Fairy Ballet Fish

A few months ago, I looked at my summer calendar.  It was pretty empty and I figured I should probably sign Cally up for a few different things to do with kids her age (since we wouldn't have any childcare).  I perused the options (thanks to a great website called "findandgoseek" which lists all the possible day camps in the area).  As a working mom, I have this nagging worry that my kids are going to miss out on all those little classes and things that I was able to do as a kid because I had a stay-at-home mom.

John has been bringing Cal to swim lessons all spring, but I have an almost irrational fear of my kids being around water and not knowing how to swim so I did try to sign her up for more lessons at a neighboring towns pool, but was put on a waiting list.  I then looked into various "movement classes" (a.k.a. dance).  A bunch of options involved one day a week throughout the entire summer.  I knew that wouldn't work.  And then I found a week long "camp" at a local ballet theater company.  It was an hour a day and the theme was "Fairy Ballet".  So, in a moment of weakness I signed Cal up.  And then I forgot about it for a while.

 

As it turns out, I had an opportunity to do some per diem work during the same week that Cal was signed up for this camp.  John volunteered to take her the first day and we both scratched our heads on Sunday night wondering what she should wear (there was no information on the website nor letter in the mail).  Cal has a hand-me-down lime green leotard from our friend Claire's days in the Vermont Ballet Theater, so I figured that would do. Cally, proudly wore the over sized leotard with her underwear showing.

Off they went for the 9:30 class.  I told John he and Hazey could go grocery shopping or do some errands while Cal was in class.  It turns out that a) parents can't leave during class in case a kid needs to go to the bathroom b) all kids need ballet slippers and c) all the other kids wore pink leotards and white tights.

John begrudgingly purchased the ballet slippers, but neither of us felt inclined to purchase tights or a pink leotard-- and so she wore the blue and green ballerina dress that John purchased at Costco during a moment of weakness with a pair of snowman tights that her aunt bought her for X-mas.

By Wednesday John was doing a bun in Cal's hair before class.  He was in, hook, line and sinker.

I got to be the ballet parent on Thursday and Friday.  They actually don't let the parents in during the class and they block out the door window with paper.  I'm not exactly sure what went on in there for the hour, but on Friday the parents were invited to a mini recital.  Cal was having a ball, but I'm pretty sure that ballet is not her calling-- focus was sort of lacking-- even when just compared to the other 3 and 4 year olds in her class and she doesn't exactly have the genetics in her favor......

Whatever is the case, she had fun, and she showed a lot of independence by just doing it everyday.  As I watched the 40 girls there doing "intensive ballet" program (five weeks of ballet from 9-4pm) and listened to a colleague tell me that they spent their daughters college tuition on ballet only to have her quit her senior year in high school,  I sort of wondered what I was smoking when I even thought it was a good idea to sign Cal up for this......... For now, I think we are safe.

 

 

   

And to make the week even crazier, Cal ended up getting in off the waitlist for swim lessons at the local pool.  So, an hour after Fairy Ballet Camp, she had a 1/2 hour swim lesson.  This meant that  this guy to get dragged around to all these places:

 

Fortunately, he was able to rally for the Ballet class, but he usually fell asleep en route to swimming lessons.  And the other confounding factor was the weather.  With temperatures barely getting into the 60's and rainy for two of the days of lessons, we really made a point of not pushing Cal to go (and even thought about skipping it one day), but she insisted on going.  

 

 And fortunately, by Friday, the sun was shining and pool more inviting. She's loving the lessons, not really swimming yet, but so much more comfortable in the water.

 Witnessing all this insanity was John's old friend Michael, who came to visit from Denmark.  John and Mic met in Greenland when John was on the Viking boat.  Michael ended up staying with John in Huntington for a few months back in 1998 and they bonded playing obscure card games.  Unfortunately, Micheal arrived on Monday just as the rain began and the sun did not come out again until he left on Thursday!?!?!?  I guess Danes are used to overcast weather, but it still was a shame.

 

 

Michael and his wife, Fee, have two little boys (age 4 and 6) and he rolled with and witnessed Fairy Ballet Camp, swim lessons, a trip to Montpelier, an attempted dinner out, a canoe trip down the Huntington River, errands, melt downs, and ice cream cones.   And with the rain, cold temps, and loud children, he claims to still love Vermont and to have had a great time.  

