School's out for Summer

   Our weather sent me through a time warp. We had a very consistently cool spring and then all of a sudden the heat and humidity blanketed Baltimore. The coolness kept me in winter mode, so when the heat did hit I felt quite behind on summer plans and fall registrations. Every summer requires multitudes of forms and calender checking for vacation and camps and a plan for daily activities, and it takes weeks in the spring to arrange all of this. The spring is probably also the most expensive time of year for us because I am constantly writing checks for summer activities and the fall registrations of sports, scouts and religious ed.  All of those things are now set and school's out for summer.
 

    The last few weeks of school are always a little out of whack. There are lots of special events and things to bring in, and then special schedules. In the midst of this Megan came down with a fever and aches. Headaches and tiredness started while we were camping and by Monday night it turned into fever and all over body aches. She felt fine when she had pain medication but would whimper and lay down as soon as it wore off. On Thursday I scheduled a Dr. appointment for her but as it would happen about an hour before we went I noticed a bullseye rash on her shoulder. It all came together, I had thought I had seen a tick on her the prior week (it was gone by the evening when I looked for it) and in that same spot I had noticed a big red spot 3 days earlier, and with the bullseye in the same spot I was pretty sure it was Lyme disease. That was confirmed at the appointment and because it was classic progression he didn't even make us do the blood work. Megan is in the middle of her 3 weeks of antibiotics and is doing much better. She did miss 3 days of school but was well enough to enjoy the last few days before kindergarten promotion.

    Emma's 6th grade bowling field trip was on the same morning as Megan's promotion so Emma did not attend but the rest of us packed in with happy families to see the kindergarteners sing and receive certificates. Megan had been practicing her songs for a month and did a great job. Rachael was eager to take pictures so we sent her to the front with our camera. The battery was getting low so we asked her to turn it off till Megan got her diploma. Poor Rachael got flustered with turning the camera on and zooming when Megan was called and completely missed the picture. Luckily a friends dad got a shot and emailed it to me. After the promotion we went to lunch to celebrate.

Friday was the last day of school and Jim's birthday. To celebrate we went to dinner at an English pub and then we went to the opening night of Toy Story 3 in 3d. We tried to fit in the opening of the Harry Potter Theme Park at Universal Studios but it was too far. The movie was a lot of fun although a bit scary for Bridget. Em, Rae, Meg, and I all got teary at the end. It was well past bedtime when we got out but hey it was summer vacation.

All of the girls did really well in school. Emma got on the honor roll every quarter while taking GT classes. Rachael finished with straight A's again. Megan doesn't get letter grades yet but made huge jumps in her assessment and ended in the highest categories in most subjects. And Bridget is accident free, even wearing panties at night. We are so proud of all of our girls.

And what did they do this first week of summer vacation? All 4 of them played school. I can't get over the irony.