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#Post#: 6148--------------------------------------------------
Summer Schedule
By: Jack Date: June 2, 2018, 5:22 am
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I promised myself i was going to do this before summer actually
started. Considering how wide I'm yawning, I doubt I'll finish
it this morning, so I'll probably actually post it not long
after summer vacation starts anyway.
I posted something similar to this several times on the old
forum, so a lot of you may remember it, however, I know that
there are some new people here, and even if you're not new, it's
nice to have something to reference.
Now, I can mean two things when I say summer schedule. What I
usually mean is our daily schedule. However, I could be
referring to what we have scheduled for the entire summer.
Let's start with the second first.
The first two weeks of summer are usually pretty loose and a bit
disorganized.
One of the great things about having so many kids at my house
all the time - parents are happy for the chance when they can
'pay me back', which means (in this case) that all my kids will
be going to 6Flags and/or Hurricane Harbor in the next two
weeks, while I get to stay home.
Next Thursday, when most of my kids will be gone (by
coincidence, not planning), most of my students form this past
semester are coming over. We're going to watch White Fang, then
have a pool party.
On 17 June, I'll be taking most of the kids to summer camp.
Connor decided to wait until next year to start, and we're going
to let Curtis go next year (a year earlier than most of my boys
have gone). This year, Connor and Curtis will be spending one
week doing various things with their big brothers and nephews,
and the next week, the arts camp starts, where they'll be
singing, dancing, acting, and doing some gymnastics. They'll
also be learning about instruments and having a chance to mess
around with some.
I'll pick the boys up from camp on 30 June. On 2 July, we'll
probably start our regular summer schedule, but that's not
definite. Also, some of the older kids won't be going to camp
this year - not even as councilors - so our regular summer
schedule might start earlier than I'm expecting. Also, the fact
that Independence Day is mid-week this year is probably going to
mess things up to some extent. And to finish that off, we're
meeting my cousin, Andy, and his boys at Jellystone Park on the
10th, and we'll be staying there for several days. That makes
it hard to tell exactly when things will really get down to what
passes for normal around here.
After our Los Angeles trip last year, we've decided not to do a
big vacation trip this year. Those things are great fun, but
they're also pretty stressful, and I just feel like between camp
and the trip to Jellystone, and the field trips we'll be taking
over the summer... That should be enough for all of us this
year.
School is starting early this year, so we're going to have a
slightly shorter summer vacation (but it means we won't be going
back from Christmas Vacation to finals - we will actually be
finishing the first semester before Christmas vacation!).
[hr]
That is our schedule for this summer. The other thing I can
mean, when I talk about our 'summer schedule' is how our days
generally look.
There will be plenty of day to day functions as the kids have
different things going on, and how hot we actually get will
effect things a lot. On the other hand, there's a general day
to day flow for most things tht's easy to predict.
For those of you not familiar with Texas, it's not uncommon for
it to be 85F (about 30C) and 85% humidity at 5am. When the sun
first rises, the humidity usually falls a bit quicker than the
heat rises, so that's usually the most pleasant time of day,.
At that point, we're usually out in the side yard/park running
drills and exercising or playing games. Marcus and Chris both
often join us, and several of my college kids love helping and
working with the younger kids. There are all kinds of things
going on from morning to morning, since we do general training,
training for specific sports, work on Scout requirements, and
sometimes just play team sports. We have enough kids over here
that some mornings, we just play Capture the Flag.
The thing is, because of the heat and humidity, we usually start
earlier during the summer than we do during the school year.
The boys are allowed to sleep in, but no one does on a constant
basis. If they're tired enough, they do, but most of them
understand why we do stuff early and join in. By 7am or so, most
of us have had a dip in the pool and breakfast, and we're
outside setting things up and getting started. It's rare for us
not to have overnight guests during the summer, then we have
kids being dropped off as parents head to work.
