The school season is in full swing and we have (mostly) adapted to the chaotic routine - and really a routine would be lovely, but it is actually nothing like a routine and it feels like every day brings some new plan(s). Quite often we send one or both kids off to school and say "someone will pick you up, eventually." And there is really no way it would work without endless amounts of help from friends and family and after care and job flexibility. I long for weekends and holidays and nights of no homework and school hot lunches, because it is all so incredibly time-consuming. I am often reminded, though, by those who have been through it, that these are wonderful days and rather than allow the chaos to stress me out, I should embrace it and appreciate every wild moment of it. So I do. Correction, I try to.
As a result of all of the above, I find that there is very little free time in the day for extra-curriculars and even some vital needs - reading still happens (although not frequently enough), running still happens (but only when I wake up at 5:30 a.m.), taking pictures happens (but mostly with the IPhone because I cannot ever seem to remember to grab the real camera), and blogging rarely happens. Fortunately, I think the winding-down or down-sizing (or whatever it is) of the blog is - in some ways - a good thing. Luz is 8 now and is starting to appreciate privacy and it makes me wonder, how much sharing is too much? Is she going to be an angsty teenager who is disgusted that the first decade of her life was put out there for everyone to see? There is no road map or guide or litmus test for how this sort of thing plays out, but I have some doubts about whether I would have appreciated having my life on display in front of people I did not ask to share it with. So, maybe sporadic posts and less detail is the way to go. I don't know. I am not ready to wrap it up entirely; I am just thinking more about this person Luz is becoming and what impact the blog will have on future Lucy.
While I am figuring it all out, here are a few more pics from the Disney Cruise. The first couple are from our day trip to Nassau where Christian basically made us walk the entire city in 100 degree heat so that we could see all of the important landmarks - the Queen's staircase (and according to Lucy's count it was 64 steps, not 66) and the old British fort. Christian could not understand why the kids were not psyched. I totally got it and, like James, looked like I was a part of the Bataan death march. Some nut-job, local even stopped us at one point and told us we needed to get our kids something to drink because they both looked dehydrated and miserable. But while we were there I figured out that Nassau is really all about shopping in the a/c, high-end shopping. Needless to say, we didn't do any of that.
The remainder of these pics are from Castaway Cay, Disney's private island. The only way to get there is to go on a Disney cruise, so you better enjoy every minute of it - I don't care if you are hot and tired and don't like the feeling of sand in your toes or sweating while you eat. We did though, it was actually a blast - starting with a 7 a.m. 5k and ending with closing time at the beach around 5 p.m. Lucy's favorite part - snorkeling with Christian and searching for the hidden Disney treasures underwater. James' favorite part - the BBQ and endless soft-serve ice cream.
