Embracing 18 Summers

I will be the first to admit that I laughed when Amy Foster, a Disney executive who spoke at the Disney Social Media Moms celebration, mentioned that all we get with each of our children is 18 summers.

I laughed and dismissed the comment that had jaws dropping all around me.

I mean, duh, we get 18 summers, but it's not like the kids go away after that point. College students come home for the summer. Sometimes they even come home to live after college.

But the words kept bouncing around my head.

Then I did some math.

C just turned 7 this week. That means 11 summers are left until she goes to college.

11. Summers.

And what have we done with the last 7?

We've sent her to daycare or day camp, rendering the summer utterly indistinguishable from the rest of the school year. We still had to get up early. Still had to rush out of the house to get somewhere on time. Still had to follow a week/weekend schedule.

Now to be fair, until this summer, I had no choice. Employers rarely take too kindly to having moms let their kids run wild in the office all summer. But this year? This year I'm working from home, and there's no good reason the kids can't be having fun in the backyard while I plug away in my home office.

I don't remember all of my summers, but I clearly remember the feeling of relief as June neared. The feeling that soon time would stretch into oblivion, that the days would be filled with just fun and imagination.

I want C and Little L to feel the freedom that endless summer days can bring. I want them to enjoy just playing and being outside, exploring, building, living their childish adventures to the fullest.

Some of my friends are horrified that I'm only signing them up for a week of camp this year. I'm a little scared myself to be losing hours of free work time every day. I'm not sure how I'll manage to exercise daily. I'm not even sure they'll have all that much fun.

But I'm willing to give them a chance.

I'm willing to say "go out and play and don't come in until dinner." I'm willing to give them more freedom than they're used to. I'm willing to pretend they're not going to make a beeline for the creek that now runs through our back yard. I'm willing to ignore messes, skinned knees, and any skirmish that emerges. I'm willing to forgo carefully structured days and activities. I'm willing to just let them be. All in the name of taking advantage of these last 11 summers.

Bike Love (Sponsored Video)

This Spring has been momentous in so many ways, but the most notable is the fact that both girls, within the span of just a few weeks, learned to ride their bikes without training wheels. Now walks to the park are actually rides to the park and we've opened up ourselves to a whole new potential family activity.

Only one problem. Neither M nor I have bikes.

Before we had kids we had bikes, but they were cheap and broke. Then M got injured and we got busy with having babies so we never replaced them. Today we can replace them.

Having family bike rides will be awesome, but I'm not just excited about that. I love that the kids have discovered the rush of pushing off on one pedal and feeling the wind in their hair. Plus, a piece of me can't wait for them to ride with their friends.

Seriously, watch this video and tell me you can wait for your kids to have moments like these? Though I can wait for them to fall in love!



(Please note: I am being compensated to share this video with you, but I wouldn't have shared it if I didn't think it was adorable!)

Magic and learning at Disney World

28 years ago, give or take a few months, I went to Disney World for the first time. Until two weeks ago, it also happened to be the last time.

So, there I was, packing for a very short trip to Disney World, not sure what to bring, even less sure what to expect. Only one thing was certain, with less than 48 hours to spend in Florida and many of those being taken up by sleep and conference sessions, I didn't really think I'd have time to explore the parks.

I thought for sure I'd be able to avoid the ride that had caused me sheer terror as a 7 year-old.

Here's a helpful hint: Don't tell your friends that you were terrified of Space Mountain as a kid and don't even want to think about going on it this time around. On the one evening you have to go visit the parks they'll drag you there first thing.

Wait, let's back up for a minute. Disney? Conference? Friends? Eh? What about the kids?

OK, here's how that happened. Every year for the last 3 years, Disney has invited a select group of bloggers to attend their now infamous Disney Social Media Moms Celebration. It's an incredible one day(ish) conference held at Disney World and trust me, people have been trying to decode the magic algorithm that Disney uses to decide who to invite and no one has yet to crack the code.

