I'll Give Them That and Summer Looms

This weekend is Memorial Day? That seems crazy. Doesn't it feel too early? It does to me, although I'm delighted to say farewell to a busy, busy semester at work. There is lots of work to do but I will welcome the quiet of summer to do it.

I had an email at work telling me I had to finalize all my vacation leave/sick time. I took a look at all the info and realized that even with my vacation planned, I still need to use a few more days up or I will lose them. And I am NOT a believer in losing paid vacation days.... Looking at the calendar though I found it hard to fit them in between our vacation and other odds and ends. All of a sudden August is looming. How can that be?

The other day a friend asked me what Owen was doing for summer and I said, "Oh, uhhhh, well, mmmm....I don't know."  Whoops. So I went hunting online to see if I could find something. I've just never had good luck with summer camps and the like. Owen always would go along with it politely but with no real enthusiasm. Leo, well, you know, Leo. I don't know if I've raised my kids to be cynical or something but most of the time they'd look at me, sigh, and say, "well, it's kind of lame" and I'd look at what they were doing and think, well, yeah, that is kind of lame. Owen did like his Japanese class last summer but that's pretty much it.

I went over the the University's Public Engagement portal however....this is a great resource if you are here in the community---it puts all the University offerings in one place. I happily landed on the Fab Lab and have him signed up for two classes. I'm so excited. Owen has a hands on kind of creativity that no one else in the family has so I think he could really enjoy this. 

Leo of course will be off to RailCamp. We still need to get him some work boots and other odds and ends he will need. I'm trying to convince him he can actually wear a short sleeved shirt but we'll see if I manage that. I'm not sure Leo has ever been convinced to do something he didn't want to do. Amazing strength of character my children have....I'll give them that.

I'll certainly give them that.

Here they are with their beloved Aunt Judi....and expressing their opinions in the kitchen some ten or so years ago...