August went by in a blur. Between kids, camps, family vacations, surgeries and starting a business I basically have been running like a crazy person since the beginning of the month. I am looking forward to kids going back to school so I can figure out what all just happened.

Starting with kids – we have now reached the part of summer where I am glad they are going back to school but realize that there really is a reason they start selling all the back to school stuff in July. I’m not really prepared to send them, and time is running out to do anything about it. I guess I’ve reached the part of this parenting gig where I no longer feel much guilt about that.

I did do the whole back to school list for Oleg, because it’s kindergarten and that is a big deal. However, aside from buying a few outfits for Max, I am completely unprepared for him to go back. My lack of preparation is not helped by the fact that his school has not assigned teachers to the 2nd grade yet, therefore, no back to school list has been sent out. I bought some pencils and an eraser and that’s about it. I promised him a new backpack but don’t know when I’ll be able to get out and buy one.

School starts in 7 days and 2nd grade will just have to wait.

The main reason I am feeling pressed for time is that Max had a tonsillectomy yesterday, so I am housebound with him until he’s healed up, which should be right around the time school starts. He has been a good sport and super brave but shopping is not happening. The school will get their dry erase pens and baby wipes when I’m darn well good and ready to go buy them!

Because we’ve had better things to do around here than buy a bunch of school supplies that near as I can tell get stuffed into a giant drawer and never used anyway. We had fun vacations and camps to go to. Max got to go to beach camp on Jetty island in Everett where he spent the whole entire week becoming insanely tan, making new friends and learning all about the local seashore ecosystem. He had a great time.

I also decided that I would start freelancing when the kids went back to school in September, and decided to start laying groundwork to find writing jobs before the end of summer. I figured it would take time to find enough clients to really worry about, but what actually happened is that I ended up with a full book of business right out of the gate and so am getting a crash course in how to juggle competing priorities. And had to hire a babysitter.

Then we went on a roadtrip vacation to California. We drove to Portland, stayed overnight at the Benson Hotel, ate at the Original, breakfasted at Voodoo Donuts, and generally did our best to keep Portland weird for about 12 hours.

Then we drove to Sacramento via Crater Lake. After staying in Sacramento for a couple of days we roadtripped again to my aunt’s cute little beach house in Santa Cruz. We played on the beach, rode the rides at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and took the kids to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I also accidentally ran 4 miles while we were in Santa Cruz. I didn’t get too sore after, which gives me hope that my ankle is finally on the mend. We’ll see how it goes.

Then we came home and Max got his tonsils out. And with that, summer is drawing to a close.