Do you love this time of year or dread it?! I think that depends on if you’re a kid or a parent! School is coming to an end (here, it already has) and that all powerful question of what are you doing on summer vacation is hanging in the balance.
As a kid, my summer vacations were filled with days of doing the laundry, making sure our chores were done, taking swimming lessons and riding lots of bike. As I got older it included riding horse every day with my siblings and cousins. We would take them out in the morning and be gone all afternoon! 5 kids out on horseback riding around the countryside doing God knows what! Well, we were never naughty. We’d ride around the block (a country block) and maybe have races along the way. Along one dirt road, the horses eventually got to know where we’d start the race so as we approached the corner, they’d start getting really antsy and trying to gallop before we were ready. I almost fell off a couple of times!
There was usually one week in June that we would see my mom’s side of the family. We took turns going down to Missouri or having them come up to mosquito ridden Minnesota! Those are probably my favorite memories of my summer vacations. My grandma always had stuff planned for us to do and we always got to go shopping with her. She’d let us pick out whatever we wanted. It was the best week of the summer.
Then in August there was the County Fair that we’d have to get ready for. All of us kids were in 4-H so we had projects to do and horse shows to ride in. When it got to that point, you knew summer was almost over.
As adults, summer just seems like any other time except the weather is a little better. I like taking the kids to the beach or swimming in grandma’s pool. The last couple of years we’ve been going to Wisconsin Dells for a few days to enjoy the water parks. That is a blast! This year Trinity wants to go out to the Black Hills in SD. I would love to go back there as well and I want the kids to see Mount Rushmore, but it’s a long way from us! The kids are 4 and 8 and going 8 hours to Missouri has been our limit. I don’t know about a 13 hour drive….
Ahhh, summer vacation. Going here, there and everywhere all while trying to have fun and not get too sunburned! Do you have any big plans for the summer? Are you wishing school was back in session already?!!!
Us Girls..Our Views 
My kids last day was the 29th.. They have been fighting non stop since! Wyatt is not used to having them interrupt his schedule or his space all the time so he is throwing more tantrums..The other 3 are also not used to having each other so “up in their space” as Taylor puts it so its put a strain on all of them. Hubs being laid off is not helping as we havent the money to go do anything. Once hubs goes back to work they’ll have more fun.. so for nwo we are hanging around the house doing a bunch of nothing. And it gets too hot here during the day to play outside.. I’m going ot have to hook the wii up soon!
I’m hoping I’ll get my schedule on track to be able to do a lot with my daughters. They are too young to be sent outdoors until the dinner bell (esp. with the wild animals around), so if they are going to go “do something,” I need to find time to do it with them. Today A told me she’d like to go swimming (they’ve never been to a pool) so hopefully we can do that soon. (I’ve pretty much given up on the idea of swimming lessons this year.) Would like to make at least one more trip to the zoo, go to the fair and ride ponies, go to the outdoor concert place and enjoy the orchestra, visit some great nearby museums, and generally keep active. I also need to get the kids psyched up and prepared to start “school” in the fall. Hopefully a manageable agenda for the next three months.
I loved summer vacation because that’s when we went up to grandma and grandpa’s farm in Canada. Summers really contain my happiest memories. I’m not sure I could be without my kids all summer and I’m not sure my mom liked it but my dad wanted us to know his family and I’m so grateful. Without that, we never would have gotten to know each other.
Going away is so expensive now. We didn’t really take trips. We had the cabin and went there every weekend but both boys played ball all summer. We went to Lutsen every winter though.
Happy summer everyone.
For children summer is the best time ever! They should spend their summer vacations with pleasure and advantage! But this, of course, depends on the parents.
All I can say is…THANK GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!! I look forward to summer break! But I don’t have to put my kid in daycare so it’s all fun to me. Take the kids to the beach, park whatever. Swim suits and flip flops, warm weather, no responsibilities for like 100 days!! Well no REAL responsibilities! No school work, no getting up and getting ready to get out the door! I love it, every second of it and I dread “back to school!”
Bailey has chores but nothing crazy, everyday stuff, garbage, setting the table, cleaning up dog poop! Nothing too hard! We only get a couple months of warm weather…enjoy it!