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?

Summer Bucket List- revisited

I cannot believe August is already half over. Ben is now two months old, Madeline starts school in 2 1/2 weeks and Jon starts his job in 2 weeks and goes back to school in 3 weeks and I go back to work in 3 weeks. we have managed to do many of the things on our summer bucket list but there are some things I still want to do. I know that there are some things we just won't get to, but I am hopeful that we will manage to cross a few more things off in the next two weeks. The items in bold are ones we have done.

join and complete the library summer reading program (done)

go strawberry picking (done!)

go blueberry picking (we went three times!)visit the sprinkler park each week (well, not each week but we have gone!)

*visit Lupa Zoo

*go to Maine for a week in August

go to Santa's Village in NH (while in Maine in August)

swim at Chicopee Memorial State Park

*take Madeline to get a pedicure for a mommy and Maddy day

*take Owen to the park for an Owen and mommy day (we went to Luap zoo)

feed the ducks

watch the fourth of july parade

*watch the fourth of july fireworks

make s'mores

*visit the Farmer's Market

*play at the park
take the kids to see Toys Story 3

go to a free movie (they are offering them on Tuesdays and Wednesdays this summer)

*teach Madeline and Owen how to ride their tricycles

make homemade sidewalk chalk

lots of fun arts and crafts (no specific projects planned yet but I will think of some!)

*make homemade ice cream (done!)

visit the town carnival

*get ice cream at Westview Creamery and feed the goats

*walk to Sammy's one evening for yummy soft serve ice cream (we did this just this evening)

have friends over for a fire pit

I am excited about all the things we did do this summer, we had a great time! We still have two weeks left as well.

How has your summer gone?

Back from Vacation

Every time we come back from vacation I feel like I need another vacation to recover from it! And this time is no different. Of course, taking three children and a dog on vacation takes a lot of effort. But it was worth it. We had a great time in Maine staying at the place Jon's parents have up there. Jon spent most of his summers up there growing up so he really loves to take our kids there now. We hope that in the near future we will be able to spend more of our summers up there (Jon would like to go for two months but I think we will only do one) but for now Jon needs to work for summer school and take classes which eat up the first chunk of summer.

We had a great time, swimming and boating almost every day. We spent one day at Santa's Village as well. Jon's parents were up there most of the time and the kids were able to spend a LOT of quality time with Grandma and Pargie. We don't see them as often as we would like becuase we live two hours away from where Jon grew up. So having them be able to be up there for much or our vacation was great as well.

The only reason we were able to manage a week's vacation is becuase Jon's family has a place in Maine. There is no way we could afford to stay in a house with a preschool tuition and Jon going back for his masters degree right now. We are very thankful to have his family camp (not really a camp, a small house but they call it camp) which gave us the opportunity to get away. All it cost us was gas. The food we bought was food we would have bought if we stayed at home. We even added in a few extras- Santa's Village, ice cream cones, a trip to Maine Animal Preservation (which was discounted due to a library pass).

The only downfall to the week was that I experienced a lot of anxiety. I have gone through this after each of my children's birth, but it was exasperated by being out of my comfort zone. I felt bad that it made Jon's vacation less relaxing than it could have been (and that is putting it mildly), but at the same time I don't have a lot of control over it. I tried everything I could to keep it under control, eating healtheir, sleeping when I could, even walking away from ituations that were making me anxious (things that I KNOW are prefectly safe but still make me anxious). I am waiting to see if it gets better now that we are home. If it doesn't I am not sure what my next step will be. After Madeline was born I had post-partum depression and required medication to help me get through it. After Owen I had anxiety and a little depression (is there such thing as a little depression? It was milder than after Madeline was born) that did not require medication.

I'd share the pictures but Jon put them on the computer and I can't find the file he stored them in. When he wakes up I'll bug him into finding them and post them later!

I am still amazed we fit everyone and everything into the car (thanks to the roof storage container Jon's family got us for a new baby gift). And that we remembered to bring everything home with us!

Sesame Place

Owen playing on the rocks under the lighthouse at Baltimore Inner Harbor
Hugs at the wading pool at Sesame Place

Meeting Zoe!

And Abby Cadaby too!

We went on vacation to Baltimore and on the way home went to Sesame Place in PA. We all had an awesome time. We took a lot of photos. I hope they help Madeline remember the trip as she gets older. We plan to go back in a few years.