Happy Memorial Day!

Well, Memorial Day weekend was fun.

Noah had a baseball tournament in Lusby. They lost all the games, but, y'know, whatever. We road tested the RV at Duncan's Family Campground, which is between our house and the ball field. I think the drive across the country is going to be amazing. The kids had a blast. Sean and Bridget made friends and swam in the pool and ran around the playgrounds. Bridget and Noah read books. (Sean hasn't fallen in love with reading yet. It will come in time. My brother didn't enjoy a book until he discovered Stephen King.) Noah and Jim cooked delicious meals. I sat on my lazy, broken butt and knitted. I could almost feel the tension seeping out of my shoulders.

What do you mean by broken butt, you ask? Well, a week ago Sunday, I was going out to trim back the weeds on the back fence. My heel hit the wooden step that goes to our overgrown gravel-and-weed garden, slipped out from under me, and I landed on the step butt-first. Since it hasn't gotten much better, I'm pretty sure I have broken or bruised or somehow damaged my tailbone. Luckily, I still have the muscle relaxants from when I threw my back out, so I haven't gone to a doctor. What are they going to do? Put a cast on it? No. Tell me to stay home from school? Not going to happen. Physical therapy? I can't even think about physical therapy for that. So, no.

But I digress. If you ever want to camp in Upper Marlboro -- and I feel certain that you do -- I highly recommend Duncan's Family Campground. There are two playgrounds and a pool, which is enough to keep my kids entertained. They have some organized Bingo/Karaoke-type activities, but I didn't go anywhere near those. They come around at the end of the weekend and pump out the holding tanks, so we had a little mini-course in how to do that. We needed that. It's not nearly as scary as it sounds. I mean, it's not scary as long as Jim is doing it.

And what's up with the knitting? Yeah, I know, I'm an old lady and a nerd. That's not surprising. We're getting ready to drive across the country. The minute I get into a moving vehicle, I fall asleep. Jim prefers to have some company. I can't read in the car because it makes me sick. My hope is that I can knit without getting sick and that it will keep me awake. At least, that's how it started.

Then I remembered how much fun knitting is and now I'm all addicted to it. It's relaxing, and I'm all about relaxing these waning days of the school year.

Because things at school ... well, how to explain ... it's May, almost June, the worst time of the year. The kids are done. The adults are trying to shift blame for all the things they didn't accomplish (or, y'know, even start) during the year. No one really wants to be indoors. The HSA's are done. The weather is getting warm, which makes the children cranky. Two of mine almost came to blows over someone knocking colored pencils off a desk. (Okay, they were more angry about the disrespect than the pencils.) They didn't fight in my class. Ten minutes later, though, after Security released them, they fought in the cafeteria. (I know! Who would have seen it coming!) So now I have to make my lessons FUN! and EXCITING! just to plod on to the last day of school. Those ten sick days I took when I had pneumonia? I want them back.

I didn't have to go today, though. Jim and I were in Boston, researching a potential franchise. Chyten Tutoring is actually pretty amazing. They have a proven SAT/ACT-prep program; they provide top-notch college counseling; and I think their RANDD program, which teaches reading and study skills, is going to be great. (I haven't seen the whole thing yet, but the bits and pieces I've seen look wonderful.) They have an effective product, everyone we have met appears trustworthy, and the employees have been with the company for a respectable amount of time and seem to be happy. It's an awesome opportunity. The only question I have is whether Jim will be happy running a center. And that is his question to answer. It's important, too. Most of the time, I look forward to going to work. I want that for Jim, too.

Sixteen teaching days to go! (Well, actually, it's more like 13 or 14, since the kids who show up after finals spend their days locked down in the cafeteria.)