Thoughts on a Summer routine

Summer is almost here for us!  School will officially finish next Friday!  I think I'm more excited than the kids.  I have tons of great plans for our summer.  Now that I don't have any super needy babies in the house and my only consistent napper takes one regular nap a day it is going to be easy and fun to plan activities for summer time.

I'm just trying to figure out the right kind of routine for us.

One - we need to keep the house up.  This includes but is not limited to keeping up with laundry, dishes, the living room cleaned up, and dinner on the table every night.

Two - I want to plant a small garden.  I'm going to get each of the kids and myself a tomato plant and we're going to plant them in the backyard.  Each one will be responsible for watering and caring for their plant and will also get to pick the produce off of their plants.  I think I'm going to make a graph to keep track of how many tomatoes we get off of each plant.  I'm going to plant a cucumber plant or two as well because those grew well for me the one year and my kids and KOJ love cucumbers.

Three - I want to spend a lot of time out of the house.  We are stuck in our house all winter long and I want to spend as much time as possible out.  At parks, at the fountains, at the pool, at VBS, at friends' houses, on walks, at the children's museum on super hot days, at the library weekly. 

Four - I want to do some summer specific learning things.  I'm not sure what or how I'm going to do this yet, it's in early development stages.  We'll see.

So here's what I'm considering for a routine.  Having a designated day for each particular activity.

For example:
Monday - Park play
Tuesday - water play day (this could be the fountains, the pool, the sprinkler in the backyard
Wednesday - make something day - a craft, a special snack, a fun game/activity
Thursday - Miscellaneous fun play day - this could include bowling, the children's museum, playdates, etc.

Friday - Library day


If we get a routine down we could easily be loaded up and leaving the house by 9:30 every morning and come home by noon for Sierra's nap.  I'm planning to do dinner in the crock pot and make ahead each weeks meals on Mondays during Sierra's nap.  This way I can just dump the appropriate bag in the crock pot, turn it on, and go about our summer fun.  Pre-packing lunches the night before so we can grab them and take them with us will be instrumental as well.  Getting the kids into the habit of unloading the dishwasher asap in the mornings is going to be vital.  I think some down time for all of us while Sierra naps will be important.  We can do our "gardening" in the afternoon and maybe daily walks around the neighborhood too.

So that's what I have in mind so far.  We'll give it a go and I'll let you know how it works for us.

Our Summer Bucket list

So I asked the boys to name me some things they want to do this summer.  I added in a few things that I want to do this summer.  I even consulted KOJ.  And we came up with this list.  I'll try to post weekly and cross of the things we've done on the list.  I'm super excited that the kids are getting older and Princess is super flexible about where/when she sleeps if the need for such flexibility arises.

Squirrel:
Go swimming
Go to the park - East Pointe Park
Go Aunty Rachel's house
Go and go shopping at the dollar store
Go to the Kid's place (the children's museum)

Howler:
Play soccer ball
Play baseball
Get ice cream
Get ice cream from the ice cream truck
Go to the beach
Go camping

Spider monkey was asleep at the time of inquiry.  I will be sure to post back an edit if he has anything to add to the list. lol

KOJ:
Work, eat, sleep, play games.  I'm a boring person and you just need to come to terms with that. lol
See Harry Potter
Practice baseball with Squirrel (and maybe Howler too)
Take the boys to a real baseball game - minor league

Myself:
Attend strawberry fest
Go to the county fair
go see the balloons at the balloon festival
go camping with my dad and sisters and all of our kids
Visit Nana Sue's farm
Go to Shipshewanna flea market (I have NO idea if I spelled that right. lol)
stargaze with the kids one night
catch lightning bugs with the boys
go to the fountains again
meetup with friends from CMF
Go on a date with KOJ to see the last Harry Potter movie
Make home made ice cream with the boys
have a water balloon fight with the kids
make a fort in the dining room on a rainy day
have a wii bowling family night
have a matchbox car race with all the cousins
have a cookout with church friends

That is it for now.  But don't be surprised if we all add a few more things throughout the summer.  Most of these should be pretty easy to accomplish and should help foster a fantastic sense of fun this summer.  And most of them fit into our budget of FREE. lol

Now I contemplated making an activity jar for me and the kids for during the days.  I chose not to this year.  I did sit down and jot out things we could do each day for the months of June, July, and first two weeks of August before we start school again.  Mostly simple things like going to the park, the library, the fountains, the pool, etc.  Some crafts and yummy treat making was also included.  I will revisit the jar idea next year.