The thunder rolls

Raining in Birmingham this morning, or more accurately, enduring a thunderstorm in the vicinity. Thunder here truly "rolls" between the "mountains," and makes it very loud and hard to sleep. We were up late last night attempting to see what we could do with the rest of the summer, and I had planned on sleeping in a little--ha! 6:30 rolled around far too quickly today, but couldn't be helped with the gentle rain accompanied by the all-too-loud thunder.

So last night's activities are still fresh on my mind--having given up on a vacation due to this commitment or that commitment, the task is now placing kids in what camps or activities may be remaining. And even that's hard.

Took a large "desk calendar" from Office Depot yesterday, and filled it with remaining commitments the rest of the summer. There were blocks for days where there is literally no space left--between plays, rehearsals, Jr. Miss pageants (Sarah), golf (Andrew and Collin now), work (Sarah), college visits, trips to/from Tuscaloosa (Caitlin), doctor's appointments, social engagements (kids, not parents), school (Sarah), and the like, it made everything near-impossible.

For Rachel, who has been very busy 4 or so nights a week with play rehearsal (Leeds "Beauty and the Beast" opens this week--go see it!), just trying to find her an art workshop or camp. We missed out early this summer on a couple of opportunities, and it seems there aren't many opportunities remaining. But we're still looking.

For Collin, trying to balance soccer, basketball and golf. For golf, there are a couple of short clinics we're signing him up for, and that might be all we do. The best soccer camp we can find for what he needs overlaps with what our favorite basketball camp may be. So one of them may have to give, unless something else pops up.

But enough of a brief distraction from getting a few things done. Doing a little publicity for Beauty and the Beast this morning, as well as for Our Lady of the Valley, and need to get that accomplished before leaving to teach a class at 10. So back to it! The rain and the thunder isn't nearly so bad once you decide just to get up out of bed, by the way. I didn't feel that way around 6:15 this morning, though!