Summertime is Here!

Summer vacation is almost here! The kids have 4 more days until school is out, and I have been internally stressing about how I can keep the household organized and running smoothly while they are home.  During the school year, it's easy.  I have lots of time to get everything done.  When they are on summer vacation, it can easily become a madhouse at a drop of a hat..or dirty glasses and plates left on the table....or a soaked beach towel lying on the kitchen floor....or the proverbial "mom, can we have a snack" as my daughter marches in 5 of her friend through the front door.  You understand where I am going with this, right?  I am a bit of a type A personality, so waking up and deciding to go downtown to the zoo or the science center on the spur of the moment never worked for me. I gotta have a plan!

Considering my son turned 13 (gulp!) and my daughter is turning 11 on Wednesday, I no longer plan a daily outing to keep them busy.  I have quickly learned the complaining that ensues when I mention going on an outing has become too much for me. 

When they were little, I planned out the entire summer on a calendar, so the kids knew what what to expect each day.  So if your children are still elementary school age, this is a simple plan to follow.  I planned it in such a way that I only spent $20 week total for the outings.......not including gas.  Many of the attractions in our area have free admission, so I made sure I utilized that in my planning.  Our local movie theatres also had a summer series of movies at a reduced price.  And.............we have the privilege of having an amusement park within a 5 minute drive from our house.  We purchased season passes, so we could do for a couple of hours on a weekly basis.  The kids learned quickly NOT to ask for any souvenirs or food. We would eat a snack in the parking lot, spend a couple of hours riding rides, and head back home for lunch.  It was a beautiful thing!

So here is a quick rundown on how I planned summers years ago:

Mondays--Park Day.  We visited a local park with a playground. Some of them even had water features.

Photo by Life as a Healthy Mom

Tuesdays--Movie/Amusement Park.  We flip flopped each week by either going the amusement park or to the movies. The amusement park also has a water park attached to it, so if it was too hot we would spend a couple hours there instead of riding rides. The movies were part of a summer series, therefore the admittance fee was $1-$2.

Photo by Life as A Healthy Mom

 Wednesdays--Field Trip!!  We would have a big outing. If we went to the movies and spent money that week, we would go to a free admission attraction, such as a museum or zoo.

Photo by Life as a Healthy Mom

Thursdays--Friend Day.  The kids each chose a friend to call beforehand, and we planned fun activities to do at home. Then Momma would get all the chores, such as laundry, completed in between sprinkler time, snacks, and other fun stuff. When they got bored, I packed up our stuff, and we walked down to the subdivision pool for a few hours.

Photo by Life as a Healthy Mom

Fridays--Errands Anyone?  A momma has got to get her errands done sometime, and I wasn't about to do my grocery shopping on a Saturday...weekend were set aside for family time. 

So, there you have it.  This is how I USED to plan out summers when they were little.  

NOW...............At the ages they are now, their time spent with friends becomes priority (sigh).  So I have chucked the field trip day, friend day, and pretty much every planned day when they were little.  I asked them what they wanted to do, and it was a rather simple list such as going to the pool.  I realized we are in a different chapter of life called adolescence...and I have learned to roll with it and not plan almost every day of their summer like I used to.  

I know myself well enough that if I let "the flow of summer happen", nothing is going to happen. We will become lazy, sit in front of the television watching who knows what, and wonder where the summer went as we are preparing to return to school mid-August.  

So, here is what I have planned this summer......a morning schedule to get things done.  That's it.  If they think they are going into summer chore free and allowing the maid, I mean Mom, to do everything they got another thing coming.  By 10 am, chores are done and they are free to hang out with friends.  They will receive a raise in allowance during the summer months because they are expected to do more chores than usual.  If the kids budget accordingly, when a friend invites one of them to go somewhere, my son and daughter have the money to go.    

So as the school year winds down, our summer will be winding up and I am ready now that I have this simple plan in place.  Happy Summer!

P.S--If you are wondering what chores I have in mind for the kids, I am planning on posting our schedule and list for the summer in my next blog entry.