All in all a membership to the country club pool right here in our neighborhood sounds like a good idea. The pool doesn’t open until noon (swim classes in the morning) which dove tails nicely with our summer homeschooling schedule.
Now if we can just get some nice, hot summer days.
–KME
I guess we had all our June sunshine back in May … not that there is usually much to be had in western Washington this time of year. I remember the first two summers we lived here (1999 and 2000) — it seemed as thought it rained the whole month, temperatures in the 50s. What a change from Michigan, where June is generally full bore Summer!
Personally, I think the bottom of the pool ripped because of the plastic’s brittle condition, baked in the sun for two summers, NOT because of reckless and hare-brained ideas.