Diving Into the Summer To-Do List

This summer will hopefully be one of many milestones for Alicia.  So many things have slipped by the wayside, that I feel like we've failed her in some ways.  But, we're going to check off a lot of boxes during our long summer days.

Some of the milestones include:

1. Ditching the training wheels

2. Learning to swim

3. Learning to tie our shoelaces well

4. Joining a soccer team

We've made some good progress already.  Earlier this week, Alicia and I spent our day off (Memorial Day) doing some bike shopping.  She picked out a brand new bike with no training wheels and a brand new helmet. 

Later that day, Alicia made a valiant attempt to learn to ride a 2-wheeled bike. Well, okay, maybe valiant isn't the word. But, progress was made at any rate. I keep telling her that she doesn't want to be the only kid in middle school that still needs training wheels. But she's not convinced. (She's only going into the 2nd grade, but still...) We have such a short bike riding window, that if we don't tackle the challenge early, the opportunity will slip away for another year.

Tess and I spent about an hour running alongside Alicia on her new bike as she tentatively pedaled around the school playground. We kept mainly to the grassy ballfield assuming a toppling was inevitable. We were not disappointed.

Both Tess and I discovered that there is only so long that you can jog along all stooped over.

Eventually, Alicia was able to pedal a short distance on her own.  We've returned to the school playground each evening to make a couple of practice runs.  She gets better every day! 

All summer long, Alicia is attending a day camp.  For 8 of the 13 weeks of summer break, she's at the Eagle River Parks & Recreation Day Camp.  Every Wednesday at that camp is Bike Day.  Everybody brings their bikes and rides around in a bike rodeo or takes a trail ride.  I think Alicia is pleased (albeit grudgingly so) to be done with the training wheels as none of the other kids in her age group use them anymore...

We've signed her up for private swimming lessons which are supposed to begin next week once the Chugiak Pool's renovations are complete and the pool reopens.  She's been on the waiting list for the general swim lessons for over 3 years.  I finally just arranged for her to have private lessons to get her some basic swimming skills before she graduates from high school.

In addition, Alicia has ventured into the world of team sports.  We've joined the Eagle River Soccer Club which meets twice a week to teach beginner soccer skills and have a little scrimmage.  At first, Alicia wasn't sure she wanted to do soccer.  She enjoyed buying the shin guards and new shorts.  But she's never been on a team of any sort, so she was unsure about that.  As it turned out, she loved it!  She had her first practice this week.  Three other kids on her team are former classmates of hers.  So, that was good.  She did well with learning to kick the ball around.  And, most importantly, she looked good!  ;o) 

Last weekend, we drove up to Denali National Park.  The HOG does a ride up there every Memorial Day Weekend.  We stayed in our same little tent cabin.  It's cozy and just right for the 3 of us.  The bathroom is in the little building right behind the cabin.  Regular toilet and running water in the sink.  Beats an outhouse, hands down!

For $38/night, this cabin is the best deal at Denali!

Over the course of the weekend, we saw a bull moose (near our cabin), a mama and baby moose, and a black bear.  All close enough to see clearly, but far enough away to be safe viewing!