August 8, 2025

Summer Week 3: Back to Work/Reality(?)

My brother left for France on Sunday, where he is going to live for a year - YAY! We have definite plans to visit at some point, maybe May.  Maybe with all the kids. Maybe with only me and the big kids.  

(Side note: I am reading and loving Daria's adventures in France right now, she's traveling with two young kids and making it look FUN.)

On Monday the kids went back to summer camp.  The summer camp is a 15 minute drive away and I had forgotten how much time driving kids takes.  We leave at 7:50am and I don't get back to start work until at least 8:30.  I leave to pickup at 4:45 and didn't get home till nearly 5:30.  Basically, driving kids is now taking 1.5 hours every day and I am not loving it.

During the second half of the week the kids went to the local school camp for two days, which was great because it's a 5 minute walk but less great because it ends at 5pm, although in both iterations I have to finish work at 4:45 so maybe that's just what summer is.

I did a reasonable amount of work this week AND managed to get my hair dyed.  I also went for two runs, worked out with a friend one night, and went swimming one evening! I haven't been sleeping well (I hate waking up at 3am) and the one solution I have for poor sleep is swimming.

I'm nominally training for a October half marathon (my goal is to run it without injury, my secondary goal is to run it in 2hr 10, my other secret and probably unachievable goal is to do it in under 2 hours).  My previous fastest half marathon time is 2hr 25 minutes so goal 1 should be attainable and the rest are pretty stretch. 

On Thursday I realized I had done NONE of the training runs due to aforementioned bad sleep. Runs require a 5am wake up because kid stuff starts at 6:30am.  I was already going to the gym with my gym buddy at 7:30am but I felt I should do the 45 minute interval run first.  My gym buddy and I usually do arms, but when I got to the gym he told me it was legs! Ouch!  Still, great to see gym buddy and be back to the gym after a two week break.

Today is the one friday of summer where I have all kids at home and no support/help/visitors.  This morning we went to a farm.  It went OK! I do not want to watch kids all day every day.  I love watching my kids some of the days every day and more of the day some days.

That's the end of Summer Week 3 - It was a good week! I'm so far pretty into this summer thing.  I think this might be the best summer since... 2018?  In 2017?  I don't know... it's definitely the best summer since "summer" became a thing.

Here are some photos from our farm adventure this morning:


With that, we are 50% done with summer!

7 comments:

  1. Summer gives me all the feels. When it's good it can be great and when it's bad it can be horrid. But I know my kids are going to look back and have some really wonderful memories of adventures and the various things we've done to set the season apart from the others. But, also, a parent, it's exhausting. And I've only ever had two kids to wrangle!

    One thing I loved about summer is eating outside. Especially when the kids were little. I figured I was doing resident squirrels a favour and less mess on the floors for me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love your perspective always! And yes I also LOVE eating outside! Unfortunately it's more a hassle than it's worth for us this year with the twins and highchairs, but next year is going to be the summer of outdoor meals, I can feel it. The few meals we have had outdoors have been awesome and the cleanup even better!

      Delete
  2. As always I’m impressed with your sports goals. I’m also loosely training for an October half marathon and hoping for a finish under three hours. I’m a stay at home mom and each summer I try to figure out the right amount of camp versus family fun and outings. This summer has been a good balance but I do t always get it right. Taking my kids to the farm was one of my favorite activities when they littler.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think finishing a half marathon without injury is a good goal! I have been barely running, but for some reason my brain is silly, and I saw an ultrarace the other day where I was staying and thought, dang I should have signed up for that. Um, no. I think I could probably run 10 miles, but it would be painful and it would not be fast! I still think of myself of young and fit, but my body says otherwise. I love the outdoor farm adventure. Some of my fondest memories are when I would visit my grandma in the summer she would take me to the local dairy for ice cream!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Rachel, the farm pics are so adorable. I’m NJ we have 4H organization that does 4H fairs and those are so much fun. The kids can actually pet a cow (gently). I remember we went a few times. Except, in a very New Jersey fashion, it was in August and hot as all hell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is Daria btw.
      Oh, also, driving. I HEAR you on driving! It’s similar for me, although this year they are both in the same after school care, so only ONE place to pick them up from, not two.

      Delete
    2. The big kids are thankfully in the same camps - I would basically be a continual driver if they went different places! They did for a week and I got almost no work done.

      My grandfather lived in New Jersey and I loved visiting him there, I will have to take the kids sometime. The 4H organizations at fairs are so good - I remember seeing them at the county fair in Oregon once.

      Delete