The weekend was quite full and although I was too exhausted to move Monday morning, I knew we needed to try to satisfy our strong desire to check out the pool for the summer, plus it was forecasted to be an extra warm day and Tuesday and Wednesday looked to be too cool. I woke to the kids running in the room and announcing that they had cleaned up their rooms and all their toys downstairs. I worried about softball but concluded the kids would mentally exhaust themselves worrying about a pool trip anyhow, so why not go. Plus, they went the extra mile without me even asking.
The pool was fun and we stayed a couple hours. I dread sunscreening all of us but told the kids that I think back to taking groups of childcare children to the pool and having to put sunscreen on all of them, and as a result, decide we have it pretty easy with just the four of us. Vanessa is pretty independent at the pool now, and Zane is now able to do the lazy river by himself, as long as I'm nearby to watch how he's doing. We played hard.
Softball was delayed and made for an extra rough end of the day for Vanessa. She woke Tuesday explaining that it was the worst softball game ever and she admitted she was too exhausted from the day to play her best. We discussed how to avoid that again, and as a result, we decided some structure is necessary.
We all agreed that we would make it to the pool at least once a week while aiming for twice and every so often maybe three times. We agreed that we would avoid exhausting activities like swimming on the same days we have softball. We discussed projects and places we hope to visit over the summer and what days would be best for doing those things. We agreed that we will always plan out our week on Monday mornings, considering the latest happenings and after checking the weather forecast.
The kids know what to anticipate and understand that although we might plan something, there's never a 100% guarantee due to various factors, but we will try our best to always stick to our plan. And if not, we'll adjust appropriately. Summer structure will certainly make our life a little easier.
