Not at all crabby, for once!

If you have been a reader of Living and Loving Every Minute of It for longer than a year, you might know that this time of year is usually the most difficult for our household. Usually, you'll find me about ready to tear my hair out right about now. The root explanation can be found HERE. You see, when a woman is used to being at work 5 days a week, and a child is used to being with her friends 5 days a week, it is a harsh reality to suddenly be put together 24/7. Again, if you've been reading this blog for very long, you also know that Sugar Bear and I ADORE each other. Normally, we treasure each and every moment we have together, but the first few weeks of June tries to kill us EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. Then we adjust....and when August rolls around and I have to go back to work....we miss each other so much it hurts.

This summer, I went into it with must trepidation. You see....usually Sugar Bear gets to go to her daycare at least once a week during the summer. This serves the purpose of holding our slot, and giving this ONLY CHILD much needed friend time. I'd like to say that the mama gets to play as well, but I work one day a week throughout the summer. Sometimes, Sugar would even go play at Daycare twice a week, and then I'd have some time to get some things done just for me. As you might know, Sugar's daycare provider was in a bad car wreck on Memorial Day weekend, and she broke 5 ribs, her shoulder and a vertebrae in her back. Let's just say.....she has been out of commission. Going into this summer vacation, I just knew....it was going to be ultra tough, so I made some plans.

And I'm please to report.......I am not CRABBY! For the first summer in AGES.....it is going smoothly this transition. I do not feel as if I'm being smothered to death, and Sugar is doing GREAT. We are ignoring the price of fuel, and getting out of the house as much as we can.

A few weekends ago, we attended a fun local class for young children at a local estuary. The theme was CRAB. Oh what fun. The teacher was one of our faves, Tall Tom. And new friend, Mister Pelican was a special little treat.

Tall Tom wasted no time getting to the good stuff. There was a fun little active lesson on molting.

Sugar Bear makes a very cute molting crab, doesn't she?

We love that the lessons are so interactive. Here Sugar is learning about what an estuary is. She is mixing the fresh and salt water with her hands.

Just when the kiddos need to get some wiggles out, we jumped outside to do some crab walking. The grass was pretty wet, so not all the kiddos participated. My shot of sugar as blurry, so I'll share one that features one of Sugar's newest little friends.

A super fun puppet show was next on the agenda, and we were not disappointed. Tall Tom is multi-talented.

Sugar Bear was very engaged in the puppet show.

I had not realized that she has never seen an actual puppet show before. This was indeed a special treat for her.

I am very sure this was her favorite part of the lesson.

After having the opportunity to view and touch a wide assortment of crab, it was time to get MORE wiggles out, and Tall Tom didn't disappoint. The Eel Grass boogie was a real hit.

Shake it....shake it......

The lesson was wrapped up with an opportunity to do a little creating. Give those kids some paper, glue, and some googlie eyes.....

And some pretty darn cute creatures will appear.

What a fun morning. We've been having LOTS of fun mornings....and afternoons....and evenings. It is sooooooooooo wonderful to report that WE.ARE.NOT.CRABBY!

Summer is GOOD!