The word "camp" is overused in my opinion these days. For example, our church calls their VBS "Kidzway camp." They are the rare exception in that instance. Every other church around here still seems to call it VBS. The word "class" is almost never used if it happens in the summer. For example, Ian and Nadia were in what I would call an art class for 3.5 hours a day for 4 mornings, and it was called an art camp. The kids have technically been in 5 camps this summer: overnight camp for the boys at PMBC, overnight camp for Nadia at Camp Susque, a two week afternoon theatre camp for Nadia, Camp Good News for all three kids, and art camp for Nadia and Ian. Last summer Ian and Nadia participated in a theatre workshop (evidently Family Life Network goes against the grain in terms of not using the word "camp") at a church about 25 minutes north of us. I actually held off on signing the kids up this year just because all the chauffeuring in the summer is exhausting for me, but then Nadia asked if they could do it again. I didn't see how I could say "no" considering they will be putting on a musical, and Nadia, Ian, and Oliver haven't been in a choir for the last 18 months with the exception of this same workshop last August. The workshop is for ages 8-15. Since Oliver was just turning 8 when the camp was being held and said he didn't want to do it, I didn't sign him up last summer. I didn't give him a choice this year. Ian and Nadia loved it last year. Hopefully Oliver will also have a good time! I did tell Oliver he didn't need to try to audition for one of the main parts. Ian opted out of that last year. I told him this year I did expect him to audition for a part. Nadia has never needed encouragement to audition for anything. The camp is put on by a Christian radio station located in New York.
One perk of all three kids participating in the camp is that it means I don't have to make two round trips each morning. I'm sure Milo would rather that I did make two trips, but he can handle being in his crate for the 5+ hours we'll be away from home. This is my second time this summer to have some hours without any kids, and I don't think it will happen again until July 2022. The workshop is from 8:15-12:30. I thought I'd run a couple of errands and work on the Duolingo app (Spanish) on my phone until the library in Montoursville opened at 10:00am. The kids are at a church in Montoursville. I walked in with my laptop and sat down in a room where there were zero patrons. A librarian came up to me and said that due to social distancing they don't allow patrons to bring laptops into the library. There was ONE other patron in the entire library, and I picked a different room than she was in. I asked what if I promised to leave if anyone else came in the room. Nope. At our library (which is in the same county system as this one), they have totally gone back to normal. They even took down the plexiglass partition that was in between the librarian and patron at the check out desk. I couldn't believe I wasn't allowed to sit in the library even if I was the only person in that room. Ugh. I drove to Panera, brought my laptop in, and treated myself to my most favorite salad. Now to figure out what I will do the next four days. I toyed with getting a manicure. I got one in 2019 which was my first in probably about ten years. If it were a little cooler out, it would be a good time to take a nice long walk. One project I have this week is trying to find a new health insurance plan for our family as Paul isn't going to offer it anymore at work as the premiums went up too much recently. Well we shall see what I will do since the library in that town won't be an option this week. I'm looking forward to seeing their musical at noon on Friday!
Tonight the kids will also start their second and final week of VBS this summer. Usually they participate in more than two weeks of VBS, but last year they weren't in any so two is a big improvement! Nadia is too old to participate in this one, but she has volunteered to be a helper. Usually this VBS lasts five days, but they are only having it for four days this summer. They are using a different curriculum than the kids had at another church last month, and the church is only 1 mile from our house.
We were going to swimming this afternoon after theatre camp, but due to a shortage of lifeguards, the pool doesn't open until 4pm today. When will all these employee shortages come to an end?!?!? I took the boys to Knoebels on Friday night, and roughly 40% of the rides were closed due to not having enough employees. The park had a hiring event recently, and they actually were raffling away a CAR to entice people to work at the park! As the signs say at Dunkin and Subway, being short staffed is the "new pandemic."
I didn't finish Nadia's 13th birthday interview until 6 weeks after her birthday. I finished Oliver's 1 day after his birthday. I think his is better than hers although I think it's too long. I will be more selective in the future as to which photos I include to make them shorter. I included pictures from the last 12 months. If I continue to make videos throughout the year, then I won't include so many in their birthday videos in the future. And I still need to begin to follow the guidelines I learned in the videography course. I haven't done that yet, but at least I've started making videos.
It's now less than one month until we go on vacation! That statement puts a big smile on my face and the kids' faces, and it inspires fear in Paul that he doesn't have enough time to finish what he needs to at work. We usually go to Long Island in July, but for a variety of reasons we're going the last full week of August this year. This means our school year won't begin until August 30. We will have seven whopping days of school before we take 3.5 weeks off. So in some ways our school year won't really start in earnest until October 4. Next year we are planning to go to Georgia and Florida for our family vacation. I asked Paul whether the end of April or sometime in September would be better for him, and he said September. So we might be taking our family vacation in September again next year.
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