from Tracey G.

I can’t believe how fast Summer Vacation seemed to go – we got out rather late, mid-June, and this year was the first year we went back before Labor Day. It certainly seemed to help the summer feel extra short. Which is kind of a bummer where I live, because June is usually still kind of Spring-like weather here, it’s not warmed up yet very much. Our summers start late, but stay nice usually through September. I  can remember when I was in school, getting all those new Fall school clothes, only to go back in 80 degree temperatures! It was annoying, I wanted to wear my new sweaters!

But no matter when you start, it’s still a groove to get back into. Even though we’ve been back since August 28th, I still feel like I’m forgetting something every morning, even though so far – transition has been really smooth! Our mornings have run without any issues, which really makes me happy since I am not much of a morning person. I’m the girl who sets out EVERYTHING the night before that I can. I get out Harry’s cereal bowl, spoon and milk glass, you name it – if it can be set up, I set it up. That really makes a difference in my world as to how the mornings go!

I also drive Harry in every morning, since he’d have at least a 45 minute bus ride to school. That’s a little extra sleep for him, so it’s worth it to me. (But he does ride the bus home!) So, since I am the “bus driver” we have  pretty well set up schedule, and I have alarms set on my Fitbit so I know where I am at, time-wise, and what we should be doing at that point. That has been a huge help to me to have signals like that to keep us right on track, and it works beautifully. I will take the help wherever I can get it – as I said before, I’m not my sharpest in the morning, lol, so all the reminders and helpers I can get are essential for me. It’s what happens when you force a night owl to be a morning person!

Now, I wish I could find my afternoon groove though, it all seems to go downhill when it’s time to get him from the bus stop – it’s usually 4:20 or so when we get home, and then the race is on to get dinner made (or lately it seems I need figure out dinner first, I haven’t gotten back into my meal planning quite yet!), eaten, cleaned up etc and in the middle of all that, get Harry’s out-loud reading done, any homework he may have and then bathed and ready for bed. I can honestly say time flies from the pickup point to the bedtime point, lol. That stage of this seems to be lagging in finding it’s groove, but it’ll get there. Probably just in time for school to get out and Summer Vacation to start!