The Sanderson Crew 5: Unscheduled Days and Unexpected Adventures

3 months ago we started receiving the mailings, then the catalogs, flyers, emails. Things came in like crazy to help us schedule our summer. What should we do? Isaac would do baseball, but should he do this camp during the day as well? Andie would love to rock climb and we should probably have her do swim team two mornings a week. Piano once every week or two, throw in maybe a horse camp and our church's day camp and we would be ready for summer. That way we would be ready for swimming and piano and school, baseball and soccer. Moms shot me texts "did you sign Andie up for such and such?" "Is Isaac in the first or 2nd baseball camp"

And I got really overwhelmed at the idea of having a scheduled summer after having a scheduled school year.

So we are not.

We are not in anything during the day.

No swimming, no piano, no camps (besides our church camp). Nothing. Well almost nothing. Isaac is in baseball two nights a week but it is his favorite sport and so tis the season for that.

And I felt relieved and guilty all at the same time. Relieved because I really want to live this summer by hanging out with kids all day and having the time to go wherever the day takes us. And a little guilty because I feel pressure for our kids to be in all these activities. To be a better swimmer, or piano player, or whatever it is. And it is not bad but I don't think there will be too many summers left where they can just "be" so that is what we are doing this year. A mom in our church is graduating her 2nd of 3 and I told her my plans for the summer and the feelings I was having about just letting the kids be this summer. She encouraged me so much the other day on a post of mine. "A summer of unscheduled days and unexpected adventures stretching before them. It is a precious gift you are giving them." What a good reminder when I am tempted to be doing "more" and signing our kids up for more that in this case....less is more for us.

So onward with the documentation of unscheduled days and unexpected adventures:

Day 4:

This first picture was taken early. Isaac gets up with the sun....like 5;15 a.m. so this was close to 7:15 a.m. Already in the yard with chore done, bed made, bible read, dressed, teeth brushed and doing even a little science. Welcome summer vacation. Can I get those camp pamplets out of the recycling bin now?

Andie drawing her parts of the flower. We were tearing apart flowers and looking at the parts in prep for a "fieldtrip" we planned that week.

So later in the day when more humans were awake, we signed up for summer reading and then stopped at our favorite park for picnic and some play. Isaac was really not in a great mood. So I fed him and he put himself down for a nap/book time.

While he did that, Andie constructed a reading fort in our front yard:

And my napping 7 year old:

Day 5:

Caleb learned to two wheel a month ago and since then he has been asking to bike on some singletrack with us. No more being pulled in the trailer for him!!

I have no pictures of the dirt ride but here is them getting ready. He did awesome. I let the older two just go since I knew Caleb would need to get off and walk up some of the steeper hills but he did great. He had a crazy wipeout and just jumped up and was all "I'm ok mom, not even crying" He makes me a little nervous but loves it.

After two rounds of the trail it was time to go on the skills section. I love watching them conquer a few more things every time we come. This week they all wanted to do the small bridge and some of the hills.

That afternoon a neighborhood boy from Isaac's class hear us in the backyard and came over. Those two played squirt guns, road bikes, played basketball, made up games. It is fun now that we are a little older and they have a little more freedom to just "go play".

Day 6: Field Trip day to the Arboretum. I have a friend who likes to go on these adventures with me and we were planning this one for a month. The kids had a blast checking out all the plants. "Check out the stamens on this one mom!!" Which is basically yelling at me to check out a plants male private parts so I thought it was hilarious.....

Hanging on a tree near the maze.

MN state flower in full bloom.

Day 7:
We met a friend at a new county park close to where she lives. It was a little drive for us but I am always up for a new adventure. It was alright. No real beach. Some fun playsets. But really I think the draw would be fishing so we will have to come back with Craig sometime. We still had fun exploring.

And that afternoon we made our first trip of the summer to our swimming hole. I was hemming and hawing at what place to buy a pass and decided we would do one more year for sure here. Gotta love the sand.

Day 8:

Another hot one (for early June!) and so we hiked a little in the morning, then swam but I didn't get any pictures of that. 3:30 everyday I have three hungry "baby birds" squawking for some food. So here is a good picture of them:

And a little battleship while a thunderstorm went through. Caleb wanted to be a part of it as well and Isaac does a good job of allowing him to be all up in his business.

Day 9:

Saturday was a day unlike one I have had. Angelyn and I started dreaming up a girls day a few months ago. So massages, shopping, dinner in the country, good conversation with a great friend. My tank is full.