Q&A Wednesday - Summer Fun Ideas

Dawn asked, "What plans do you have for the summer. This is your first summer with Jason so will it be more diffucult to do things you usually do. I babysit my baby cousin who will be 2 soon and she has a napping schedule and can't do everything outside yet without help and has to be constantly watched over. Any ideas or advise would be helpful."

Tomorrow is the last day of school for us. Ryan's Kindergarten year went so fast!!! Probably because I birthed a whole child since he began school...

I'm looking forward to summer, to be honest. I've quickly tired of waking Jason up to drive Kaylin to and from pre-school. And I noticed that the kids got along better during Spring Break than they normally do when Ryan is in school during the days. I'm ready to de-program him from his "school attitude" and get him back on track with how he knows he should act at home.

As far as things being more difficult now that we have baby Jason, I'm not expecting that much will change. I'll be more limited as to when we can get out of the house due to naps, but he's the third kid: he's learned to tag along!

Summer here is different than most of the rest of the country. It gets hot. As in "you-can-rarely-go-outside-for-more-than-five-minutes" hot. I liken it to winters up north...we just do a lot indoors for those few months. (and by "few months" I mean May through October)

Before it gets too hot (highs in the 115 range where it cools down to 102 during the 10pm news) we'll pull out other water toys like our Slip 'n' Slide, sprinkler, baby pool with buckets and water guns.

With a pool in our backyard, we swim daily. Sometimes twice a day toward the end of the summer. By July, if you're not wet, it's unbearable to be outdoors in Phoenix. Having a pool has major perks: I can take the big kids swimming during Jason's naps. We can also take a quick dip without committing to a whole hour in the pool. We can throw on our suits, lather on some sunscreen, and go play for 15 minutes if we want.

My daily routine in the summers usually involve going to the gym and running errands with the intent of getting home and staying home by 10:30am. I try to rotate toys every few weeks, so the kids don't get bored. We do crafts, paint, color, do puzzles, play games, bake, have puppet shows, dress up, build forts, occasionally we'll have play dates, things like that. I also try to take advantage of events around town like the free story time at Barnes & Noble and the library, playing at the play place at the mall (anything for free A/C) and "open gym" at a nearby gymnastics studio.

Last summer was right after I decided to turn off the t.v. and boycotted most media for the kids. They learned to use their imaginations and found ways to get creative. I don't think I'll ever go back to having the tv on much in our house. This will be another tv-free summer, but we'll make a big deal out of family movie night on Sundays.

Before I had Jason, I made a list of all of the activities that Kaylin could do both with and without my help. You can see my pre-school activity list here. I'm the type of mom who schedules "independent play" into our days so that my kids don't need me for every. little. thing. If I have a project to do or a phone call to make, I can look at that list and get the older kids started on an activity to buy some quiet time for me.

Both kids' birthdays are in the summer, so between those, my birthday, Father's Day, Independence Day and Christmas in July, we always make a big stink over holidays to keep things fun. Last year, I involved the kids in the planning and preparing for Ryan's Carnival Party and Kaylin's Princess Party and Mike took the kids camping with some of our other dad friends. Having a few bigger events to look forward to keeps the day-to-day from getting too boring.

To get the kids out of the house a couple times a week, I've scheduled some other activites into our summer:

Movies - The local theatres here offer a "Summer Movie Fun" program where you can see one kids movie each week at 9:45am (before the theatre gets busy) for 10 weeks for a mere $7 per person. $21 and we'll get to see 10 movies this summer! I'm planning on bringing Jason with me, but we'll have to see. I might try to find somewhere to lay him down for his nap while I take Kaylin and Ryan.

VBS - Many nearby churches offer a week-long Vacation Bible School for cheap or even free. I signed up the big kids for two different VBS programs this summer; one in June and one in July. Those will be a fun break for them.

Phoenix Children's Museum - I think I'm going to break down and buy an annual pass to our children's museum. The kids love it, it's air conditioned, and by the time Ryan's back in school, Jason will be turning one and won't be free anymore. I'm planning on getting it in July so we can utilize the passes part of this summer and part of next summer.

That's what the summer holds for my family. Anyone else have different ideas?