If the first week was any indication, this summer is going to FLY by in a crazy flurry of fun and insanity.
It’s already just NINE WEEKS until school is back in session, and considering the packed calendar ahead of us, I’m pretty positive we’re going to blink and August will be here.
But you know what?? We’re HERE FOR IT.
I’ve spent a decent bit of time thinking about this summer and why it feels different from the past few, and the short answer is this: it IS different from the past few.
Three summers ago, we were brand-spanking new to San Antonio, reeling from a heinous move and still renovating our house. Our babies were still so young—Chicklet hadn’t even started kindergarten—and we spent those months feeling out our new surroundings, and just nesting and getting our new bearings.
The next summer…COVID. Yup. We all lived it and it was a strange, strange summer. The kiddos were in zero activities, we had minimal travel (like frenzied drives up to see grandparents when we tried not to make too many pit stops in public locations). It was a cocooned summer and we stuck close to the nest—like pretty much everybody.
Then last summer…OYE. We’d just barely made it through the water disaster restoration that sucked months from our lives, and the hubby and I, in particular, were just so drained. It was June before our house was put back together (and Fall before we even had all of our appliances), and we were so grateful to have survived the spring to make it to summer—if only to collapse a little bit and try to mentally regroup. We had a bit of kiddo activity and travel and spent our time in restoration mode. We were just trying to turn over and new leaf.
Now, this year, the vibe is pretty much: go, GO, GO!!!
While germs are en ever-present thing (and, obviously, still capable of sidelining plans, as evident by the hubby’s COVID diagnosis last week that threw a wrench in our summer kickoff), they’re not ruling our lives. And my kiddos are older, wiser, stronger of Will and harder to entertain, so we will absolutely NOT be letting any grass grow under our feet. We have LOTS of fun on the horizon, and we can’t wait to dive right in…starting mañana.
Travel
Okay. This summer, we’re trying to have some adventures, though the universe has made that a bit tricky so far.
First, we had our cancelled Hawaiian trip, thanks to Chica’s broken arm. And then a small, placeholder trip also got canceled, thanks to the hubby’s COVID last week. Oye.
BUT.
Our bags are packed and we’re ready to go (I dare you not to sing the song)—TOMORROW, fingers crossed!—to Colorado.
And we could not be more excited.
Besides a quick Easter trip to Oklahoma to see family a couple months ago, we haven’t managed to get out of town since October.
It’s time.
And never could there ever be a better time, considering this is our San Antonio forecast for the week:
Just…GROSS. Heinous, hot, holy inferno of discomfort.
I could cry tears of joy over the fact that we’re escaping those roasting temps (for at least a handful of precious days) and heading to lows in the 40s and highs in the 70s. Glorious.
Then. Assuming no other unexpected disasters foil our rescheduled plans (please, please, pretty please), we’ll be bookending our summer with our major Hawaiian vacay—at the back end, now. Woohoo.
No joke: I literally still have ALL of the kiddos’ clothes and gear packed and set aside, and it’s just STAYING PUT until we head out for that can’t-wait-for-it-fun.
Beyond these two kickoff and wrap-up summer trips, we also have our annual Oklahoma/grandparent trip in July (rescheduled thanks to Hawaii; we’re just all about juggling schedules these days!), as well as a fun little meet-up with Nanna.
Beyond these two kickoff and wrap-up summer trips, we also have our annual Oklahoma/grandparent trip in July (rescheduled thanks to Hawaii; we’re just all about juggling schedules these days!), as well as a fun little meet-up with Nanna.
All good things.
So…travel. We’re ready, we’re excited and we’re hoping we’ve gotten all these cancellations and rebookings out of our system, because heaven knows, it hasn’t been easy to deal with it all!!
A Little Of A Lot
Now. The next bucket of our summer intentions covers allllllll the fun things we’ve committed to, in order to keep the kiddos active, happy, in touch with their friends, and full of a lot o’ joy and activity.
This is where things really differ from the previous few summers when we didn’t have many camps or events on our summer agenda.
