school daze....

its nearly holiday time for my kids (and me) the last few weeks of school are always so hard. school in michigan goes until the middle of june.. when the kids are out of school my life gets much less complicated. no getting up at 5:45 to make sure everyone is up with lunches made and breakfast in their tummies. no fighting 3 kids to get them in bed by a decent hour, and NO worries about teachers calling home....

my middle son just can't seem to keep it together at the end of the school year... every year since he started any type of schooling, the end of the year has been the same. he is very smart, but tends to give his teachers fits. this year is no different... i've already received calls and emails regarding his behavior... i think he alone causes me more stress than anything else in my life at the moment. i keep telling myself, he wont be 15 forever or 16 or 17 or... then its college :) (if he survives that long)

i went shooting yesterday.. but forgot i had set my iso high on my 5d, so that i could shoot the babies at my mother in laws house with no flash.. so pretty much i hate every shot.

i have been able to make some summer plans, all camping so far. in about 10 days i'll go to canada to go camping and shooting near niagara falls. actually i'll be camping on a lake called lake niagara, and from what i can tell online it looks a lot like northern michigan. i'm very excited.

this trip will be without my family, just me, my cameras and a group of people who love shooting as much as i do :D i'm very excited.

i've also made reservations for a camp ground in estes park, colorado. i have to play a job on july 8th, so i'll head out after that. i think sam, and hannah want to go for sure. Alex CAN NOT stay here alone all day while his dad works.. he'll surely get into trouble. so if he decides not to go, then i'll have to find someone to take him in for a week or so.

driving to colorado will be a real adventure. we'll stop probably 2x along the way, and will probably stay in hotels when we stop over night. its just too much trouble to set up camp and tear it down again for an overnight stay.

once in colorado i'll be staying at the same camp ground i did last year. its a small family owned piece of land... i really liked it. it was a great home base for all the hiking and day trips the boys and i took. i have to be back in michigan by july 21 because i have another job, with 3 rehearsals prior to it. so... maybe i'll take a few extra days on the way home from colorado and see wyoming or even the grand tetons. i'll just play it by ear as i go.

i really really wanted to drive all the way to california this july, but this playing job came up, and if i didn't do it, the entire group would have missed out. we normally don't take summer jobs, but this one will be good publicity.

august is up in the air at the moment.. kids have commitments to band camp and journalism camp... so maybe i'll just hang around home and try to keep my garden going until the first freeze.

in september i have a great trip planned for europe. i'm meeting with markus and malcolm again, but this time in england. i was hoping to conquer a mountain ... but will settle for some cathedral steps instead :)

malcolm assures me the lake district is hilly and beautiful.. i can't wait to see it.

i sure wish i could take my flute and just play one sonata in one of those cathedrals. i bet the sound is incredible.

ok.. sorry for the rambling.. my brain is scattered lately... i need school to END!