What a scorcher of a day – the second in a row, actually!! A week into September, and the mercury hitting 93, with a heat index of 100 – absolutely unheard of!! Not that I’m complaining, mind you!! Especially with signs of autumn all around – the corn, great golden sheaves (sheafs, sheaves? – hmm, will have to look that one up!) rustling, ready for harvest, the trees with the tiniest hint of changing color, the blue skies just a little bit softer – yes, the season is a-changing for sure!! So, all the more reason to soak in the heat – and take a look back at our summer!!

For the past few years, our summers have been incredibly busy – so I was looking forward to a relatively unplanned summer this year. When I say unplanned, I mean no travel plans! Obviously, we can’t have a whole 3 months of doing nothing – well, I can….but for Manasi, no way!! All that good parenting stuff – enrichment, keeping them busy – you know what I mean!! And then I discovered the Peoria Park District’s Playbook for the summer – camps and activities for kids of all ages – from adventure to zoo-keeping, everything your child could possibly be interested in! I was quite enthused – even drew up a schedule for a multitude of activities to keep her busy – alas, most of these conflicted with her plans to lay on the couch and watch TV….

We did reach a compromise, eventually! No overnight camps – that was mine, I’m still not comfortable with her going away for a week. None of the week long craft day camps. Nothing that meant me driving all over town. Narrowed the field nicely, didn’t we? Finally, we were down to 1 sport and 1 music – which ones, though? Basketball, soccer, swimming – been there, done that! Time for something new – well, how about tennis? A good deal for me – we already have a bunch of rackets, plus, the classes were in Sommer Park, just down the road from us! Piano – this we continued from before, and in addition, a new instrument for the summer, guitar. A little drive away, but we do have a piano (technically, a keyboard), and believe it or not, we also have a guitar!!

A quick sidebar about the Peoria Park District here. I really loved the variety and quality of the programs they support!! And I’m surprised how few people actually use these services – Manasi’s guitar and tennis lessons had only a couple of kids – so I was getting the benefit of a private lesson at a fraction of the cost! Loved it!! And contrary to expectations, the teachers were top-notch – especially the piano instructor! Really not sure why these lessons aren’t packed – I, for one, am sold!! After the schools and the libraries, another solid way to see our tax dollars at work!!

The most fun Manasi had was at Zoo Camp – this was a week-long camp at the Peoria Zoo, ending with a sleepover at the zoo on the last day! A glimpse of behind-the-scenes – how cool is that?!!  I’m sure cleaning the rhino cages wasn’t much fun – but overall, a great experience!! My favorite – a reading program at Bradley University! This didn’t go across too well with Manasi – she is a good reader, loves to read – but to study reading, no way!! I thought it was really good – increase reading speed and comprehension, learn how to take notes – perfect!! Added bonus – for 5 Mondays, while Manasi was in a classroom, I got some ‘me’ time at a Starbucks, a couple of hours with a good book!!

We had a pretty good routine going there by the end of summer – and for all our plans to do nothing, our days were pretty full!! And we even got to travel a bit – a couple of trips, actually – but that’s another post!! A summer well spent!!