Oklahoma City summer family fun is just getting started.
The school year is coming to a close and summer beckons.
I like to plan, stick to a routine, coordinate my family's schedule. There is comfort in sitting back in my office chair knowing that everyone is taken care of and where they should be: my third-grader is at school, my toddler is at preschool, the baby is asleep within my line of sight. All is well. The house is quiet and I am quiet in it.
That quiet is about to disappear. Summer sounds like children playing. They will soon be home all season long and the routine I've carefully plotted will have come to its conclusion. School performances are going on now, along with finals, AR point tallies and end-of-the-year gifts.
I can stock the freezer with ice cream and popsicles, enroll three active imaginations in the Metropolitan Library System's summer reading program, purchase shorts and sandals, spray-on sunscreen, sidewalk chalk and a pool pass.
Those efforts only count for so much, though, during this season that isn't meant to be so very structured.
Alarm clocks won't be set anymore and school uniforms can be left in a closet, forgotten for a few months.
Mud and grass clippings will be tracked indoors. A small army of neighborhood children is here to ensure that water balloons crash against our windows. Doorbells will ring just as the baby starts to nap and there's always a reason to put a few more hotdogs on the grill.
That's just how it has to be. Sam is 9 and we're learning about friends and curfews, kind words and what to do when, where, with whom. How to have friends is a lesson in itself when you're halfway through with childhood.
Sometimes, the best routine is not having one.
This season's meant for fun.
No, I won't be buying any summer bridge books or enrolling Sam into math camp. He has had homework every single school day this past year, tests to study for and projects to complete. That's enough for now. He needs a break.
We'll make a summer bucket list together, see old movies and some new ones, plant tomatoes.
And when they're bored? There's always summer camp.
I've been enrolling Sam and Isaac, age 4, since February.
A few sessions here and there is an off-again/on-again routine to bring some quiet back to the house, just enough time to miss them.
Click here if you're looking for a camp in or around Oklahoma City this summer.
Happy planning or the lack thereof!