August went by in a blur and while I was feverishly working towards September and the promise of school starting again, I just remembered: school is not starting because BC teachers are still on strike - and even if it were to start: my kids have decided to home school....
While this is certainly a new experience, true to our motto for the year, the verdict is not yet in on whether I will remain sane through all of this or not...
Don't get me wrong - I'm excited for them to start this new chapter in their education, and I'm not just saying that because SCIDES (their new school) has been a client of mine for almost 6 months now...
They will be flexible with their schedule, get all the support they need, can influence the way they learn about something and really experiment and discover their passion. Really. So I've decided to remain calm about it and embrace it. Really.
Moving on - there were lots of other new experiences for us this month!
My husband and I went to an event put on by Brambles Bakery and Left Field Cider. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We sat with other adults and talked and ate delicious food and drank yummy cider (at least I did, because Roland was driving). That was a (great!) new experience for us, because usually we just stay home and don't really talk to anyone. Roland even liked it so much that he wants to do it again!
A few days after the event we decided to go for a little drive and when we came back home we somehow had bought a new travel trailer. As it turns out a camping sabbatical was not such a good idea after all and while we had sold the motorhome earlier this year to take family road trips to new destinations, the experience of a new travel trailer in familiar campgrounds seemed even better.
We brought the trailer home and my husband played house in there for a week to get it ready for the first camping trip. I love a domestic man.
While my husband was playing house in the new trailer, my oldest decided it was time for me to write about his Coming Out. We've known that he is trans for a few months and that has definitely been a new experience for the whole family.
And finally, just last week, we took out the new trailer for the first camping trip. Of course we have a name for it (our motorhome's name was "Gerdi") - it's called FANCY. Yes, with capital letters. Mostly because it's way too nice for us plain folk.
The camping trip was a success and my husband and I even squeezed in two nights BY OURSELVES WITHOUT THE KIDS. I know, right? It was glorious.
FANCY has been at Monck Park for 9 days now and the camping crew looked like this:
Night 1 - Roland and Kerstin
Night 2-5 - Roland and Marius
Night 6-7 - Roland, Kerstin, PJ, girlfriend M, Marius and the dog
Night 8 - Roland and Kerstin
Night 9 - Roland
FANCY and Roland are due back home tomorrow and I can honestly say that August has been one of our best months so far this year (excluding my mental state, but I don't want to rain on this post's parade, so I will write about that another time).
Oh, one more thing - I found out on Night 6 that everything looks better with wine...
Now I want to know - what's new and exciting with you? How did your summer go? Are you looking forward to fall? I'd love to hear about it!