By Kelli Bowen
Like the deer rifle lottery every year, my second-most-forgotten deadline approaches: kids summer activities. There are three activities that are non-negotiable to my kids: soccer, baseball (or softball), and swimming lessons.
First off: there’s still snow covering every blessed thing, and we are looking down the barrel of the record for most consecutive recorded streak of below 40 degree days, so we don’t even know IF this snow is going to melt.
Last I heard, there’s a 9-foot drift covering the soccer field and if we went by last year’s calendar, we are only three weeks from the start of soccer practice, but you bet your frozen black and white balls we’ll get them registered.
Baseball for Miss A and softball for Miss E. They both want to play for the rural out-of-town club this year and the practice schedule works better with Mom and Dad’s pesky jobs, so that’s kind of neat.
Swimming lessons. The community pool offers two sessions: June and July. June has lessons at 9 a.m. Now I’m not sure if we’ll have all of the snow melted by June and from the past 6 months, the certainty of a summer warmup is sketchy-at-best. I haven’t clicked the registration button yet because outdoor lessons at 9 a.m. during a year with a potentially record-breaking cool-streak, doesn’t make me think of a positive summer learning environment.
So as we (maybe?) wrap up this never-ending winter and transition into spring…to possibly eventually a summer, remember to get the kiddos signed up for all the things because nothing says "Happy Summer" like driving your kids across three counties so they can play a sport for 30 minutes and then beg for $27 worth of food at the concession stand.
I mean, does it even count as summer if kids aren’t all decked in matching outfits being wrangled by well-meaning adult volunteers trying to teach the fundamentals of sports while the kids dream of icees and airheads? I think not.
Bust out those Yetis for your nondescript and adult drinks, and let’s get ready to play summer ball! Oh shoot - I still have gotta get them registered!!
Kelli makes her home in Cass County with her husband, two daughters (10 and 7) and two dogs. She works for a regional seed company by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend and writer by night.
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