Josh and Becca Thrap and Family

This is going to be a rough Summer. I’m trying to remember why I was getting so excited for the Summer. I’m realizing now that I had a really great Summer LAST YEAR, but this year promises to be incalcuably different–and not in a good way. The kids have been out of school for a week now, and not really been able to spend a day outside even once. The weather is overcast and stormy off and on during the day each day and so I still cannot put up the little wading pool. I feel like I’ve exhasted my Summer-parentabilities in just this one week! For the most part the kids are behaving well and they’ve cleaned their rooms and read for 30 minutes every day, but I am getting stir crazy and they are always around and just so noisy. I tried running some errands with them the other day and I bribed them to be “good” with an offer of lunch at a restaurant, but they didn’t earn it and instead I drove right back home after the first store because I couldn’t bear the thought of having to go to another store with them the way they were carrying on. (ASIDE: When do kids become old enough to be left alone in the car while you run into the store or post office?!) I think I could better cope if I knew things were about to get better, but there is no expected change on the horizon. Last year, Josh and Chris judged several BBQ competitions (probably more than they were really interested in) and each one meant that either we’d be going to visit the Wheelers or that they’d be coming here, and sometimes we could spend a long weekend together. And sure, that meant even more mess and noise, but it also meant friends and companionship. And several of the competitions were just one weekend right after another after another, so the weeks really flew. Of course gas was ever-so-slightly less expensive then. We also took an actual vacation last Summer with Josh’s family to St. Louis for an entire week. And the kids had Grandma (&pa) Camp with my folks. Honestly, our calendar last Summer was just really full! Several days even had overlapping activities booked! But this year, Josh and Chris are only going to judge ONE competition, and even though the Wheelers took Summer classes last year, this year Chris has started his nursing classes and so he has to be there every weekday, so there really is no chance of sharing several long weekends. And as I mentioned before, the weather isn’t feeling very Summery. And even if it were, I’d then have to deal with the problem of Elena wanting to be outside with the bigger kids who are not yet responsible enough to watch after her (as we unfortunately found out this Spring!) and my desire to stay indoors. Now, I will grant that this is my “down” week and so perhaps I will feel differently next week, and it’s not like we don’t have ANY plans. We do. The kids should still have Grandparent Camp with my folks (and they might even take Elena this year! ), and we will have our annual Backyard BBQ Party, and the Summer birthdays to celebrate etc. It’s really just the day-to-day that’s wearing me down. Anyone want to come over and play?