And So It Begins

Last Thursday began our crazy summer travel schedule. Andy finished football camp at noon and I was on a plane with the three kids by 4p. I took them to Chicago to visit their aunts and uncles and cousins. Charlie met us there on Friday, so it was just me and the littles on the plane. The flight didn't go too badly. Andy was awesome and kept himself occupied with a book and then his/Charlie's PSP. Sarah was pretty low maintenance for once, but Amanda was a handful. She really should have taken a nap but was fighting it so instead to keep herself busy she jumped up and down on her seat despite the flight crew's incessant requests to stay in our seat belts. At one point one of the flight attendants personally told me she had to sit in her seat with it buckled. I just kind of said, "yeah, uh huh, sure." Have you ever tried to keep a rambunctious almost two-yr-old buckled into a seat belt? Not happening. So I just kept a hand on her foot or arm or dress in case the plane hit turbulence and suddenly dropped. It would have been scary but she wouldn't have been severely injured.

The flight was manageable, it was the forty minutes, yes FORTY, that we waited for a gate that seemed like an eternity. Andy was about to wet his pants, Sarah was dying to "see her cousins" and Amanda just kept jumping up and down. I'm surprised there aren't little holes in my forehead from the flight attendant giving me glaring looks. Oh well, it was good practice for all the trips we having coming up, a few more with me traveling with just the kids and no Charlie.

Once we got to Chicago we had a fabulous time with the family, but the weather was oh so cold. It was overcast most of the weekend and the high was in the low sixties. I couldn't stand it. I actually missed Texas. In fact I think that was the first time I have ever missed Texas, especially Texas in the summer. I am just not cut out for cold weather anymore, I'm a wimp. My brother so much as told me so, but he doesn't scare me:)

We got home on Sunday and then more camps began on Monday. Scout camp for Andy and zoo camp for Sarah. Amanda? She doesn't get to go to camp until she's potty trained, and maybe she has to be three too. My goal is to send her somewhere next summer, but we'll see. As for this year she's just tagging along with me, which is not so bad. She doesn't run away and stays by my side, she just cries and yells at me more than I'd like, but that really hasn't changed since the day she was born.

This is how it goes for the rest of the summer. Trip, camp. Camp, trip. Visiting lots of family and friends. An occasional week off with lots of playdates. The goal is to keep busy so we don't drive each other crazy and are still happy in August when school starts.

Mmm, school. It gives me warm and fuzzies just to think about it. Maybe that's what I should have been using for warmth while I was in Chicago, visions of the kids back in school and me getting some well-deserved quiet time.