Like everyone else, I have not figured out the magic math. I just happen to have a lovely friend who took me as her +1.

The conference itself was amazing and drew speakers such as Peter Shankman, founder of Help a Reporter Out, amazing resource every blogger and journalist should know about, Amy Jo Martin, founder of Digital Royalty, who has rocked my brain with her "Find your why!" injunction, and Ramon DeLeon, aka RamonWOW of Domino's pizza in Chicago.

Peter Shankman, making sure his empire is intact after taking time to speak to us.

I go to conferences and hope to learn one thing or make one meaningful connection.

Here I feel like I did both of those things time and time again. Not to be overly corny, but it really was a magical experience.

And yes, I did find the time to hit a couple rides, see the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom, gawk at the lighted parade, and turn into a little kid for a couple of hours.

C as a 2-year-old developed a terror of people in costumes, so we always assumed that Disney was out of the question for our family. Part of my goal for my time in Florida was to really assess how bad it would be for her if we went. Now that I'm home I'm checking prices for DisneyLand. It's time for the kids to discover the magic for themselves.

For me I think the magic was all about being in the right place at the right time. I needed to hear Peter urge me to be more myself and less like the rest. I needed him to tell me that it was time to step out of my comfort zone. I also needed to hear Amy Jo ask me about my "why." I've lost my purpose and need badly to find it so I can feel whole again. And I needed to drink in the excitement and enthusiasm of the other speakers, needed to remember what I loved about the social media space, needed to regain some of what was lost towards the end of my last job.

And yes, I needed to ride Space Mountain, to face my childhood fears, to thrill at the stars whooshing by, and to yell in delight the whole way through. Makes me wonder what else I've talked myself out of doing because a previous version of myself was too scared.

I brought home a Mickey charm so I could keep it all in mind and keep some of the magic at hand.

I wasn't paid to attend this conference, though our trip was heavily subsidized and we received a ton of super fun things to bring home. My experience and thoughts are all my own though as is my gratitude to the Disney staff who made this experience possible. I'll forever be grateful to have been able to go to the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.

Off to camp we go... this summer

OK, so that last post about camp? Where I said I was signing up the girls? Yeah, I got sidetracked and I didn't. Then the weather turned nasty and I completely forgot that summer was just around the corner.

Guess what?

Summer is just around the corner.

I think I've decided that we're going to take a whole lot of down-time this summer. Instead of a summer filled with plans, activities, and things to do, I want the girls to have a summer filled with bug catching, digging in dirt, and letting their imagination roam free.

How lucky for me that my procrastination is going to help them get lots of down-time?

Lucky for them I'm not the only slacker mom who's taking her sweet time getting them signed up for fun stuff. I was able to sneak them into the Camp Galileo session I wanted them to attend.

Why a week of camp in the middle of a low key summer? Easy, even the most adventurous and imaginative kids need to have their imaginations fueled a bit. (Plus, I'm going out of town for part of that week and I'd rather think of them having fun and learning than moping and wishing I were home. Whatever. Details.)

The girls will be attending one of the Leonardo's Apprentice weeks. I think it's a perfect fit for Little L who spends her life asking "How is that made?" and C who loves nothing more than to create art out of... anything. (Yesterday she incorporated a doorstop in a diorama. Yes. A doorstop. It was the sun.)

I got them signed up with an easy phone call and experienced the most amazing customer service when I ran into some technical issues. If the camp staff is half as dedicated and enthusiastic as the office staff proved itself to be, the girls are going to have an amazing week which hopefully will fuel a whole summer of self-made fun!

Are you as much of a procrastinator as I am? GREAT NEWS. It's not too late for you either. Check out the Camp Galileo openings and hop over to the Galileo Learning Facebook page to join in the pre-camp fun. See you there in just a few weeks!

My compensation for this post, the last one, and one to come is that my girls get to have fun at Camp Galileo for a week. We are all grateful... probably for very different, if equally valid, reasons.