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Summer Plans

Have I mentioned 10,000 times how happy I am that summer is here?

To be fair, this week has still been a little bumpy, as I try to catch up from a holiday weekend (anyone else feel like it takes the full week to get back on track?), and Star recovers from a delightful little cold.

But still! Hooray for summer!

And it wasn’t all a loss, since Ella attended a Jr. Robotoics Lego camp this week, which she LOVED. I met some of the team at Mom 2.0 in April, and they invited her to try it out (she’s loved anything to do with Legos since we started going to Lego Club at the Durham library a couple of years ago).

They made all sorts of cool LEGO projects and then programmed them with computers to be able to work (a golfer that could golf – Ella won’t stop talking about how she programmed it wrong at first and he accidentally whacked off his own head instead of hitting the golf ball – a Ferris Wheel and a functioning garage door).

Ani keeps saying, “When I’m five, I’m going to go to Lego Class too.”

I’m trying to find the right balance this year between too much and too little planning – I want to enjoy more time for play dates, pool trips, and library visits,  but I don’t want to get to the end of summer (which is only eight weeks in Arizona), and feel like we didn’t do some pretty fun things as a family too.

Here’s what’s on our agenda over the next two months (and I’d love to hear what you’re planning too!).

We’re taking a few trips, including another couple of days in Las Vegas with my parents while Bart attends a conference there, a long weekend in California including visiting Merrick, her family and the beach, plus a day at Disneyland (which is sure to be a complete zoo, but whatever), and a weekend in Sedona at Orchards Inn, and an extended family reunion with Bart’s family.

I’m also going to a blog conference in Santa Fe and flying out to NYC for a parenting event, so I’ll get a couple of child-free trips in too. I’m already planning what books I’ll bring on my solo plane trip.

I picked out a few books I want to read aloud to my girls this summer – we do read-alouds through the school year, but it’s nice to have more time to read as many chapters as we want. Some of my happiest memories of the summer of 2014 that we spent in Arizona was reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in our little rental house when it was too hot to go anywhere (and I was feeling pretty sick during my first trimester).

This summer, I want to read:

  1. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit
  2. Rascal by Sterling North
  3. Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
  4. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Robert Ingpen
  5. Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander
  6. Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop

We’ll also do the summer reading program at the library and weekly trips with friends to the neighborhood pool.

There are so many splash pads around here, so I’m hoping to hit at least two new-to-us locations.

I’d like to visit the Phoenix Children’s Museum again and also check out the new Lego Adventure place.

For Friday movie nights, we’re trying to hit some of the Disney movies my girls have never seen, including Peter Pan, The Fox and the Hound, and Zootopia, and we’d like to take the older girls on a little date to see a matinee of Finding Dory.

Basically, I can’t wait. Now I need to go buy 10 bottles of sunscreen.

What are you planning?

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7 Comments

  1. Sounds like a fun list! Just curious at what age do you start reading aloud chapter books? My daughter turned two in march and she will sit for long picture books ( like Little Bear and those horrible forever long disney movie picture books ha) but I'm not sure yet if she could follow the same story if we just read a chapter a day. I don't want to start too soon and have her dislike it.

    1. I started reading chapter books to Ella shortly after she turned three, but I didn't feel like she really got into them until she was 3.5. I try to be flexible, too, about letting them color or do Legos or something while I read if that makes it more fun for them.

  2. Sounds like a fun list! Just curious at what age do you start reading aloud chapter books? My daughter turned two in march and she will sit for long picture books ( like Little Bear and those horrible forever long disney movie picture books ha) but I'm not sure yet if she could follow the same story if we just read a chapter a day. I don't want to start too soon and have her dislike it.

  3. I had completely forgotten about Hitty! I absolutely loved that book when I was a kid, Must have read it a dozen times. I also have such fond memories of my mom reading the whole Lloyd Alexander "Prydain Chronicles" (Black Cauldron etc) out loud to me and my brother.

  4. Enjoy the freedom while your kids are still young! I miss those days of carefree summers. This summer, my boys have week long scout camps, and sports camps…swimming is always the best though!

  5. Yay, so sweet to see the LEGO fascination has been growing since y'alls time in Durham! Also–Lloyd Alexander is one of my favorites (like top three). I LOVE his Prydain Chronicles and his others are close behind. Happy Summer Reading! –(Miss) Allie

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