I am getting excited about my first day Back To School outfit. I am not excited about school work!
He said
After spending such an amazing week away camping and returning home last weekend, I’d be lying if I tried to say that there wasn’t a bit of a hangover this week of wishing we were sleeping under the stars and every day had To-Do List that included trips to the beach and nights spent at the campfire. Even with the weather here being cooler and wetter, I still wish we were out in the trailer still camping.
That said, we’re only a mere week away from another weekend trip out in Wolfie Too. Back in July with our friends The Sherwoods and Vilaranda’s we tested out Golden Pond RV Resort near London as a possible other camping location as it was close to us and we didn’t have to worry about the US/Canadian currency exchange rate like we do with the Port Huron KOA. We liked it so much that we decided to squeeze in another weekend together at it on Labour Day weekend. And the best part is, with it being so close to London, I didn’t have to ask for the whole weekend off – I could actually work a shift if needed and leave Danielle and Emelia there to enjoy the camp site with our friends!
This week with Emelia missing a few gymnastics practices because of camping, she was right back at it. And, as I have said here before how I enjoy when I am the one driving her to or from practice being able to hear about how it’s going—well, that has continued. When she started this new season she thought she was going to be working hard to compete at Level 3 Provincials. That quickly changed as they made some early adjustments and Emelia was moved to Split 3/4 Provincial Team. All of a sudden the girl who was disappointed that she wasn’t moved to the Level 4 team was now worried that she actually had gotten there and wouldn’t measure up. The great news is that by all counts (Emelia and her coach Alex) she is ready to end the summer and compete at Level 4! She’s got even more confidence than before and no longer is talk of “The Kip” as this thing she’s worried she’ll ever get, but moreover something that she is working hard to perfect on the low bars and is very comfortable on the high bars with!
The rest of this week is about getting ready for the trailer to come back to the driveway this week in order to get ready for our weekend outing starting Friday. Around this time of year with our old trailer, Wolfie, we would regretfully thinking about one – maybe two weekend trips out and then tucking the trailer away for storage. But with Wolfie Too, and more importantly an operational heating system, we’re looking at possibly 4 more trips out total if we can make the weekends work! That makes me so happy and reaffirms why we went to a trailer that had payments on it.
She said
This week back to the grind was a busy one for sure. We for sure had a lot of adjusting getting ourselves back in work mode vs taking things at a super lazy pace where the biggest activity was packing to spend the day at the beach with friends or getting the wood and marshmallows ready for the camp fire.
This week was really busy, we were getting Emelia back to training but this week was also super busy for daycare. I transitioned a new little girl part time to ease her to full time care after Labour Day as well as moving a part time daycare boy to a full time space. The transitions could not have gone smoother! The kids all adjusted quickly and everyone has settled in amazingly. So well that I was even able to tweak the sleep arrangements around here to give a better balance for the kids, our family and the space limitations of a small house and balancing the needs of 8 people each day. The kids have adapted so well to the new sleeping arrangements.
To add to the fun of adjusting new kiddos, back to the grind of work and Emelia’s gymnastics training we also decided this week should be the week we change our internet/cable/security services. This meant 2 days of service people in doing installs and changes. They were great to work with but it was just one more thing to balance in a home of chaos. The entire process was not smooth or seamless but I think it is almost done and behind us.
As the week was went on we got things more and more organized. This summer has gone by in a flash and before we knew it the summer was in the final weeks and we had to start shifting to back to school. We knew that we were going to be busy for the Labour Day weekend so I wanted to focus on school shopping this week and weekend. Emelia has grown like a weed this year so we figured she would need a whole new wardrobe. Thankfully we had a few things in place but we still needed a fair bit. She needed indoor/gym shoes, school supplies, lunch bag, and of course the first day of school outfit. We took this week, took advantage of great sales and got her pretty set. Got her indoor shoes (she now wears adult sizes) for a great price, got her new clothes, even managed to take advantage of a huge sale at our favourite second hand shop and got some clothes and her winter coat and boots. Things add up so fast with kids, add in a competitive athlete and any bit can help. But as I write this I would say she is pretty well set and we can now enjoy the last week she is home before I loose my helper to school.
This week I want to focus on as much time with Emelia as I can, this summer she has been such a helper with the kids (most of the time) and I am really going to miss her come September, my focus is to plan the last weekend of the summer to make it a memorable one with family and friends.