Oh, that summer bucket list. It taunts us every year at this time, and we go into panic mode trying to cram in every fun activity and every family bonding experience that we can muster. Camp is done, the days are getting shorter, Labor Day is almost here, and we're nearly out of time given our busy weekend ahead. But we made some good headway in the past week or so!
Last week there was a nice night for a run, and I came home to the boys playing basketball, or at least some form of basketball with a dodge ball that gave Carter more of a chance to play. I love this picture because the motion made ghost-like images in the fading light. You almost can't even see Jacob in the middle--he's just a blur--and Craig is dunking on the left. After I stretched following my run, I joined in and we had a rousing game. Carter was defending me and he was hardcore! He never took his eyes off my and followed my every move! Jacob was in his glory with all of us playing together.
Last Friday we went out for ice cream at our favorite little place. I am officially addicted to Gifford's Ice Cream. Maine Deer Tracks is my favorite, maybe ever. We used to go this place a couple times per summer after baseball, but since then it's been a struggle to get there even once in the summer, yet it's so worth it when we do!
Saturday we went out for kids eat free dinner at Uno, and I love the tongue-out effort that Carter's making to create his pizza!
After that we headed out to play mini golf at the place closest to us. It just got rebranded, so we were interested to see what improvements had been made. We had a very close golf game, but Craig had the game of his life and Carter was pretty good too, so they beat Jacob and me by two shots! Jacob was pretty upset by the loss, until we went in and played in the arcade a bit. They had a new basketball game, and he couldn't wait to try it. One or two games in, he was getting rather close to beating the high score. He was close enough that we let him try a couple more times, and once he got within two points of tying it! He was so upset (but in a good way) that he didn't get it, but man, he was close! Kid's got skills...we'll see how it goes come January! He had so much fun trying to beat it that he's insisting it was his favorite thing that we've done all summer! (Considering our travels and especially the Basketball Hall of Fame, perhaps next year we'll just spend $100 at the arcade and call it good.)
The rest of the weekend was a battle to get through my to do list. I had some cleaning to do. I needed to rearrange some things in the kitchen just to make enough room for extra lunch snacks for Carter, since I need to start packing his lunch (and want to use non-gluten-free items) next week. I wanted to make Chex Mix. I needed to install bedside lights (not hard-wired, but wall-mounted) that I've had since June. Carter needed to do his project for his kindergarten meet-and-greet. I needed to test out my dress for a wedding this weekend, and maybe test out curling my hair. I had a giant list, and pushed as much as I could to complete it. I didn't quite get there, but I did a ton--including stuff that wasn't even there, like yard work--trimming, weeding, and transplanting a section of hostas. Oh, and we also did Kohl's, Walmart and Target trips to buy everything on our school supply lists, including Carter's backpack, lunch box, and straw cup. The boys just had to get a photo on the red ball outside Target!
Considering one of my worst-ever memories was taking 5-year-old Jacob school shopping, these trips were heavenly. The boys did well, and suddenly the thing that was hanging over our heads for weeks was done!
Jacob finished up camp last week, so this week he's off and we've been trying to give him some real "summer vacation" time. It's not easy, though, because Craig has tight work deadlines and I'm in one of my busiest times of year and facing down four days off in a couple weeks. I took off Tuesday and Wednesday, and we crammed those full.
Tuesday is going to get its own post, but Wednesday's highlight was going to Lasertron with Jacob. I did a Groupon a while back, figuring we could do some mother-son bonding there. I had hoped to do something called Cybersport, which is like lacrosse and basketball combined, while on a moving vehicle, but our timing apparently stunk so we had to do two rounds of laser tag. At first I wasn't so sure about it--and sure enough, I still stink at laser tag 25 years later--but we had a really good time. The first game was a king of the hill game, and we ended up on separate teams, each with about four or five other people. You had to capture bases around the arena, in addition to shooting people. I was really bad at that one. But four rounds went quickly, and it was a great workout! Jacob did pretty well! Our second game only had one other person, so it ended up being a solo game. Instead of capturing bases, there were targets to shoot when we weren't getting each other. That game I was good at! I rocked the first round, and the other kid beat us in the next two. Jacob wanted to call a truce in the third one and just go after him, and I relented even though it seemed a little mean--but he was killing us and I wanted Jacob to leave happy. We all ended up within about 1,000 points of each other, but I emerged the victor! We had a really good, very sweaty time, although my almost-40-year-old body let me know afterward that it was a workout! We also had some arcade time, and I was excited to win the jackpot on Jacob's favorite pirate ship spinning wheel game! We finished off the day with my birthday dinner at Red Robin, so it was a great day!
Oh, and I continued to check things off my to do list, including moving Jacob's keepsakes into a bigger bin, using dollar store bins to organize the kitchen cabinets in preparation for Carter's snacks, finishing installing the bedside lights, and reorganizing power strips and plugs to make our living room and bedroom setups more functional. Some of this stuff has been a nagging pain for a while so it felt great to get it done!
Anyway, we've been trying our best to get in some family time before school starts next week, and I think we've been making a good effort. We have a busy weekend ahead with a family wedding and a certain milestone birthday, but we still have a little bit of time before summer's unofficial end. Wasn't it just Memorial Day?! Sigh. Every year.
But before summer's end, stay tuned for the post about Tuesday's fun day...and maybe some thoughts on that milestone birthday...that's starting in about five minutes...
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