If June is the Friday night of summer, July must be Saturday…so I’m hoping to cultivate a Saturday vibe this month.
That was a little harder yesterday as I spent a lot of time compulsively refreshing the flight status for my 14-year-old’s flight back from Florida. (He is there for a technology competition.) It was delayed and delayed and eventually wound up canceled. The earliest the airline can get the crew back is Tuesday. I am picturing their teacher chaperones dealing with a bunch of middle schoolers potentially running out of patience and clean socks…
For the most part, though, June was pretty good. It certainly had a lot going on. I feel like I was gone a lot but I was only in a hotel or elsewhere 5 nights out of 30 so that’s not really that much.
I began the month headed to NYC for my brother-in-law’s 50th — a trip that involved seeing Six and eating at Aquavit (always a favorite).
That week featured a lot of kid events: school picnics, the third grade wax museum, the sixth grade “genius hour,” etc. That weekend we hosted the church choir party and went to multiple recitals on the same day.
The next week brought the 8th grade graduation, some end-of-year celebratory lunches, and then my trip into NYC with the 17-year-old. We saw MJ (I’m getting to be a Broadway regular!), enjoyed a sunset river cruise, and seeing the top of One Vanderbilt. I also enjoyed running around the reservoir in Central Park (on my Summer Fun List!).
The next week brought the start of various day camps, extreme heat (but early morning runs), and then a night at Citizens Bank Park watching the Phillies. This was also on the Summer Fun List! We made our epic drive to Cape Cod that weekend where, among other things, I bowled for possibly the first time in 15 years.
This past week has been somewhat lower key, though I did go for a bike ride on the Schuylkill River Trail and went to a beer garden (both on the Summer Fun List). My husband met my brother-in-law in NYC to get our daughter back after her week with cousins and they saw The Outsiders, so it really has been a Broadway month…
My day this Saturday with the 9-year-old was fairly uneventful. He really, really did not want to leave the house. I got him to go to the farmers’ market for a sub-40 minute trip, door to door. (Visiting a farmers market was on the Summer Fun List…). He had my assurance it would be quick because I only put a single quarter in the parking meter… But there were some little adventures while we were there — he scored the last two soft pretzels from one vendor and got some apple cider, I bought sourdough bread, and met a Best of Both Worlds listener! I must have been talking loudly or something and she recognized my voice because all of a sudden I heard “Are you Laura Vanderkam?” How fun. The 9-year-old and I played ping pong at one point in the afternoon but other than that he was probably on screens all day. I took an hour-plus nap. The next day we entertained a friend of his who was visiting from California with his mom — part of the serendipity of life. They met while skiing over spring break and have been virtual video game buddies since. They were taking a family vacation up the eastern seaboard this month so we got to connect.
Now, on to July! There will be a lot of shuttling kids to camp this month. Three children are doing overnight camps, which is exciting, but of course they have to get there and back — my camp spreadsheet did not really capture this reality of weekends spent in transit.
But there’s a lot to look forward to as well. Sarah will be visiting me (well, and her entire family, but how fun that they only live a few miles from me!) I’ve got two speeches this month, and my daughter and I will be going to a fun concert together (not Taylor Swift). I might spend some time today brainstorming other things I hope to make happen, because once July is over, then summer is moving into the “Sunday” stage of things.
As of now, though, there is still a lot of time. Now if only I can get my kid back from Florida….
ADDENDUM: I forgot to put this in the original post! I’m looking for people to participate in an evening hour time study as part of the research for my next book. Participating while involve taking a few short surveys (generally between 3-10 minutes long) from July 11th-19th (roughly). I appreciate the help! You can sign up here. Just a quick note that I particularly need some more male participants — my readership tends to lean more female and I’d like to have some balance, so if you are reading this and are male or have a man in your life who might be interested, please pass this along. (More women are welcome to sign up too!)
Photo: Fantastic post-storm sunset yesterday