May truly is mad for us. We've had a field trip, grandparents' day, teacher appreciation week, math carnival, and weekday morning receptions for 2 kids; this past weekend alone we had school spring carnival Friday night; cub scout picnic, block party, friend's brithday party on Saturday afternoon-evening, and daughter's birthday party on Sunday. But we made it through with some lessons learned for next year and ended on such a high note with a successful birthday party.
For the summer, kids are out of school for 10 weeks. We've got a rising HS freshman babysitting at our house 2 days a week, grandparent care at their house 2 days a week, and my husband will be on point for Fridays (typically light for him.) Fridays will be for trips to the local amusment park and indoor trampoline park (we have memberships to both), our nighborhood pool, etc. The girls have one week of half day gymnastics camp in June and one week of full day STEAM camp in July. We've got a long weekend trip planned for July and a week long beach trip in August. I've got two government holidays over the summer.
I would like to be able to take some more time off to have a random day at home with the kids, but I carefully parcel out my vacation to cover Spring Break, a summer trip, Thanksgiving, Christmas break, and the odd teacher work day, so I don't really have any PTO to spare this summer.
This made me laugh, because I felt exactly the same way about being glad we don't need multi-tabbed spreadsheets to organize our summer! We still have plenty going on, but not to that level, thankfully! :)
Hello from the land of the spreadsheets and color-coded driving strategies! In reality, once the puzzle of planning is over, the summer is a lot of fun for our family. The kids and I are morning people, but still love a slower pace instead of rushing to be out the door by 7:15. Kids will be in camps for the whole summer, but my son threw a happy wrench into the mix by suddenly and dramatically improving at this chosen sport over the last 8 weeks and qualifying for national and world competitions over the summer so I'm back to shuffling puzzle pieces...
I banished the word "busy" from my life as well as the feeling of being busy and overwhelmed. I decided I will not live my life burning through weekdays and weekends in a blur of activities. Summer for me is only different from the rest of the year because I have summer off. We have a master list (I guess you can call it a bucket list) for each season, including summer. I then break it down by months since I look at every month as a micro-season that carries different energy. June: end of school, our wedding anniversary, summer solstice. July: hot and humid, 4th of July celebrations, usually travel. August: hot and humid, too; tons of beach, fruit and flower picking on local farms, and gearing up for back-to-school.
Here is the "master" list we use year after year with a few tweaks here and there:
Beach bumming: all summer long. We do not live far from the beach.
Camping (maybe)
Hiking
Playgrounds
Summer solstice celebration at the house
July 4th celebration
Picnics in a park
Fruit and flower picking: strawberries, peaches, sunflowers, etc
Amusement parks: Keansburg, Jenkinsons Boardwalk in Point Pleasant, Asbury Park Boardwalk
Travel (we usually take 1-2 trips)
Museums (the MET and the Natural History Museum in NYC, Newark Museum of Art, Liberty Science Center)
Parks (i.e Cattus Island in Toms River)
Bumming around the house and playground in the yard (for laid-back days)
Agree to being grateful for not using colorful spreadsheets an navigate complex driving. I try to simplify all the choices whenever I can. If I ask myself what does rest and relaxing feels like? I know that it would be slowing down, soaking in the happiest times and enjoying simple things :) we actually made two Summer fun lists; one for the kids, and one for mom & dad! The kid list is obvious : eating ice cream, going to the pool, camping, biking, playing with the friends. On the adults list I put time for Sunday farmers markets, bike rides together, being on the water as much as we can ( stand up paddle boarding or kayaking), and accomplishing a few house projects :))
We’re moving, so starting a brand new routine. Two kiddos who will be in a summer daycare together. Planning on using our early-dismissal Fridays to explore our new area and do some weekend trips. Our time off this summer is a cross-country road trip as part of the move, and a week at the end of the summer (the kids have 2 weeks off, my parents are coming to stay and do childcare for one of them).
