Summer Camp, Summer Fun and New Bikes!

Summer Camps in Full Swing
Since we aren't going away for 4-5 weeks this summer for constraint therapy our summer is finally long enough to schedule some camps for the kids.  Cole's first was swim camp (30 min each day) at the school where both take lessons already, Tom Dolan School.  This week Reagan was in gymnastics camp at Dulles Gymnastics with her friend Emma.  She was very excited to try gymnastics again and was very hopeful she would learn to do a cartwheel!

Then Cole spent a week at Star Wars camp at Claude Moore while Reagan was at golf camp at 1757.  I was very impressed with the professionalism of Claude Moore and he came home every day very excited to tell me about this adventures that day.  And it all ended with light saber wars and he even got to bring it home!  I was a little worried Reagan would find five full days of golf camp too much so I enrolled her the week of 4th of July so it was only a four day week.  Clearly I had no reason to worry - she quickly made friends with two other girls there and had a lot of fun all week.  It was high 90's all week but she left every day with stories about her day and a big smile on her face.

Reston Zoo

In addition to camps, I've carefully included time in between where the kids have no scheduled activities.  It has been hard for them to not know what to expect each day so I bought a small white board and each night after dinner we write out what we have to do the next day (like therapy or Tae Kwon Do class) and then we talk about what else we'd like to do.  It has really helped the kids feel like they are included in deciding what we do.  One of the fun activities we decided during our camp-free week was going to the Reston Zoo with my friend Lisa and her two children.  It was a very fun day, albeit very hot.  Their favorite part of our visit was feeding the birds - always a big hit! They were also able to pet an alligator and go on a Safari ride on a wagon pulled by a tractor.  We've been to this zoo several times, but still a lot of fun for the kids and they seem to learn something new with every visit.


Creek Walks, Swimming Pool and Cunningham Falls
Some of our other camp-free week activities this summer have included going for walks in the creek behind our house, spending time at one of our community swimming pools, going to Volcano Island (a local water park) and visiting the lake/beach at Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont Md.  It has been so fun finding new adventures and revisiting old ones.  I find the kids fight less when they have something to look forward to and are preoccupied with their activities.  This makes for a better day all around!  I feel so lucky to have so many activities at our disposal and so close to home.

Both Kids Get New Bikes
It seems a never ending battle to keep a bike in the garage that is a good fit.  Bike riding to date has been very tough for both children, but something has clicked recently and they are both really enjoying it now.  Both have larger bikes and we started taking them to the cul de sac up the street where there is more flat pavement.  They've both had their fair share of falls, but they always get up and try again.  It's fun seeing them enjoying it and I have a feeling that pretty soon I'm going to have to get one of my own so I can keep up!