Not at all the case this summer!
In addition to our fun travel, the kiddos will be enjoying:
Vacation Bible School
San Antonio Zoo Camp
A STEM Science Camp
Piano Lessons
Violin Lessons (Chica)
And…if I can manage to get it rescheduled (since it was supposed to be this coming week when we will now be out of town)…tennis lessons. Woohoo!
Basically, I’ve got a LOT on tap to keep my crazy kiddos entertained, and they’re excited about it ALL.
Some of it (the musical lessons) is by request.
Some of it (like VBS) is tradition.
Some of it (like zoo and science camp) is for their brains, and to help them stay in touch with friends.
Their behavior is so much easier to wrangle when they know what’s on the schedule, when they know they get to keep it touch with friends or when they know they get to enjoy and amazing activity.
It’s going to be mass chaos, but the best kind.
Sleep
I feel like this goes without saying, and yet, I CAN’T LET IT GO WITHOUT SAYING because I want to cry over relaxing that 6 a.m. alarm: we are READY FOR MORE SLEEP for the next two months.
Already, it’s been amazing to adjust our wake-up and bed-time schedules just a bit. We allllll need the extra shut-eye and we’re going to store up on as much as we possibly can!
Reading & Writing & ‘Rithmatic
By now, after several summers of my little soap box, you probably know how strongly I feel about avoiding the educational slide in June and July. It’s become so evident to me, year over year, that a little bit can go a LONG WAY.
Already last week, I busted out the workbooks I purchased, refreshed new math and phonics apps on the kiddos’ iPads, and spent a few hours each day keeping our household brains active.
Again—it’s not possible every week. Especially during the weeks that involve travel. But we’ll do our best.
And our major reading goals involve the continuation of Harry on all fronts, for all kiddos!
Chicklet is just in the beginning of Book 2, so it won’t be possible to finish this summer. But Little Man will be wrapping up Book 1, for sure (we only have 40 pages left). And Chica and I have a daunting—but hopefully achievable—goal of completing Book 5. Were about 550 of 870 pages through. So here’s hoping!
Staying Connected With Friends
I alluded to this a bit above, but I feel like it’s worthy of a separate category to note just how much the kiddos adore their little friends at the moment and how hard we’re going to try to stay in touch over the summer.
I can’t stress enough how much WORK this requires, but we’ve already set the stage for success by linking up on a few of our camps and activities, and we’ll also do our best to set up swim and play dates and keep those friendship embers burning brightly. :)
Keeping our Theme Day Traditions
By now, you peeps definitely know how much I love a good summer theme day:
Tuesday DO Day
Monday Science FUN Day
Test Kitchen Tuesdays
We really love to make a big deal out of any activity.
But it’s created a little problem, ha.
Each of those activity themes was only meant for a single summer. But the kiddos adored them so much, they just assumed we’ll keep doing them all. So…Mama isn’t adding any more to the list this year, we’re just keeping what we love going strong!
We already had a Monday Science Fun Day and Test Kitchen Tuesday last week, so we’re just going to keep it all alive when schedules allow. :)
That said, we have one glorious new tradition that’s special for this summer (but without a catchy name), and it involves me taking the kiddos outside after dinner, before showers, for some driveway tennis. :)
We use these awesomesauce, modified rackets with these foam balls (to keep them from vaulting too far and wide), and it’s been the absolute best.
It’s the only time of day when it’s tolerable to be outside (if you’re not in a pool), the kiddos are LOVING it, and it’s a great way to cap off our days together and wear everybody out.
Win/win/win.
I hope they look back at this summer and remember the evening driveway tennis fun and have super-happy associations.
Okay. I know there are a bunch of other intentions I could add, but I’m WIPED from cleaning and laundry and packing and my wrists are getting tired from typing, ha. So we’re going to call it a day, and look forward to seeing all these things come to life over the next nine weeks.
It’s going to be a GREAT summer, peeps.
More mañana!
Over and out.
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