June? What June?

I get the impression that many people have a quiet, relaxing summer break. In our family, on the other hand, it seems that we take a deep breath at the beginning of June and run flat out until school starts again in the fall.

DD1 finished Kindergarten at the beginning of the month. On May 30th the school held a "Kindergarten Celebration," where the classes sang songs, played their recorders and generally celebrated the end of Kindergarten. Poor DD1 missed it; she came down with a tummy bug earlier that day. I didn't bother mentioning to her that we wouldn't be going, but at 6:15pm, when the children were supposed to be dropped off at their classrooms, she stumbled downstairs very sad. "I worked SO hard on my songs, and now I don't even get to go..." We took her out to breakfast (at the Truckee Squeeze In) on Sunday for a family celebration.

Both girls had their spring ballet recitals on the Saturday of Father's Day weekend. The school is big enough that there are two performances, one at 2pm and the other at 7pm, and of course we had a daughter in each show. This was DD2's first time on stage, and she truly rose to the challenge. I imagine the Pioneer Center could be quite intimidating for a 3 year old. DD1 was a star, leading most of her class' dance.

DH and I celebrated our 11th anniversary on the 21st. As has become tradition, we went camping. We met up with my brother and his family at Oh Ridge campground at June Lake, CA. They live in San Diego and were camping in Yosemite prior to meeting us. It was a zoo with the 7 kids and 2 dogs running around, but we all had a good time.

Last week was pretty gross in Reno. Smoke from the Northern CA fires funneled through Donner Pass, and we spent most of the week under a level 2 smog alert. That means we were supposed to stay inside with air conditioning as much as possible and avoid physical exertion outside. DD1 didn't get to play outside at summer camp, and poor DS' swim camp turned into an indoor day camp. I was bummed not getting to go on my nice walks outside.