Just kind of blah.

Summer has slowed to a crawl...all the empty time leaves me sluggish and not motivated to do much. I work so much better under pressure, as it were....not to mention, the nonstop chattering of a six year old leaves my brain and ears very, very tired.

I had some awesome yoga practices a few days ago....over the weekend a woman from Hot Core Power was in town, teaching some classes as a preview to the hot vinyasa training that will be happening at the studio at the end of August. I took her class Friday night, John's full primary on Saturday, another hot vinyasa on Sunday, and my usual hot flow on Monday. Sunday's practice, especially, was wonderfully intense, one of those practices where I felt like I stayed in the "zone" for longer than usual, and wished I could do that every single day.

However. Tuesday morning I woke up exhausted and run down feeling, and with two gnarly fever blisters sprouting on my lower lip, one of which is still excruciatingly painful. I thought about the twenty dollar mini tube of instant cold sore healer at the drugstore, but got my usual Herpecin instead. Now I wish I'd gotten the expensive stuff. I've also felt logy and toxic and cobwebby in my head. I wonder what is up with me? I feel like a troll.

We're headed to the beach in a few days. Three girlfriends and I, two of whom are going on the beach trip, got pedicures last night. We got hold of a Cosmopolitan magazine, which is chock full of oversexed ridiculousness. I'm sure all the chattering the pedicure ladies were doing in Vietnamese was all about the stupid, pampered white women in the chairs. Anyway! It was very fun, so we decided that we'd each get a stupid magazine to share at the beach: I got the current month's Cosmo, Cindy is getting a Globe (talk about trashy!!) and Gloria is going to get a Maxim, just so the guys don't feel left out.

I remain a bit conflicted about this trip with two other families: they are both very dear friends and we always have such a good time together; their kids are all good kids, and the dads all enjoy each other. There's not an odd one in the bunch. However, I'm wondering if the lack of time alone and privacy is going to turn me into a total crab. This will be an interesting experience...both Lee and I have a considerable anti-social streak, so I hope we are all still friends at the end of this trip.

Whoa-oh, we're halfway there

Through the summer, that is. Though honestly, it hasn't been so bad.

This week Michael is at Camp Robot Inventor. It sounds awesome, and it puts him in a group of 9 to 13 year olds, exactly where I would like him. I've had some concerns about him "playing down", since so many of our friends have younger kids. It's not unusual - it's common, actually - for him to be in a group of first and second grade boys.

In that vein, I've decided to put him on the school bus home next year. Sniff! I'm feeling a little verklempt at the thought. But really, it only makes sense. Will gets out of school at 2:45, Michael at 3:00 - and I'd have to go across town to pick Michael up. I'd never get to walk to get Will, he'd never get after school playtime, and it'd be one more car on the road at peak out-of-school time.

Occasionally I will trade off with another mom for pickup, but I'm thinking that, barring any unfortunate bus situations, he will ride it home and let himself in after school.

Last week's outing at Camp Aunt Brenda was a huge success. The boys spent unlimited hours playing her Wii, they saw Wall-E, they went to an amusement park (though such a thing in Macon is on the lame side), went to a jumpy place, and ate all manner of crap, from Burger King to some kind of sour apple flavored straws in their Slush Puppies. The day after they got home, I said no tv, no computer time, and they were remarkably agreeable to that. Michael spent almost the entire day in his room, door closed, listening to audiobooks and building with Legos. He seemed to know how to regain his equilibrium.

I went to a hot flow yoga class on Monday, to a Power Hour at John's studio on Tuesday (which was really fast-moving and fun), and a Hot Power on Wednesday at the studio by my house. Lee and I also went out to dinner on Monday night, then walked to the village for a drink, and would up at our favorite outdoor bar, halfway participating in Trivia Night. One of my favorite questions: who did George W. Bush nickname "pooty-poot"?

Our July 4th was spent with some friends who have a pool, then we walked over to a grassy field next to the campus of Agnes Scott to watch the city fireworks. Immediately after the grand finale, the sprinklers came on in the field. Much hilarity and screaming ensued.

Saturday night we trekked about an hour south to see some friends we hadn't seen in years. They have two boys who are 14 and almost 11, and they passed on two huge bins of Legos and a grocery sack of Pokemon and YuGiOh cards. Heaven!! The only time the boys left the house yesterday was when Lee made them walk down to the creek, to see if it had flooded after the heavy rainfall we had yesterday.

The rest of our summer will be occupied thus: camp this week, morning soccer camp next week, Edisto Island the week after that, and after our return from the beach, there are two weeks before school starts, which will be filled with stuff like haircuts, clothes and school supply shopping, a last trip to the waterpark, classroom meet & greets, possibly an overnight visit with my parents, and a move back to regular bedtimes. Will is continuing to attend handwriting classes with an OT, and will do so through the start of school.

And Thursday night - what might possibly be the highlight of my summer - we are seeing Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at Chastain Park!