Well, summer's over. Time to start the regular routine again any day now. Between school, church, music, volunteering and all the other stuff that creeps into the week, no matter how much we strive to Keep It Sane, there doesn't seem to be a free hour between six AM and ten PM. Here's what our fall is going to be like.
Next week Eleanor will be in school for the first time, giving her father a much-anticipated two-hour daily break. (That break is scheduled, planned for, filled for weeks into the future, mind you.) That also means three round trips to school every day: in the morning with both, before lunch to fetch Eleanor, and back with Eleanor at three to fetch Jean (reversed when E goes in the afternoon in even-numbered months). The Googlemaps pedometer says the one-way trip is 637 metres, so that's 3.8 km a day for Bob, at a child's pace for 4 of the 6 trips; Jean will travel 1.2 km a day, Eleanor, 2.4 km a day. Once a week, they and I will walk the 3-km round trip to Evelyn's house for our violin lesson, and we all walk 2 km to church and often back again. (Links are to friends-n-family Googlemap Pedometer screenshots on Flickr.) A priority this year, learned from experience, is to get both girls good-quality backpacks and winter boots with gripping soles for the trek. We had to go all the way out to the Army-Navy store to find backpacks with waist-belts; I just hope they will survive the year.
Music is getting ramped up from last year as well. Eleanor will be taking violin lessons too. She's not too enthusiastic right now, but that's typical; the decree is that she'll be trying it until Christmas and then we'll re-evaluate. I think she'll get into it once things get going - she'll see several of her classmates at group events, so that will help. She also wants to do ballet, which I think we can swing. Jean wants to start Irish dancing, but nothing's going to be added to her plate until we see how the homework situation in Grade Three is looking. She places a high value on playtime, and I don't blame her, especially since she can read well now, and to get through a chapter book takes time. Me: continuing with violin mini-lessons with the girls, as well as church choir, but I also want to sing with Lady Cove and play with the Suzuki parents' ensemble. We shall see how the latter two turn out. I doubt I'll be dancing or doing other exercise for the foreseeable future due to this accursed knee - outpatient visit on Sept. 8, which I hope will bear some fruit or other. Bob doesn't do music, but he tries to get to the climbing gym two or three evenings a week, and clock a total of 25 kilometres of running per week, outside the school commute. He's a slim'n'trim fella these days.
We know that none of the good or vital stuff in our lives happens without volunteers, so we volunteer. At St. David's, I sing in the choir, serve occasional duty with the Women's Auxiliary, and maintain the church's computers, including the minister's personal PC and the Community Mediation Services machines, and keep up the Hymn Log. (I don't manage the church website anymore, passed it off to someone else eager to use their computer skills.) Bob is on the Board of Managers once more, meaning a monthly meeting and a couple months a year "on duty", taking care of the running of the service and counting collection afterwards; he also teaches the Junior High Church School class. We're both carseat inspectors with Kids In Safe Seats, and alternate spending a Saturday working at monthly clinics when possible; I'm also on the executive at large, so another monthly meeting. Bob is a member of KAIROS Anti-Poverty Group (formerly k.a. PLURA) with a monthly meeting and a weekend trip to Ottawa this fall. I do my bit for Suzuki by taking care of their email and website.
There's lots we don't do. Bob doesn't have a paying job (although that may change); the kids don't do any kind of sports, or Sparks/Brownies/Guides, or any after-class in-school activities (we'll evaluate that as we go along). Bob and I try to get an evening out together once a month, but that requires spending grandparent babysitting karma points and doesn't always happen. There are websites I'm associated with that I am itching to take over and whip into shape, but just have to say no. There are fewer playdates (for children or adults) than we'd like. But people still keep asking us, when they find out we don't have a television, how we can possibly fill all of our free time!