It Happens Every Year

Planning the summer is typically a nightmare for me/us. Like most Americans kids,  because they have about a 6 month summer break (well, 3 months anyway), they do various camps otherwise we would all kill each other. Although they're called "camps", they don't usually involve a tent, and most of the time they come home every night to sleep.

This year it's even more complicated, although let me preface this by saying that I have booked myself to attend the British Mummy Bloggers event, otherwise known as the CyberMummy conference.(July 3rd, London.)  So excited. I will have to work the summer around that trip, but let me give you an idea of some of the variables and see if anyone has any suggestions. (Things like "Just run away" and "Deny any association with your three offspring" aren't considered 'helpful', even though they are desirable.)

- Since the man-child is currently sporting a plaster cast from wrist to neck, and will wear a shorter one on his right arm till at least April, all bets are off as to what he will be able to do in the summer. If he can't do his music and sports camps, he'll be lounging around the place and I may have to bring him with me.

- If he is fit, he'll be doing residential golf and baseball camps in July, then two weeks of School of Rock bootcamp (late July) followed by a week of baseball coaching, taking him up to August 6th. I have been known to pick him up from this and leg it to the airport.

So - when to buy his ticket to the UK.

- The Queenager has applied to spend a month on a journalism course in Chicago (July). It's very competitive, so the back up plan is to apply to a similar one at Cambridge university (England) for the month of July, in which case she would fly over to Heathrow with me. If she gets onto the one here, she will do the UK trip in August.

So - when to buy her ticket to the UK.

- My mother usually comes over for 3-4 weeks at some point. The options are to come in June and fly back with me at the beginning of July, or to wait till August and come back here with us. (Assuming we come over in August.)

So- when to buy her a ticket to the US.

- The Little Guy has two weeks at theatre camp in mid-July (of course), so doesn't really clash with anything. I could bring him over with me in July (and leave him with my mother while I play), but that works out as rather expensive if I then have to bring him back when we're all here in August (if we come back in August.) Plus, a week in the UK is possibly too much let lag for him. Plus, do I really want to be worrying about a 6 year old when I'm supposed to be having a whale of a time attending a conference in London?

Que faire?

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