I'm pretty lucky. As a stay-home mom, I might be afraid of the summer and how I'm going to pass the time in an entertaining, educational way for my children. However, my kids go to a year-round school, so they only have about a month off before going back to the next grade level.
And, for two weeks of that time, we'll be in Europe, so it falls to Stephanie and Tim (who, together, I've renamed "Stim") to keep them busy.
And, for the following week, our oldest will go to sleep-away camp for the first time, so that's even less I have to worry about.
Still, though, there will be some time for me to keep them busy. And this is mainly what we do:
- Live at the pool. Or the beach. We don't have a pool in our own backyard, but we do have a community pool in our neighborhood, and we live a short 20-minute drive from the beach. If it were up to me, we'd be swimming every single day. However, the pool closes on Mondays, and it's hard for me to take three small children to the beach by myself (heckuva a lot of stuff to carry, hands to hold, and streets to cross!), so somedays we need to have an alternate plan.
- Sidewalk chalk. Simple, right? For those Mondays or off-days, we have plenty of Crayola sidewalk chalk tools to keep them occupied for hours on end - at least in the indirect sunlight hours.
- Free movies! Regal Entertainment Group is once again having its Free Family Film Festival for nine weeks this summer. The one I want to see most (Veggie Tales) will hit our nearest theater while we're in Europe, rats! Check the list to see what's playing near you! I believe AMC is doing a similar film festival but charging $1 admission for charity. GoodSearch it!
- Festivals. We live in Virginia Beach, where there are tons and tons and tons of festivals nearby during the spring and summer months, for everything from strawberries to yarn and lots in between! They get expensive, but we try to hit a few when we can.
- Library. Now that we have a voracious reader in the house (besides ourselves), I plan to take Chloë and the Littles often to pick out new books to read.
- Farmer's Market. We love to go and pick out our seafood and produce each week, give or take, and it seems to make the kids more interested in eating it when they've helped choose it!
Okay, that's all I can think of off the top of my head right now. I can't wait to check out Shannon's blog to see what other great ideas you have for getting through summer vacation!
Fin.
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