I can honestly say I miss the COVID summer, where the kids slept in, swam, and stayed out of serious trouble. At worst, we'd work with other parents for some sort of illegal meet-up, or even a practice. With most general precautions removed, it's just running around like a constipated wiener dog.
The sports camps draw my primary ire. Half start at 8am, meaning I can drop them off and go into work. However, they are only half-day practices, which means right when I'm comfortable at work, I need to drive 20 minutes to pick them up, followed by a half-hour ride home. Luckily, I can still work from home, but after five days of this, it feels beyond ridiculous.
Next week begins the all day camps, meaning my wife can pick them up, but in these cases, drop-off isn't until 9am, meaning I should be putting fires out at home before jumping in the car.
Mix in birthday parties, special events, sleepovers, and other extravaganzas, and by the time I see my house I'm in full veg mode.
With all this ranting about activities, I guess a sport rant is required.
I playfully made an aside in my last AAU post for the season that Maja's 7th grade core group of girls for middle school basketball that should rival most Freshman teams. Since then, while overhearing a conversation with the middle school and varsity coaches, it was confirmed that her team would beat the Freshman girls, if given a chance. On a team dominated in numbers by 8th graders, Maja's crew is still responsible for 3/4 of the points, and they did not allow the opposing score to score for the 13 minutes they were on the court. In fact, for the other 23 minutes, the other team outscored the 8th graders 12-10.
There are three more games left this summer for the junior high league, one involving a top-ranked point guard amongst 7th graders (yes those things exist, even for girls). All I can say is challenge accepted.
Meanwhile, Maja's also discovered volleyball, and just started to attend open practices for the middle school (Yes, this overlapping is allowed up until August 3rd, we checked). I will give no boastful parenting for her here. It's two practices in and no one is calling for state titles in 2027, heck I'd be happy for a win in 2027, but it has been tremendously fun, she's making new friends, and if I gloat about anything, it is that she's asking lots of questions about the rules, responding to coaching, and inquiring about what exercises she can do at home to improve her jumping. I don't pretend to know how this will all pan out, but that level of passion (while maintaining fun), is necessary for all things in life.
In a few short hours, both girls will begin playing in dual six-week summer leagues, one all girls, the other a co-ed leagues. As usual, should be a hoot.
No rest for the parental units. I guess that's a blessing.
Project 350 (Unofficial): Still on hiatus, thanks to the build-up and execution of #RPGaDay2021 throughout August Working through and scheduling the first week of posts, the blog has swollen to 525 (337/185) from 486 (317/169) only two weeks ago. Nine out of the thirty-one days are finished, and they're only a few that will require an hour or two, a beer, and perhaps skipping painting for a bit. It's a normal summertime function, and I hope to be back to painting before I need to start travelling for work in September.
... and if I can have fewer than four Star Wars Actual Play posts to still finish, life would be just peachy.
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