Around 11am, the boys games' usually break up. Most of the
time, they've spent the morning over in the side yard, which
merges into the park, so there's plenty of room for a lot of
boys. When the games break up, they start migrating to the back
yards. In the back yard, we have a number of outdoor showers.
There is actually a permanent fixture with a tank to solar heat
the water, which can hold three adults easily, as well as the
portable type of outdoor showers (variations on this -
HTML https://express.google.com/product/6473096412796559578_345018776123187667_1699011?mall=WashingtonDC&directCheckout=1&utm_source=google_shopping&utm_medium=product_ads&utm_campaign=gsx&dclid=CP_s7OTdtNsCFQUpPwodK0gIqg<br
/>).
After the morning games, the boys are required to shower before
getting in the pool. Because we have trees, tall, wooden
fences, and neighbors on just one side, our back yard is pretty
private, and most of the boys will just undress and shower in
the open. We do have bathrooms and space to change for the more
shy boys or for when we have females present, but most of them
don't worry about it too much. A few boys will show up in the
morning wearing swim trunks, but most of them leave a pair or
two of trunks here, and change back and forth.
I feed everyone. If you're here at lunch time, please eat.
This actually goes back to my step-father. I understand that he
was born during the Great Depression, but he was miserly about a
lot of things. One of the things I remember is him complaining
when I shared something with a friend of mine. God forbid I
make a sandwich for someone, even if his family had fed me a
dozen times. However, the point is that, to me being able to
feed these kids makes me feel more successful than all my
businesses or whatever I have in the bank. I suppose it's a
case of 'Ha! I can afford to feed the whole neighborhood, you
miserable, old bastard.'
Lunch isn't usually a big deal. Sometimes we'll fix something
that's a good picnic food, but most of the time we just have
platters of lunch meat and cheeses and bread, fruit and veggies,
and plenty of Kool-Aid. I usually don't encourage sweet snacks
during the summer. We'll so something occasionally, but most of
the time, if you want something sweet, eat fruit.
After lunch, things tend to fragment. Some people go inside and
watch something or play something. Pretty much everyone spends
at least some time in the pool. Our pool is... hmmm - it's
shaped like an 'L' except both sides are the same length. That
means there's room for some people to play volleyball or
something, while others swim, while others just lounge. Every
once in a while, I have to step in, but the boys are really
pretty good about sharing and rotating what's going on.
The end of the day is like it always is. Parents start picking
up some kids. Other kids head home on their own around dinner
time. Since we have food platters out all afternoon, there's
not much reason to make special snacks. I usually make time to
chat here as it gets later, and then I start chasing off the
last remaining day-guests around 6pm, when we're getting ready
to eat dinner.
Of course, we also have plenty of friends in the neighborhood,
and, as I said, there's almost always kids sleeping over, but
it's usually every boy for himself by that point, as long as
everyone gets their chores done.
#Post#: 6995--------------------------------------------------
Re: Summer Schedule
By: Leti Date: July 7, 2018, 1:53 am
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[quote]And to finish that off, we're meeting my cousin, Andy,
and his boys at Jellystone Park on the 10th, and we'll be
staying there for several days. That makes it hard to tell
exactly when things will really get down to what passes for
normal around here. [/quote]
Are you all going to Jelly stone? Also the college boys?
Thanks for sharing, Jack.
;D
Leti
#Post#: 7000--------------------------------------------------
Re: Summer Schedule
By: Jack Date: July 7, 2018, 4:21 am
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[quote author=Leti link=topic=605.msg6995#msg6995
date=1530946380]
[quote]And to finish that off, we're meeting my cousin, Andy,
and his boys at Jellystone Park on the 10th, and we'll be
staying there for several days. That makes it hard to tell
exactly when things will really get down to what passes for
normal around here. [/quote]
Are you all going to Jelly stone? Also the college boys?
[/quote]
We're all going, but we're taking a couple of extra cars, so if
some of the older kids get bored, they can come home early.
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