This child has not had a day of hanging around the house doing nothing since school ended two weeks ago. The very next day, we dove directly into our Canada Day camping trip; two days after that, we delivered her and her older brother to a wonderful overnight camp for another week of adventure away from home; from which her dad picked her up super-early last Saturday for a two-hour drive to a two-day soccer tournament (she got car-sick on the way to the tournament, and went on to play three back-to-back games looking not a bit like her usual self; thankfully, all was well by Sunday's game); and on Monday morning, bright and early, the little kids and I drove her out to the country to the much-anticipated horse camp.
For the week, she got "her own" pony: this sweet brown mare named Lola. She learned how to ride in proper English style, how to hold the reins, and keep her heels lowered in the stirrups, and how to do a rising trot. She also got to ride a horse while it swam in a pond on the farm. How cool is that?
This morning, she said, "Tomorrow, I'll get to do nothing at all at home."
"Your brother has his soccer tournament, and we're all going to go."
"Well, Sunday, then."
"He might make it into the semi-finals."
"Then I kinda hope he doesn't--"
At which point I stopped her, because that was exactly her brother's attitude toward her tournament the previous weekend; and because, though I get the sentiment, we're trying to foster a mutually supportive environment here. Everybody on board, please.
"Okay, well, Monday, then I'll get to do nothing."
"Swim lessons," said her dad.
"So when do I get to do nothing?"
Luckily for her, I'm pretty sure swim lessons don't start until Tuesday. So she can have a full day to do nothing. And swim lessons aren't exactly rigorous -- it's our one guaranteed daily activity, biking to the pool and getting to swim. And then she can keep doing nothing for the entire month of August, because this is it: the last planned camp of the summer.Labels: camp, holidays, horses, summer
