I’m slightly in shock that the boys’ first full American school year is coming to a close. It just seems a few months ago that we were dropping them off at their new school, terrified about how they’d settle in. They didn’t know a soul at their new school and I felt awful that we’d ripped them away from the comfort and security of their English school.
Now we’re into June and school finishes in a couple of weeks. There have been tears over the teasing of their accents and their vocabulary but they’ve also enjoyed the attention of being asked to say certain things because of their accents. They’ve made loads of friends, seem to know every child in the school and children shout out their names as we cycle home from school.
The long summer vacation stretches far ahead of us. It’s much longer here than it is in the UK and I’m beginning of understand why there are so many summer camps. Every school seems to be offering camps along with local sailing clubs, tennis clubs and the skateboard parks. This list is endless and I keep trawling through the brochures trying to decide what to sign the boys up for. So far we’ve picked out baseball, skateboarding, BMX and I’m trying to convince them to do surfing but so far they’re refusing. There’s a Mummy and Me class, and I’m sort of thinking, what if it’s my calling to be surfer?! You never know, it may be my thing. So, stay tuned, maybe I’ll be doing a post about my surf class. We all go boogie boarding and I love it. As we live just a few blocks away from the beach, it seems criminal not to at least have a go at surfing.
The camps seem so well organized and although part of it just seems to be coordinated childcare, I’m really looking forward to knowing I’ll have a break from the boys now and then and that they’ll be doing something they love. There’s even a Lego camp and a science camp where you can dissect a shark. I’m also trying to get the inside information from mums as to which is the best camp for each activity. For instance, I’d just signed the boys up for the local baseball camp, only to find out that there are two other baseball camps, which are better, one run by a retired professional player and the other at the university. How was I supposed to know all this stuff?
As the school year closes we don’t seem to have the usual activities that we did in the UK. Tomorrow night there’s an Open House at the school which seems to consist of parents wandering around the school looking at all the artwork the children have made then (hurray) bringing it all home.
Then on Friday morning we have the Olympics. We just had Sports Day back in the UK so I’ll be intrigued to see what the Olympics is all about. (Doubtless, bigger and better, wouldn’t you say?)
We’ll be on the beach for most of the summer vacation/holidays, I’ll keep you posted on the surf camp and may even provide photos.
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