Phew!  Now I'm ready to slow down and relax and enjoy our summer.  

Father's Day!

On a day that it's all about Dads, I feel pretty fortunate to have this guy as the guy that our kids call "Dad".  As the man who decided to take on this parenting challenge as an equal partner, he has really done it like a pro.  He spends every Tuesday with the kids.  They usually go to the dump, the grocery store, swimming lessons and take care of other various errands, but sometimes he'll take the kids strawberry picking or sledding. 

I'm not really sure how our family and bank account would function without John being able to take this day with his family.  He also helps us keep on top of the cleaning, vacates the house of chipmunks and robins (thanks to Lobster, our cat), and gets the kids to nap almost any day that he's around.

When I asked Cally what she loves about her Dad, she said, "I love that my dad drops me off at Tammy's (daycare) everyday, I love that he takes me to swimming lessons, I love that he makes me yummy lunches and breakfasts, I love that he hugs and kisses me when I need it.....".  I couldn't have summed it up better. 

So even though Cal can give Dad a hard time and opts for Mom whenever she's around.  She clearly sees that he serves a very important role in the family. 

To honor our man of the house, we let him sleep in until 8:30, delivered coffee and locally made donut, and the paper in bed.  He joined us for a sojourn on the Stowe Bike Path, had lunch at the Farmer's Market, and then we let him loose for the afternoon so he could ride with 7 of his buddies for four hours before meeting us at a BBQ.  All that on a blue bird day with temperatures hovering around 80.  I'm pretty sure he'd like to bottle the day up and repeat it as often as possible.

 

John, you make this parenting adventure all that much more enjoyable. 

Balance

 
Life with a one and three year old, a full time job, and a desire to stay active can sometimes feel like a juggling act in the big top (and I've never been able to actually juggle).  Trying to make it through this "sprint to the end" of the school year has been a serious challenge for me this year.  There have been moments when I wasn't really sure which way was up........ but even with all the insanity of wrapping up the school year, having our day care closed for two and a half days, having John off in NH teaching a class, and training and running a half marathon, we've managed to have some really wonderful times as a family.

Hazen and Cally made it up Camel's Hump for the third time in one year for our dear friend/Hazey's Godmother's 50th Birthday on a gorgeous May.  

The kids were super troopers in the backpacks and Cal even hiked a bit of the way.  However, these parents were mighty sore after the schlog downhill!

We got to celebrate UVM's graduation weekend with a number of John's fantastic students.  In years past, we've hit a graduation party here or there, but this year we were on graduation party tour!  With so many amazing graduates who have touched our lives and whose lives John has touched, it was such a treat to celebrate this special weekend with them (and meet their parents).  I feel so excited for these fantastic students with so many adventures ahead of them and so proud of John for having made such an impact on their lives.

I somehow managed to run half of the Burlington City Marathon.  Having trained minimally, I felt lucky to just finish it, but somehow my team mate Jen Baer managed to pull through at the finish under 3 hours and 30 seconds-- which made us the first place finishers for the Women's 2 person relay teams (out of over 50 teams).  John and the kids rode along side of me for the hardest part of my run and even though I was bonking, they made me smile and kept me going.  Who wouldn't smile with these two cheering you along?

John had carefully planned teaching a course at a time  when we both believed it would be least disruptive to the end of the school year mayhem...... Unfortunately, the trip coincided with our daycare providers annual vacation.  The good news is that the grandparent reinforcements were ready and willing to help out.  Bumpa and Grandma helped out for the first part of the week and Nana and Grandpa arrived for the second half.

The kids love spending time with their grandparents and we all love the relationships grow and develop between everyone.  Even though we don't have the convenience of seeing each other more frequently, we love knowing that the grandparents are able to help when we need them.

And a special bonus, was seeing cousins from both sides of the family.
 

In other news, Cal is becoming more and more of an artist everyday.  Here is a portrait of Lobby.

 

Even with all the grading and training and writing of exams and whatnot, John and I have managed to do what is most important for us-- we've been able to take some time for ourselves as a couple and go for a few mountain bike adventures together! That, as well as the family hike, are what I will remember most  about this spring.  Not the late nights at school, the weekends spent grading Create-a-Continent atlases, or the lack of sleep, but the adventures and love I've been able to share with my family.