Summer!!!

 YOU GUYS. I am getting SO TWITCHY about my incomplete summer calendar. 

We are still waiting on Dorothy’s dance schedule- which is fine because classes don’t start until we get back from vacation, and she is spending the first week of summer at a hip hop intensive at a partner studio. BUT ALSO. I want to put it on the calendar especially since I now know Coop’s travel team diving hours, Minnie’s nursery school camp and swim lessons, Dorothy and Coop’s junior lifeguard lessons, Coop and Jack’s summer dive league, etc. 

The way it works at Dorothy’s studio is that summer— the whole 8-week session— functions as team tryouts for the following year. So, you don’t just sign up for classes. Instead, you fill out your team interest survey, and the director assigns classes based on the teams you are auditioning for and your skill level. This is a really smart way to do it because the classes end up being really really good, and the kids end up learning SO MUCH in terms of both technique and choreography over the summer. It also lets the director match teachers with teams, start thinking about themes and music, and prepare for the year, and it builds strong cohorts of dancers who end up staying with each other until graduation. As you can imagine, this goes a long way toward fostering team unity, making the competition season (September-June) even more fun, and helping kids freaking love dance, their dance friends, and their studio. I also love that using the whole summer for an extended tryout means no audition-day pressure and jitters and rivalry. 

Because I am a Dance Mom and have just sort of embraced the whole identity, I am also signing her up for private lessons which go quick, so you have to jump on those sign ups, even if you don’t actually know when your kid will be in class or how much they cost.

Anyway. These are problems of my own making— I get that.

But you can’t be anxious about every little thing without being anxious about EVERY LITTLE THING, you know?

SPEAKING OF DANCE. Minnie’s class tried on their hip hop costumes for the recital (they got their ballet costumes a few weeks ago), and the cuteness almost killed me. Minnie’s was too big (it is being swapped for a smaller size), and she was super worried it was going to fall off her shoulders, so she danced with her worried face AND I LOVE THESE PICTURES SO MUCH.

It looks like I will teach my class while Minnie is either home or at camp. Then I will come home from campus, get Coop, take him to dive (also on campus), come home and take Dorothy to dance, take Minnie to the pool or somewhere else fun, collect Dorothy and Cooper, go to Minnie’s swim lesson, take Coop to baseball, make dinner, collect Coop as needed, go to the pool again, put everyone to bed, repeat. Maybe I can shower Minnie at the pool and bring her home in her jammies? This would be awesome. Maybe some nights, Harry can let Dorothy and Coop close down the pool and bring them home when he closes for the night and they can play pickle ball or something while they wait for him?

I want to prioritize taking advantage of $5 Tuesdays at the movie theater to see any kid movie that comes out this summer. I want to do Sweet Treat Thursday this summer and Friday movie nights at home. I’d love to visit a new park every week and let Dorothy and Cooper host as many friends as they want any time they’re home (which won’t be that often LOL). I hope it gets hot enough to bake cookies on the car dashboard and fry eggs on the sidewalk. I hope Minnie sees her first fireflies (early bedtime— what can I say?).

Oh, summer!! I can’t wait! (and maybe I don't need the summer schedule from dance to know what I'll be doing...)