School wound down for the year and so we began our summer. This summer I have big plans to make it a memorable one for me and the kids. Actually, I always want to do that, but this year I am trying a different approach.  The kids are getting bigger now.

The oldest is starting high school next year and needs to begin volunteering. The past couple of years, living mostly with his dad, he has lacked a great deal of structure. We decided to enroll him back in the Boys and Girls Club for summer activities. And it was planned he would have summer school to help prepare for next year. Then his grandpa invited him to a weekend trip to Long Beach, CA, for a Buddhist event for teens. Pretty busy for a kids who generally just flies to his grandparents and goofs off all summer. The princess was also to go to the Boys and Girls Club so she, too, would have summer activities and social interaction. I was to start school myself and hopefully find a day job I enjoy. At some point I would even find time to master the grill. It was going to be a remarkable summer.

We have now wrapped up week one of summer. The oldest was promoted to high school. He is enrolled in and attending the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center along w/ some of his friends. Just a few days ago we received a notice saying he would not be attending summer school. Apparently, it is not in the budget to accept kids who just need a little help. Only those who need it to gain credits to be promoted will be attending. Frustrating as it is, it isn’t the end of the world. We are still working on volunteer routes for him.

The princess was not enrolled into the Boys and Girls Club Club House. Upon viewing it and speaking with the person overseeing the venue, I could not bear to leave a 6 year old there. It looked like a crack house. They admitted the funding was too low for field trips (which the teen center has) and there are lots of kids attending despite the small space and limited resources. So now she will have to be enrolled in a day camp which will cost significantly more. Her school seems to have low academic standards so I am enrolling her into a charter school in the next town. Or so I thought. After they told me she was in, they called back and told me the information they were going on was incorrect and that she is number six on the waiting list. Wait, what? She isn’t going back to the old school and now she may not have a slot in the new one. Here is to hoping A LOT of kids move over the summer. So she gets to stay at home with me.

Normally, I love having my kids with me. They are my life. However, when you are trying to start school for the first time in over a decade having a moody teenager and a six year old at home doesn’t always work out as well as it seems like it would. It is hard to focus on f-stops, shutter speed, and lenses when in the background are, “Mom, brother did...” “No I didn’t”.  

My attempt to master the grill has yet to even really begin, unless you count me watching my ex husband grill after my son’s promotion. What I learned during this was if you yell and curse at the grill enough it will eventually light. He prefers charcoal to gas.

In my attempt to continue being bold, I decided to get another piercing.  (I can already see the head shakes of my loving family and friends.) For a while now I had thought of getting my woo ha pierced. Yep, I decided to go for it. For those who say it doesn’t hurt that bad…They LIE! I have given birth and it didn’t hurt that bad. It hurt so bad that I jumped causing the piercer to lose contact w/ the needle (this means the jewelry and needle weren’t touching while he was trying to put the jewelry in). So he then tried to finish putting the jewelry through without the needle. Here is the thing about the jewelry. It has threads on the end so the ball can be screwed on. And the threads were catching. Sounds bad, huh? It was worse. So he just pulled it out and we gave up. So I have a sore woo ha with a whole through it and nothing to show for it.

So my summer is getting off to an interesting start. It certainly isn’t the magnificent summer I had planned. Then again, nothing ever goes that smoothly around here. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer hold for us.