Summer Fun on 1 Income

It is summer.

Okay, technically it isn't summer yet. Jon is constantly reminding me of this when I say it is summer. That is what happens when you marry a science teacher! Summer begins on June 20 or 21, I can never remember which.

But it feels like summer. Today it hit 90 degrees. yesterday was 93 according to my thermometer. And last week we had a heat wave as well, which ended with a tornado (more on that when I can write about it without shaking). And this weather makes me start to think- what are we going to do all summer? It will be hot, we don't have air conditioning, and my kids LOVE to be outside. Jon will be home which means if I make plans to take the kids somewhere it will be a two to three ratio, instead of the normal one to three ratio. Even with his help our list must include things that are affordable, or even better are free, and be kid friendly.

I was reading The Finer Things in Life the other day and she wrote a post about how she and her kids make a summer bucket list each year. In the past I have made a bucket list, but having my kids help out made a lot of sense, especially now that the two older ones are 5 and 3. So we sat down last weekend and wrote what we want to do.

We will add to it as we think of more things, but so far our list includes:
visit the zoo
have a picnic
get ice cream from the ice cream truck (a summer favorite and we promised that we will at least one time)
make homemade ice cream
swim at the paddle club (we have a membership, our yearly splurge and SO worth it)
visit the spray parks in the area
Look Park (another favorite)
play outside (remember a 3 and 5 year old helped here!)
go strawberry picking (already done!)
go blueberry picking
walk to Sammy's for ice cream (notice a pattern yet?)
go to Maine (I added this, and we will visit Jon's family place there for at least a week)
visit the beach
go to the park

I love our list, but if you notice it is all outside. Which is great, but what about the rainy days? We have a membership to our local children's museum and will use that and we also can visit our city museum for free since we are residents. But what else can we do? Remember, I have three kids and a small budget.

I was playing around online and found Kaboose which has TONS of great ideas, many for indoors. I marked it on my favorites list and am going to plan at least one craft for each week, possibly more, to do with the kids. In addition to crafts they also have game and activities to do with kids as well.

We will be signing up for the library summer reading program and will visit the library weekly. My kids LOVE the library and I love all the free stuff there, not to mention the air conditioning! They also have programs that are kid friendly and free during the summer months.

What are your plans this summer?