**UPDATE 9/30** Wow, everything has happened so fast, I went by Young Scholors this afternoon to turn in our paperwork, thinking Lily would start near the end of October after Fall Break. They were worried though that she was going to be behind, and offered to waive the first two weeks tuition if we could start right away. They had to have her immunization records first though, so I was thinking that was going to take a few days at least to round up. Turned out I still had the form they gave me at her appointment last year - I can't believe I was able to find it so easily! So I took the form back up there, and she is now starting tomorrow! Of course she still has some things at Kindercare so I will have to go by there in the morning and pick them up. I hope this isn't crazy, but I actually feel really good that she won't be spending another day there. Both the teacher and director at Young Scholars were so eager to get her started, it made me feel better about the whole thing. So we will see how tomorrow goes. When I talked to Brian tonight we joked about how it seems like every time he goes out of town I have to make some big momentous decision without him...
***
If you have read any of my earlier posts, you probably noticed an ongoing theme towards Lily's new school - a "not-so-happy-with-it" one. I kept thinking things would get better at Kindercare, that it would start to feel more like home, that I would make peace with our decision. But it just wasn't happening. Well after weeks of worrying and complaining about it we have finally decided to bail. After talking to some of her friends' moms this weekend we decided we were justified in making a mid-year switch. They just have not been doing anything, and I am afraid it would be a wasted year for her. I am fully aware that she is a bit ahead of others her age and I may very well feel this way once she is at public school. But the difference right now is that I am paying for this - and I really don't like paying $200/week for a babysitter for my kindergartner!
So I think we are going to enroll in the brand new Young Scholars Academy. I spent just a few minutes there this afternoon, hard to get real feel for it but I think it will be an improvement anyway. I wish I felt more certain, but there aren't a lot of other options right now. I should feel better now, but I still have this uneasiness about the whole thing. I hope I haven't made another rash decision that I end up regretting. I feel a little bad for abandoning her school so quickly, especially because I really liked her teacher, but she just wasn't getting what she needed there. If only Brian's work would move back to Briargate, then we could go back to Primrose and life would be good again. Sigh. Why is this so hard???
Well other than that bit of drama... let's see. Lily started ice skating - she seems to like it. Especially the thought of getting good enough to do ice dancing or figure skating. So we will see how this session goes. She had another soccer game on Saturday - she wasn't really with it most of the game. Her friends from across the street came over Saturday morning before the game and I don't think she ever got herself out of socializing mode :) Then she went to a birthday party later in the day - at My Gym! Almost like Deja vu, but we didn't have to bring the cake this time. I am still working to get this auction put together, not only does it consume a fair amount of time but I am constantly stressing about it! I will be glad when that weight is off my shoulders. Hopefully I don't blow the thing too badly...
Brian gets back on Friday night, and we are leaving for Moab on Saturday morning. Hopefully this time Nala will be all set for the Petshotel, though I should probably call to confirm everything, I don't need that kind of stress again! Strangely enough I haven't been able to find our big gray tent, which is the one I had planned to take. How does one lose a TENT??? We haven't had it since Albuquerque last year...the backpacking tent is okay, its just a little awkward to use it in a campground because its hard to get dressed inside it. When we're backpacking I just get dressed outside the tent, that doesn't work so well when you are surrounded by other campers :) So I don't know what we are going to do... will have to get it figured out by Saturday in any case.
Now for the fun stuff... I am rethinking my plan to do an Adventures by Disney trip to Costa Rica in 2011. In doing some long-range budget forecasting I realized that there is almost no way we will be able to do more than one AbD trip while Lily is a kid - and if I can only do one I don't think Costa Rica should be it. I did some quick research and found that we could go to Costa Rica on our own (well not totally, we would book through a travel agency that arranges all reservations and transportation) for a LOT less money. And we would get to do a lot of the same sorts of things. Maybe not quite as cool, but cool enough and we could save some money to put towards a bigger trip later, maybe the African Safari one. The kicker though is that since this would be a cheaper trip, there is no need to mess up our "who picks" rotation, so we could go in 2010 as originally planned instead of me switching years with Lily. That pushes her requested Disneyland trip back a year, but surprisingly she seemed okay with it when I asked her. So we will see, I won't make any firm plans until at least Feb or March when we get this years tax refund, but as soon as we know exactly what our budget will be I want to be ready to book so we don't miss out on anything. Maybe I should have been a travel agent :)
Okay I'm going to bed now... I have four long days, followed by four fun but action packed days ahead of me - watch this site for a trip report when we return!
So I think we are going to enroll in the brand new Young Scholars Academy. I spent just a few minutes there this afternoon, hard to get real feel for it but I think it will be an improvement anyway. I wish I felt more certain, but there aren't a lot of other options right now. I should feel better now, but I still have this uneasiness about the whole thing. I hope I haven't made another rash decision that I end up regretting. I feel a little bad for abandoning her school so quickly, especially because I really liked her teacher, but she just wasn't getting what she needed there. If only Brian's work would move back to Briargate, then we could go back to Primrose and life would be good again. Sigh. Why is this so hard???
Well other than that bit of drama... let's see. Lily started ice skating - she seems to like it. Especially the thought of getting good enough to do ice dancing or figure skating. So we will see how this session goes. She had another soccer game on Saturday - she wasn't really with it most of the game. Her friends from across the street came over Saturday morning before the game and I don't think she ever got herself out of socializing mode :) Then she went to a birthday party later in the day - at My Gym! Almost like Deja vu, but we didn't have to bring the cake this time. I am still working to get this auction put together, not only does it consume a fair amount of time but I am constantly stressing about it! I will be glad when that weight is off my shoulders. Hopefully I don't blow the thing too badly...
Brian gets back on Friday night, and we are leaving for Moab on Saturday morning. Hopefully this time Nala will be all set for the Petshotel, though I should probably call to confirm everything, I don't need that kind of stress again! Strangely enough I haven't been able to find our big gray tent, which is the one I had planned to take. How does one lose a TENT??? We haven't had it since Albuquerque last year...the backpacking tent is okay, its just a little awkward to use it in a campground because its hard to get dressed inside it. When we're backpacking I just get dressed outside the tent, that doesn't work so well when you are surrounded by other campers :) So I don't know what we are going to do... will have to get it figured out by Saturday in any case.
Now for the fun stuff... I am rethinking my plan to do an Adventures by Disney trip to Costa Rica in 2011. In doing some long-range budget forecasting I realized that there is almost no way we will be able to do more than one AbD trip while Lily is a kid - and if I can only do one I don't think Costa Rica should be it. I did some quick research and found that we could go to Costa Rica on our own (well not totally, we would book through a travel agency that arranges all reservations and transportation) for a LOT less money. And we would get to do a lot of the same sorts of things. Maybe not quite as cool, but cool enough and we could save some money to put towards a bigger trip later, maybe the African Safari one. The kicker though is that since this would be a cheaper trip, there is no need to mess up our "who picks" rotation, so we could go in 2010 as originally planned instead of me switching years with Lily. That pushes her requested Disneyland trip back a year, but surprisingly she seemed okay with it when I asked her. So we will see, I won't make any firm plans until at least Feb or March when we get this years tax refund, but as soon as we know exactly what our budget will be I want to be ready to book so we don't miss out on anything. Maybe I should have been a travel agent :)
Okay I'm going to bed now... I have four long days, followed by four fun but action packed days ahead of me - watch this site for a trip report when we return!
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