Productive Today

I've managed to complete everything on my to-do list already and the day is not even half way over yet! I love days like this. I have now made all necessary arrangements in preparation for returning to work next Monday, scheduled a vaccination appointment for Caitlin and decided on what will probably be Caitlin's summer time care program. Our goal for summer care was to find a reasonably priced 'day-camp' style care provider who could also speak Spanish with her. We really don't want her to lose any of the language acquisition ground that she's gained over the course of this school year so we've looked really closely at our budget (by that I mean I am sacrificing my tax refund and supplementing it with my own income) and decided to put her in The International School summer camp program. They offer four sessions of two week long immersion day camps and we've decided to sign her up for all four sessions. Each session covers new information so our hope is that she will not only retain what she's already learned, but also gain some confidence, a new perspective about the world she lives in, perhaps even expand her Spanish vocabulary. The language is the main reason I'm willing give my entire tax refund (which I was planning to spend on something fun!) for what is essentially day care, but there are other benefits to this program. They include; twice a week swim lessons, field trips to the Portland water front and the fact that it's only a few blocks from my office! It means more "one on one" time with her. If I'm stuck in traffic after work, at least I can spend that time with Caitlin! If we want to go to Grammies house after work/school? No problem, it's just a dozen blocks back downtown, not a half hour to forty five minute drive to Wilsonville to pick Caitie up and then another 1/2 hour to 45 mins back into Portland! So at least for this one summer I am going to suck it up and pay almost double what I would otherwise have to pay for summer time care. I don't know that I will be able/willing to keep it up every summer simply because I do want to go back to school myself and I would really like to be able to buy a house sometime in the next 10 years! Of course this plan for her summer care is not set in stone yet and may change by the time school lets out in June, but for now it feels nice to have some idea of what we think she'll be doing for the summer while we're working.