Anderson's Summer

I have been photo dumping here over the past 2 months, so these are all over the place.

Green shirt bottom left.

Because I have to work some in June and almost all of July, I had to find some kind of summer camp situation for Anderson. Noni is amazing, but if you have met this kid, you know that he is very....high energy, so we really needed an outlet for him on some days. 

Little face, bottom right. 

I settled on the Y because there was swimming, snacks, playing, fun field trips* and it was only $11/day! What on earth!

*the zoo, a farm, an outdoor adventure place, Jump Jam, Putt Putt, Bowling, parks, splash pads, etc.

He promptly hated it. 

The hatred was such a real thing that he literally made himself sick one day (the Neyland Stadium field trip day!) and I had to go pick him up. "He seems like he is really sick," they said. 

No. Just No. 

We both learned a lot of lessons through this Y camp. For example, I had to learn to not look back after dropping off a sad 5 year old, because a mom's heartbreak is a real thing. I endured this because I know that real life requires making your kids learn how to be ok alone....swimming, eating snowcones, going on field trips, etc. I think he had fun when he was there, but he made sure that we knew how much he didn't want to go. I mean, he told us ALL of the time about his reasons why he shouldn't have to go. 

Because Noni is amazing, she kept him most of the summer (that is A LOT of days/hours/minutes), but we still made him go 2 days/week when I was working. 

I signed him up for a summer "track" team and it was the perfect combination of outdoor activity, competition and fun. He really loved the second part of evening practices, once the sun went down about 7:30. It was a little toasty out there prior to that. We only went to one of the actual meets because we always had so much else going on over the weekends and spending 6 hours in 98 degree weather didn't trump those activities. He did "place" in each of the events he did, which was not terrible considering there were 16 different locations competing at one place. 

Just like my parents did for us, I will sit for hours to watch my kid compete for 30 seconds if track is the sport he chooses, but I am also holding out that maybe it won't win. Love you, Mom. 

Always entertaining this guy at his brother's practices. 

He has really embraced the neon clothing trend.  

The last practice was a water party with popsicle relays, water balloon fights, water gun tag and all kinds of fun stuff. He even won a giant thing of water balloons by demonstrating some kind of running skill. They definitely know how to convince you to sign your kid up every year. 

SO much time was spent at our pool. Anderson loves anything physical and swimming is one of his favorite things, for sure. 

So much more fun was had when Brandon came along for the ride/swim. 

Most of Anderson's favorite time was spent hanging out with Bop, just fixing things. 

Gymnastics place

Library.

I feel your pain, Anderson. The struggle to keep the library book limit is a real thing. 

He did a 3 day basketball camp, which reminded him that he does love that sport. 

(Part of my master plan to move track down in the rankings)

Also, "please can we go to Noni's?" is a top request at all times, so we are thankful for Noni's accommodating. And, for our Lily, in general. 

If someone were to say the words, "flexible. easy going, laid back, go with the flow," and then yell, "OPPOSITE DAY, "Anderson would be the representation. His intensity in all things is a blessing and makes him fun/curious, but holy grumpy pants when there is a change in things. 

Noni & Bop took them to the $1 movie to see SpongeBob. My bigger concern here is definitely Max, but they are more patient than I am & everyone survived.

Reliving his firefighter obsession days.

Some Videos:

He taught himself to flip into the pool

His Pre-School graduation video that I am just now uploading

Flipping on a trampoline

Anderson doing the long jump at track practice