School's Out, School's Out... What to do with all of this time?

Today was the last day of school. I love the end of school (I think). I love the thought of no schedule and the dream of a slower pace and peace on earth. Oh wait… we are the Thomas’s – as in… close relatives to the Grizwolds. We always over commit and over schedule. We think we are super human or something, and we are NEVER peaceful... but one can always dream. We don’t believe in down time. Well, I believe in down time, but I just somehow only dream of it. At least we have tomorrow unscheduled.
Here is the plan, Lordie Lordie... help us!
Week 1 – June 8-14 – Anthony has Gifted & Talented testing on June 9-10 mornings, and we have swim team practice every morning, and a swim meet on Saturday, but horseback riding is over for the summer (some concellation), and no school or camps this week.
Week 2 – June 15-21 – Anthony has cub scout camp in mornings, and Maggie has Music Art Drama camp in mornings, and swim team practice every morning, and a swim meet on Saturday (last swim meet)… then Father’s Day on Sunday.
Week 3 – June 22-28 – Twins go away Monday morn to Friday afternoon to Camp Good News with our church. Alexander and Ben have WOW science camp at the church in the mornings.
Week 4 – June 29-July 4 – Nothing scheduled. This is our week to get ready for “ranch camp” which we will depart for right after the 4th. Also, we just learned that our cousins from Kentucky will arrive June 28 to July 8 and will rotate their time between the 3 Houston area family households. We hope they stay with us a lot… Thomas and Anna are a blast – Aunt Tamm is pretty fun too. They like the beach and water, so that keeps us busy, but we like that too, so we get along well!
After July 4 – to July 28 -Depart for “Ranch Camp” in Pawhuska.
July 28-August 12 – M & A go to Kamp Kanakuk in Branson Missouri for 2 weeks! This seems like a long time for them to be away, but I remind myself that I was at Camp Lake Hubert for a month starting at their age. The littles and I will rush home after delivering them to camp to attend Vacation Bible School, then some of that rare down time before picking them up on Aug 12.
The Cowboy House:
This is our 2nd year to spend a month on the ranch in our cowboy house that we made claim to last year. At first it seemed that we were being sent away from my dad’s house when it was suggested that we try the cowboy house, and I took offense. Now… I will fight for the cowboy house… Oh will I fight for it! And… I will win, because, try as they might, none of my siblings, step siblings, second step siblings, or inlaws, or outlaws will ever rival the chaos that we bring to the ranch, so it is just better for everyone for us to have our own space. I used to take offense to this fact too, but I have come to accept that this is just “us”. How could I have 4 kids in 5 years and expect anything else. It is getting better, but our noise level is still shocking to most people. I usually notice that look on people’s faces when it is time for us to move on. My dad only really needs to see us about an hour a day, but I am realizing that this hour a day is more and more precious. My dad has had at least 4 heart attacks in his 60+ year life, and since I live far enough away to make the visit tough with all of my crew, I am getting a little emotional about missing my family in Oklahoma. It doesn’t seem fair that everyone else can see everyone as often as they want. I would love to just be able to get in the car and be at my mom’s or dad’s in an hour or so. We are now down to Thanksgiving and a summer visit. This is why the cowboy house is so perfect for us. We can have our own space, and not feel like we wear out our welcome.
Last summer, the twins were able to work cattle with my brother, Thatcher about 5 days a week at 5:30am. It was a great experience for them to get comfortable riding a horse, and to see what a true day’s work is all about. They also made friends with several cousins and cowboy’s kids, which expanded their horizon from this life in the suburbs with pools and activities galore, that is their norm.
We have a lot of great memories of our first “Ranch Camp”, and are hoping for more this year. The littles are getting older, but probably still not ready to ride on their own yet… at least we won’t saddle Uncle Thatcher with that responsibility. Alexander is absolutely old enough, but the twins are a handful, and since I can’t be much help with a 3 yr old, I will just keep both littles with me. Since last summer, Uncle Thatcher has gotten married, and is expecting a baby, and I hear he is moving to town (vs. his ranch house only about 200 yds from our cowboy house. We still hope to see a lot of him, and also cousin Forest and other cousins on the ranch. It is much more laid back at “ranch camp”. Our cowboy house is smaller than our house and thus easier to clean. We don’t have all of our stuff with us, and thus less clutter, which is nice. We will miss our pool, because it is still darned hot at the ranch in the summer. As I recall, we actually have more days over 100 degrees than we do in Houston, but that humidity in Houston is killer.
Well… that is our summer. I can picture it over already before we even start this first day out of school. I guess we will try next year for that low key summer… yeah right! Happy Summer Vacation anyway…this is just who we are!