1 Down, 54 to go (not counting weekends)

Today was our first real day of summer or should I say my first real day back as full-time mommy! I was convinced it was going to be a good day. It started by having to wake Sam up so that I could get Claire to tennis camp promptly at 8:30. I ended up having the first kid at the camp, I guess I overcompensated! After we had her dropped off we headed to our beloved Target to stock up on pool snacks, bike helmets and bike bells. Oh, and an awesome red, bounce playground ball--I had a plan for this that I recently saw in my Family Fun magazine!! In the same plaza we headed over to PetSmart. We had to buy a leash to repair Blitzen's Gentle Leader. I won't go in to anymore detail than that. All you need to know is that I am pulling out my sewing machine for my dog...I know, I can hardly believe it myself. While in Petsmart Emma wanted to pet the kitties but they were cleaning the cages so I got out of that. She also wanted to buy her own pink leash with rhinestones so she could use it to play "doggy" at home. This is of course a game she plays with her siblings or a stuffed animal where she would use a leash to walk them around. I told her she could buy it with her own money next time we come to Petsmart. We returned later that day with exactly $6.46 of her money and she bought it!! And she got to pet the kitties on the second trip!



When we got home from the first Petsmart trip Emma and Sam played outside with the new bouncy ball while I made them smoothies! The ball idea involved me taking a Sharpie and writing lots of different things on it like, "on one leg", "over your head", "eyes closed", etc. It is basically for catch but when you catch the ball you are supposed to throw it back doing the action that is closest to your right hand! It does help if you can read! I did try to draw symbols for some of them. Claire also drew a four square grid with sidewalk chalk and that has proven to be much more fun than my game! I think it is great that we have options for the red, bouncy playground ball. I am just waiting for Blitzen to decide it is his ball and sink his teeth into it, popping it.



Then the afternoon came... the lull in the day. The girls each wrote in their journals. Sam did some of his school worksheets, they watched 1 hour of TV, they got on their suits and played in the sprinkler. We then headed to the pool when it opened at 3:30. It was crowded to say the least, but we had fun! After dinner we headed up to the park and Claire and I hit the tennis ball a little bit. She has a lot of room for improvement but after one day of tennis camp I actually thought she learned quite a bit. The other two rode their bikes (wearing their new helmets) to the park with Scott. Sam then had a major meltdown on the way home. It lasted until bedtime which was too late for him.

Pretty good for the most part. Only regret is that I did not have a 3pm cup of coffee like I usually have when my kids are in school. I should have. The second half of the day was definitely not as good as the first half. I know it was because of the lack of coffee. There is just something not appealing about a cup of coffee at the pool. I will need to do iced coffee at 3pm for the summer!