Summertime

Wow, lots going on lately. Alex finished school on June 3, and she's just now slowed down. She had a Girl Scout swim party, then an all-day Girl Scout event -- a gardening service project, followed by Build a Bear, followed by CiCi's for pizza and awards. Friend Jordyn stayed with us a couple days the following week while her mom and sister were at camp and her dad was at work. Then last week, she did ballet camp in the morning and Girl Scout Twilight Camp at night. I was there, too, so that made for a long week for me (since I still went to work during the day). But camp was great -- it was at the local Masonic Retirement Home, only a 10-minute drive from home. One day, we had a field trip to the American Airlines training facility. What a plush resort! Restaurants, cafeteria, pool, tennis, ropes course. I suppose if people are going to fly in from around the world to train, their stay should be nice. I was impressed. There also was a neat museum that highlighted AA's history, which of course intertwined with the history of flight in general. I'm sure money's tight, but there was room for renovating. In general, the whole place smelled like old people (sorry, old people).

Oh, a couple weekends ago, we also had a particularly busy Saturday, starting with a birthday party for Lizzie and Gracie Potter (happy 2nd!) followed by a visit, complete with hamburgers, gourmet chicken tacos and serious swim time, at cousin Sophia's house in Lewisville. Alex's cousins from Austin were in town, so she had a great time playing and swimming and getting to know them better. We had to leave at 3, and Alex was so, so sad, so Sophie and cousin Thel offered to drive her home later, all the way to Arlington. So Alex got to stay a few more hours and Sophie if officially her most favorite cousin ever.

We had a nice Father's Day, even though I slept most of the afternoon, still trying to recover from camp week. We ate at Mariano's (our favorite), and we saw Toy Story 3 the night before. We actually were trying for Karate Kid, but it was sold out at two different theaters, so we settled on TS3, the 10:30 p.m. showing. It was great, but didn't get home until 12:40 a.m. Another reason I needed that nap. That's the 2nd time we've tried and failed to see Karate Kid. We'll try again soon, I'm sure.

Another biggie is trying to wean Alex and myself from each other at night. More than not, I end up falling asleep with her, with has made for some serious co-dependency on both our parts. So this week, we're working on self-soothing and sleeping alone. I've begun sitting in a chair in Alex's room while she goes to sleep, despite my deep desire to lie down next to her (mainly out of exhaustion). But I've got to help her do this. I've known this for years, but I had some sort of epiphany last week, and I'm serious about not faltering.