Band Camp Survival

Ava survived her first year of band camp! Due to the pandemic, band camp didn't happen in the traditional form since 2019. That meant that they just put in a lot of hours at the school (12 hour days), and then went home to sleep at night. No extra bonding time. No independence on a college campus. No ICE CREAM (apparently the ice cream at band camp was always a big hit.)

But this year...they started up again! I dropped Ava off at RHS at 8am on Monday morning, all packed up, and ready to head 100 miles northwest of the Twin Cities. This group of 200+ kids and all of the amazing staff and chaperones had a very hot, very productive, and pretty dang fun time on the St John's University campus. And yes, the ice cream was very, very good. :)

My aunt Steph is in town, visiting from Brooklyn, so she accompanied me on the drive up to SJU on Friday afternoon. It gave us some time to catch up, and we then got a sneak peek of the 2023 RHSMB field show. The kids worked so hard this week, and have learned so much. I'm so excited to see how it progresses over the next few months!

Ava was very happy to be back at home on Friday night, in her own bed, with her own shower, and most importantly, with air conditioning. We had really hot and humid weather this week, and these kids were outside in it for quite a bit of the day. I'm glad she's getting a chance to sleep and cool off for a bit. 

I sent her pics/video of Pria during the week - Ava missed her!

Not for too long, though, as the RHSMB will march in the Leprechaun Days parade on Saturday morning. Rosemount takes Leprechaun Days very seriously. It's 10 days of community events, and something we all look forward to. After the parade, we're going to get a brat/hot dog at the RHSMB stand, head to the Senior Living center for root beer floats, and then later tonight, we're going to head back to the Midsummer Faire (carnival with rides, games, food trucks, beer gardens, etc.) We'll finish it off with a fireworks show (which we can see from our house...bug-free. Hooray!)

We also have friends coming in to town, so they'll get to take part in the chaotic weekend. It's a fun time, though, and hopefully the weather will hold up so we can all enjoy the day/night.

G had fun being the only kiddo at home this week. He went to Crayola Experience at the MoA on Monday (with his summer program.) They were supposed to go to the Twins game on Wednesday, but with the high temps, the YMCA wisely cancelled that field trip, and kept them onsite, instead. He had fun yesterday at a beautiful park reserve where they went on a nature walk, and enjoyed being outside (not quite as hot, I think?) 

G tested to move up for swimming on Monday, and while he didn't make it this round, he's doing great and has made visible progress. He earned his second stripe for his green belt (in taekwondo) on Monday night, and I'm so proud of him! We really like the instructor that teaches on Monday night, and I'll be sad when we have to switch back to another night once the school year rolls around (and Ava can join us again.) 

G and I braved the Wednesday temps and took our 3rd golf lesson in the evening. Lots of practice with our form, and hitting balls on the driving range. We're going to buy him his own clubs, and try to get out more often to enjoy this new (to us) sport.

We had a few big storms come through this week, and one of our boulevard trees was split during strong winds. Bye bye, tree! Hopefully we'll get a new one planted soon. I was so worried that our new lilac tree was going to blow over, but Scott staked it really well, with a good support rod, so it survived.

I think we were all quite happy to have nothing planned on Thursday night. After I took G to our pool to cool off, it was a sit-on-the-couch and rest evening. It was much needed. Scott and I have both been really busy at work, too, so when we have full evenings, it makes it hard to find time to recharge and reset for the next day. No boredom here, that's for sure!