Days of June

We've had a really fun summer so far, in spite of our busy phase in June.  June was a bit hectic because I front-loaded our summer with the lessons and such.  For the whole month of June, Cat had soccer training camp every Tuesday and Thursday morning and tennis lessons later in the morning.  She and Jack also had swim lessons every day for the first two weeks.  So the first two weeks in June, our Tuesday and Thursday mornings looked like this:

8:00-9:00
Soccer training camp for Cat
Lakeside Sports Complex
This was a bit of organized chaos.  The training camp was included in the cost of next year's soccer registration, and all children ages 6-8, for all of the teams for the city league, were invited to come during this time slot.  Each morning of camp, they divided up into groups to run drills and play games.  It was nice that it didn't cost me anything extra, so I admit that on the mornings when we were a little slow moving or the kids slept in, we didn't stress out about getting there - but Cat was there most of the days they met.

Apparently it's helpful to practice rugby during soccer training camp.
Thus, the throwing and catching in the top right picture.

Jack enjoyed running in the grass while Cat played soccer.

But mostly he and Eliza played on the playground at the sports complex.

Sometimes we would hang out for a few minutes after Cat finished "training" so that she could play too.

Eliza didn't seem to mind.

10:00-10:30

Swim lessons for Cat and Jack

Scera Pool

Being from the Southeast, it didn't occur to me that mid-morning swimming in an outdoor pool would be anything but refreshing.  Well, there was more than one day when we arrived at the pool and the temperature hadn't gotten into the 60s yet.  The first time it happened, I dutifully brought the kids to the pool, but was absolutely expecting to be told that swim lessons had been canceled due to severely hypothermic water conditions.  Au contraire.  They swam anyway.  Of course, I'd forgotten that even if the air temperature drops dramatically, the water temperature is much less dynamic, especially in the deeper pool.  So most of the younger classes actually moved into the deeper pool that day.

Eliza and I mostly just lounged during swim lessons.  Life can be so hard sometimes.

Last day of swim lessons!

Look, Ma!  A certificate!


The last day was one of the colder days, so Jack was more interested in getting into dry clothes than  posing for a picture.  Can't say I blame him.

11:00-11:30
Tennis lessons for Cat
Cascade Park

I have nothing against soccer.  It's great exercise, easy for kids to understand, and a beloved worldwide pastime that will probably help a good soccer player make friends where he or she goes for the rest of his or her life.  But.... there's just this part of me.  This part of me that resists the thing that everyone else is obsessed with.  (It took me years to accept skinny jeans.  And Crocs.  And Facebook.  Just to name a few.)  Plus, there's the whole stigma of the Soccer Mom.  What if I don't want to be a Soccer Mom??  Well, anyway, I thought it only fair to let Cat play soccer because it was something she was interested in.  But when I saw that there were cheap tennis lessons offered by the City of Orem, you better believe I signed her up so she could try another sport.  After all, let's not just settle on soccer by default.  Let's make an informed decision.

Cat happened to be lucky enough to join a class that only had one other student in it (max was 6 students), and the other girl didn't come to several of the lessons so - hello personal tennis coach!  Cat really enjoyed playing tennis and wants to play more.  I don't know much about it, but she looked like she had some talent also.  Maybe this will lead somewhere...?

By the time we'd been gone all morning, we were all ready for a snack - or lunch.
So most days Jack and Eliza and I were doing this during Cat's tennis lesson.

Some days, the kids also enjoyed the adjacent playground.

And Eliza occasionally made use of her down time by reading Les Miserables while applying Blistex.

Yes, those days were hectic, and June felt busy, but I'm glad that all of those things are out of the way so that we can just do what we want the rest of the summer.  I was nervous before we got started that those 4 uber-busy mornings would be too exhausting for Cat, but she handled them all very well.  Of course, it was nice that we had enough time between commitments that we didn't have to scurry from one place to the next, but I also think that that girl just has energy coming out of her ears.  She wasn't in the least bit fatigued.

We'll see how it goes when the other kids are old enough to want to do their own things over the summer.  Mommy can only handle so much!