Where did the days go?

Dylan (in the black and orange Giants sweatshirt on right)
went away to camp for the first time this summer

Oh my goodness! My last post was about gearing up for summer, and here we are with less than 2 weeks of summer vacation left and not much to show for it! We had so many plans. Some worked out. Most didn't, but that's ok. I firmly believe the boys needed to have some truly boring days, and they had plenty. Dylan was lucky enough to go off to camp for a week with 8 school friends for the first time in his life. He loved it all except the all day hike. Buying candy everyday in the camp store more than made up for that misery. We also spent a quite a few days relaxing in Sea Ranch with my mother. Long days on the coast with beautiful trails, tide pools, beaches and a nearby lighthouse thrilled our adventurous side. A cliff-side home with big comfy chairs and panoramic views of the ocean served our laziness well when we were just that: lazy. The rest of summer was filled with occasional swim parties, playing with neighbors, video games, board games, legos, tv, or declarations of "I'M BORED!" I would suggest a book, call a friend, draw something, online math (yes, really)... After some grumbling, they would eventually fall into something to pass the time.

Honestly, my children are living the dream. When I was their age, my summers were always spent at home doing chores and watching tv. I didn't have friends in the neighborhood. I didn't know how to swim, so no public pools or cabana clubs. Summers were long, hot, and boring.

Now as much as I don't want to be that parent that schedules the hell out of my kids' free time, I look back at my own childhood and the nothingness that happened, and I definitely get sucked into trying to attain "awesome mom" status. Last year was the best summer of their lives. The boys had golf lessons every Saturday morning and tennis lessons 4 days a week for a month. They went houseboating on Shasta Lake and learned to wakeboard, bummed around Santa Cruz, played in the Exploratorium in San Francisco, toured the Old Sacramento underground, camped/fished/swam at June Lake, poked around the ghost town of Bodie, swam at the cabana club, and spent many a day/evening boating on the river. My oldest left us for 3 weeks to tour around Italy and Paris with his grandmother and great aunt. They didn't have time to be bored last year.

They obviously had an amazing summer last year, and I see it as a blessing in 2 ways. The first is that they actually got to live it. The second is that they now have an experience to compare. I think we are winning at this parenting thing, because not once have I heard the boys say that this summer sucks. They have shown disappointment when plans fell through and they had to stay home, but they have never placed blame or said anything negative about this summer. Don't get me wrong. Our house is just like any other house with bored children. There's plenty of brothers getting on each other's nerves resulting in bickering and yelling, but we are never blamed for their boredom.