Tuesdays Summer Tips & Advice: Summer Holiday Days - Week 8

Yesterday driving home from Enrichment . . . . .

daughter: mom, can I have a monkey?

baby: jabber, umm, monkey

me: nope

daughter: ahh, please momma.

baby: please momma

me: nope, they are filthy animals, we already have a dog and 6 fish

baby: dog, Mia

son: well, can I have a cobra?

me: cobra as in a snake?

baby: jabber, nake

son: yeah, a cobra for a pet

me: no way

baby: no ay

son: How about a lizard?

me: no & no amphibians either (cause I knew that was next)

son: you mean like a turtle?

me: yes, exactly!

baby: yeah!

This is son's version of a cobra. Since I wouldn't let him have one, he made himself one!

So far, So good . . .

We’ve come to a standstill this morning. The house is quiet after a whirlwind of seven weeks of the Summer Holiday 12-Week (Debacle). All I can say is, … Three months? It’s just cruelty.

No, I'm just kidding. But I'm running out of steam I think, well, defiantely ideas of KEWL things to do!

The weather is getting super hot and super humid now, with splashes of rain to ruin any outing. Try the park, well, you put a kid in shorts on a slide in this heat and see what happens to the seat of their pants?

Why can’t my children sit quietly and stare into space dreamily for hours on end, coloring quietly, reading books on end or watching documentaries on the oceanic life of the Antarctic? Why?

I’m sorry – but I’m just not a roustabout active kind of mom. I am the one who is folding eggwhites into fruit pulp while they jump on the trampoline, snapping artistic photographs of them as they ride their scooters, indexing their lives into big fat, luscious scrapbooks that they will melt over when they are grownups, taking them on fantastical journeys – via the pages of a book, and taking them around a virtual earth by playing spin and point on a very large globe. Don't get me wrong here, when we go to the park, I do not park myself on a bench and start texting all my buds (in fact I DO NOT text, E.V.E.R). I follow along to the slides, to the monkey bars, to the swings, to the tetter-totter, to whereever their little hearts take them. I am right beside my little dream boats, supervising, lending a hand when needed, giving a boost here and there. But I am NOT climbing or racing around like a 5 year old!

Yes, they do get physical. We go swimming… well… they do I stand on the side and take photos or play referee. We dance… well… they do – I play DJ and laugh my head off at their antics. We go bike riding… well… they do – I stand in the shade shouting encouragement with a large electrolyte enhanced water in one hand and more than likely a camera in the other. We play chalk . . .but I hate the mess it makes. We play PetShops, My Little Ponies, Power Rangers and Transformers . . . but my brain can only take so much of these games. We play hide and seek… well… Daddy does. Isn’t that what dads are for?

Right, I’m off to get my water and supervise some physical exercise for my children. No, I'm just kidding. I found this great website for indoor activities. I really excel at crafts! No Time for Flash Cards, I'm really liking the letter of the week for daughter and baby. They will enjoy this craft activity immensely! My son will think this craft is for babies, so if it stops raining I am going to have him paint the house with water! He will love that, I think!