5 days till school starts again..How did that happen? I have the feeling the kids just left for the summer a few days ago.
We're back, haven't edited anything yet, but missing the weather, the food, the running and all the fun we had. It's always taking me a while to adjust back. But in renovation hell, this break was exactly what we needed.
I'm getting back into it, Manouk keeping me company whilst the boys are having fun at hockey camp with lots of friends!
The first 2 days were HOT, above the 33. With a little wind. The rest of the week was cooler and more wind. They both liked it a lot. Maxim got his diploma (incl. theory + practice). Nathan got 8 certificates out of the 10 for practice. And 3 out of the 4 for theory. They were both happy, and diploma or not, the goal here was to have fun and learn sailing. And they did, both. So mission accomplished. They'll definitely go back next summer or even before. We'll see.
This is their instructor handing out diploma/certificate. Bad picture but had to take one!
Look at that smile! I think he couldn't believe it himself. Shame I only had my mobile that carries a bad camera (I'm usually too late or just not cropping correctly, which is exactly what happened here! lol). No matter what, his face says it all. The boys were at tennis camp the whole week from 9-5. Pretty intensive and they were beat every night. The last day was tournament day. The parents could come and watch from the 1/4 final but Manouk was very sick (stomach bug) so I decided to only show up for the finals.
Each category (they were 5 in total, Maxim was in 4) had their own tournament. When I turned up he ran to me to say he was in the final with a big grin. I was so happy I would see him play afterall; did not expect it as he was in a pretty strong group). I did not see much of the match, far too nerve wracking. Nathan sat next to me telling me what was happening! LOL!
I'm a bit sad actually, which is kind of weird. I'm usually jubilating on the eve of going-back-to-school day... Which means: end of chaos, messy house, screams, running around etc. Funnily enough, I'd take another week. They have been so much fun this week. We did a lot despite the weather. And what a bliss it is to wake up to the sound of your kids rather than the alarm clock (not looking forward to that tomorrow morning, yikes!!!!).
The 3 of them decided to stay in their PJ today. It was raining the whole day and my plan to get everyone outside with received with much protest. I did not fight them. I went about cleaning/sorting/trying to get things in place before it all starts again tomorrow. They were busy for about 1 1/2 hour in the kitchen, whispering, laughing, going up and down. They told me regularly to NOT enter the kitchen.
They had organised a treasure hunt for me. It was so funny to see to what kind of details they went in to prepare it. It took me a good 20mns to get to the treasure (via the WHOLE house...Ok it's not that big!): beautiful drawings and letters. Very sweet and loved that they did this. This is the poster telling me I got to the treasure.
Last week Manouk had found a cooking book I got for my birthday when I turned 7...This is YEARS ago (won't tell you how many, ha!). She came to me this afternoon holding it open at the chocolate mousse page. We had some spare time before dinner and I said ok let's do it. They all wanted to help and it turned into a real team effort.Don't you love the illustrations of then? Makes me feel fairly old. LOL.
So it was a perfectly smooth day till Manouk decided to glue these 2 little pieces of paper onto her eyes.I did not actually realised there was glue on them before it was kind of too late and it has dried on her eyelids....So my perfect day ended with a little painful operation (done at home) and a little talk about what we are allowed to do and what not...
I had made the promise to myself that I would not spent any time of school work this vacation. It usually creates some conflict and thought I'd do something else. It worked wonder. I love vacation!!!