May truly is mad for us. We've had a field trip, grandparents' day, teacher appreciation week, math carnival, and weekday morning receptions for 2 kids; this past weekend alone we had school spring carnival Friday night; cub scout picnic, block party, friend's brithday party on Saturday afternoon-evening, and daughter's birthday party on Sunday. But we made it through with some lessons learned for next year and ended on such a high note with a successful birthday party.
For the summer, kids are out of school for 10 weeks. We've got a rising HS freshman babysitting at our house 2 days a week, grandparent care at their house 2 days a week, and my husband will be on point for Fridays (typically light for him.) Fridays will be for trips to the local amusment park and indoor trampoline park (we have memberships to both), our nighborhood pool, etc. The girls have one week of half day gymnastics camp in June and one week of full day STEAM camp in July. We've got a long weekend trip planned for July and a week long beach trip in August. I've got two government holidays over the summer.
I would like to be able to take some more time off to have a random day at home with the kids, but I carefully parcel out my vacation to cover Spring Break, a summer trip, Thanksgiving, Christmas break, and the odd teacher work day, so I don't really have any PTO to spare this summer.
This made me laugh, because I felt exactly the same way about being glad we don't need multi-tabbed spreadsheets to organize our summer! We still have plenty going on, but not to that level, thankfully! :)
Hello from the land of the spreadsheets and color-coded driving strategies! In reality, once the puzzle of planning is over, the summer is a lot of fun for our family. The kids and I are morning people, but still love a slower pace instead of rushing to be out the door by 7:15. Kids will be in camps for the whole summer, but my son threw a happy wrench into the mix by suddenly and dramatically improving at this chosen sport over the last 8 weeks and qualifying for national and world competitions over the summer so I'm back to shuffling puzzle pieces...
I banished the word "busy" from my life as well as the feeling of being busy and overwhelmed. I decided I will not live my life burning through weekdays and weekends in a blur of activities. Summer for me is only different from the rest of the year because I have summer off. We have a master list (I guess you can call it a bucket list) for each season, including summer. I then break it down by months since I look at every month as a micro-season that carries different energy. June: end of school, our wedding anniversary, summer solstice. July: hot and humid, 4th of July celebrations, usually travel. August: hot and humid, too; tons of beach, fruit and flower picking on local farms, and gearing up for back-to-school.
Here is the "master" list we use year after year with a few tweaks here and there:
Beach bumming: all summer long. We do not live far from the beach.
Camping (maybe)
Hiking
Playgrounds
Summer solstice celebration at the house
July 4th celebration
Picnics in a park
Fruit and flower picking: strawberries, peaches, sunflowers, etc
Amusement parks: Keansburg, Jenkinsons Boardwalk in Point Pleasant, Asbury Park Boardwalk
Travel (we usually take 1-2 trips)
Museums (the MET and the Natural History Museum in NYC, Newark Museum of Art, Liberty Science Center)
Parks (i.e Cattus Island in Toms River)
Bumming around the house and playground in the yard (for laid-back days)
Agree to being grateful for not using colorful spreadsheets an navigate complex driving. I try to simplify all the choices whenever I can. If I ask myself what does rest and relaxing feels like? I know that it would be slowing down, soaking in the happiest times and enjoying simple things :) we actually made two Summer fun lists; one for the kids, and one for mom & dad! The kid list is obvious : eating ice cream, going to the pool, camping, biking, playing with the friends. On the adults list I put time for Sunday farmers markets, bike rides together, being on the water as much as we can ( stand up paddle boarding or kayaking), and accomplishing a few house projects :))
We’re moving, so starting a brand new routine. Two kiddos who will be in a summer daycare together. Planning on using our early-dismissal Fridays to explore our new area and do some weekend trips. Our time off this summer is a cross-country road trip as part of the move, and a week at the end of the summer (the kids have 2 weeks off, my parents are coming to stay and do childcare for one of them).