S.O.S.

Surviving . Our . Summer

How are we handling all of our free time? This is my recipe:

1. Take at least one day trip out of town each week. We have 13 weeks of summer. I chose 13 destinations. We go to one a week. Sometimes, we go with Grandpa Bob. Sometimes, we go with friends. And, when I'm feeling really brave, we go alone. We always pack a lunch to save on money. I prep the girls with the planned activity and what they can expect in terms of drive time and how bored they might be on the way. So far, so good.

2. We leech off of our friends with pools and spend a lot of time in the water. After naps, we grab our swimming container (yup, I put in all in a little rubbermaid container so I can just grab and go) and descend upon our ever understanding friends and family members who have the luxury of a pool. I get to have some adult conversation. Swimming = happy and tired kids. Score for all.

3. We play outside most mornings when we are in town. Sometimes, we ride bikes and scooters on the side walk in front. Others, we either go outside in our yard or try a new park in the city.

4. Daily rest time is mandatory. Every day (except for travel days), we all lay down in the afternoon for at least an hour. Most of the time, we all sleep (and then the time stretches into two hours - woot! woot!). Some days, the older two don't but they are still required to decompress for that hour.

The in-between time fills in pretty quickly. Grandma takes the older kids on rotation for sleep overs. Emily has speech appointments once a week. I'm giving riding lessons once a week so the kids get a sitter and have some interaction with someone else - which is always good. We go to the library every couple of weeks. We go to the local water park. Allen took the kids camping and then kayaking with Papa. Soccer practice starts in two weeks and that will take up two nights a week.

This has been our best summer by far. In fact, it's flown by. We start back up in 3 1/2 short weeks. I'm sure the kids getting older has helped. But, I really think having a plan has been the saving grace.

Hope you are having an awesome summer too!