Hellobee Boards

I'm a teacher so I am so excited for our summer off! It is literally the perfect balance for me.

We have a couple vacations planned for the summer and then we are planning to join the Y and so hopefully will go there a few times a week and then to the beach once or twice a week with my sister and her kids (my parents live in a beach town about an hour away).

I'm hoping to be pregnant and so it could also be that I will be sick half the summer lying around on the couch and relying on screen time so fingers crossed that I'll be in my first tri but I won't be too sick!

Short hotel and camping trip, swim lessons, cooking/art/engineering projects at home, one week of Christian summer school (I work that week), library trips and play dates. This is the first year LO is not doing a summer camp.

Have to be honest, I'm so glad that both LOs are still in full-time daycare so that we don't have to deal with summer schedules. We will keep up our normal routine on weekdays. On weekends in the summer, we like to explore our city or do day trips. Plus we have Mem Day and Labor Day vacations planned to bookend the season.

During the week, camp, from 9-3, with a field trip weekly.
On the weekends, we stay home and enjoy our pool.
We're also planning a week at the beach in August.

I mostly SAH but T is in school 8 hours a week usually. We have 10 weeks of summer break.

Our babysitter will come most Wednesday mornings so I can work/get stuff done around the house. We are going to enroll her in indoor soccer 1x a week.

I usually have a morning activity like the zoo/a play date/another activity or errand out of the house in the morning. She still naps so usually when DH is working from home he gets up really early to work so they can hang after nap and go to the park so I can work or cook dinner. This summer we have our boat moored 20 min away so we hope to get out 2-3 times a week.

On nights he's traveling I usually have my mom or babysitter come over. If I still have a free night I'll make plans with friends- I have 2 who's spouses work out of town or nights.

We are also camping 3 times, are going to family camp at the coast, and have two longish trips to the beach planned.

We stay pretty busy.

I SAH and my husband teaches so we're all super excited for summer! We make a summer list each year of places/activities we want to check out and will probably take a vacation as well. Thinking of doing DC and Baltimore.

@petitenoisette: Same with being a teacher/school librarian!

We have 1 trip planned to Canada, 1 trip planned to Georgia to see my family, and 1 Disney trip. Then the weeks we are home, I have TONS of ideas/plans. And LO1 has 1 week of an outdoor sports camp thing.

-Splash pads (we have several around town, so we can hit different ones almost every day)
-parks/playgrounds (same as above)
-Turtle back zoo
-Van Suan park (another zoo/park/splash pad/playground/carousel)
-Bronx zoo
-Victorian Gardens (little mini amusement park in Central Park, perfect for preschoolers)
-Day trips to beaches
-Day trip to Crayola factory
-Day trip to Sesame place
-Liberty Science Museum
-Children's Museum of Manhattan
-Several indoor playspaces around town
-Find hidden slide at Battery Park city playground
-Spend a day on Governor's Island
-Ride bikes along the waterfront
-maybe day trips to an indoor water park

*might sign the girls up for swimming lessons, but since we're going to be gone so much, we may lose out on money for our missed weeks, so not sure. Need to check into it.

It really just depends on what good deals I can find. Our public library has free passes for Children's museum, Science museum, and a few other places. Sometimes other places have groupons/specials. The benefit of being home on weekdays is really huge.

They're signed up for 5 weeks of summer school so that means I have two full days a week to work where as now I piece meal it together since DD2 is home with me. I can't wait! And then August is no school so we're signed up for dance and swim and DH will be done with training (he's gone 4.5 days a week OOT right now. ). So maybe we'll take a short trip once we know his work schedule.

I'm a SAHM with a 3 yo and 6 mo. We have a couple of "scheduled" weekly activities (but we don't have to sign up in advance or pre-pay for them).

We do these every single week:
Monday- storytime with the good librarian
Wednesday- strawberry/ peach orchard children's program
Thursday- live music and dinner at a kid friendly orchard/ cidery and winery
Friday- more live music downtown (also kid friendly)
Sunday- church

For yucky days:
-weekly drop in art program at the rec center
-the bounce and play or trampoline place (cheap for littles on weekday mornings even in the summer)
-Kid friendly coffee shop with play area
-indoor ritzy organic "creative space" aka overpriced wooden slide place
-children's museum

For nice days
-playground and splash pad
-apartment complex pool
-gym pool
-rec center pool
-county owned lake beach
-Busch Gardens (we have season passes)

I also usually have a PJ morning/ errand day.

I am planning a short week beach vacation (5 days just to use up DH's pto before our college town gets super busy), day trips to DC on days when it isn't super duper hot, and weekend trips home to see my parents. Considering VBS as well but haven't found a good program for it (our church is on the college campus and it basically dies during the summer)

Our days in summer will look similar to the rest of the year (I am a SAHM):
-DS will be in camp 2 mornings a week (he's in school 2 mornings a week now)
-We will do 1 morning class of Mommy and Me for Toddlers. --On the other 2 weekday mornings we will most likely do one day at a play gym, and one day open for museum visits/Day trips/special summer activities. Our afternoons will be nap and then playground.

June - Monday afternoon sports class (with parents)
TWTh he'll be in summer camp 9-12
Friday is our free day. We'll probably do Central Park, zoos, children's museums on super hot days.

July we will be in a shore house all month. So every day will be beach and pool.

August I'm still not sure. We'll be back in the city but can't decide if we should do more camp or just leave it totally open. The idea of no break after getting used to it scares me a little. If no camp we'll probably take a couple shorter trips and just enjoy the summer city calm at parks and indoor gyms.

@Anagram: Both TBZ and LSC have memberships that approximately equal the cost of two family visits. Might be worth looking into if you want to be able to go several times across the year.

We actually splurged on the LSC "Family Plus" membership so that our childcare (grandparents and/or babysitter) can take him too. It's great for rainy days and/or humid days. I actually find it to be an exhausting excursion but it's nice to have some place to go when the weather is not great. And most of the membership fee is tax deductible which takes the edge off the expense.

@Anagram: I had no idea they were available from the library! Will check that out in the future

@Bao: You've been doing so many great activities, so I've been curious what you've planned! Maybe you can guest blog a post with a weekly lesson plan for the summer?

@petitenoisette: How funny! I am also a teacher hoping to get pregnant this summer. Dealing with four months of morning sickness during the school year was pretty darn awful last time. Good luck!

I am always home with my lo so I don't see summer any different than other days but usually mornings are for errands and doing something fun. we have passes to a kids museum and aquarium. Or story time at the library. Different splash pads are opening up now or the park. Then we are home for lunch and nap. After nap its usually playing in our yard or around the house then dinner.

I am due in August so I am expecting to be pretty hot and miserable this summer...

@Mrs.Pinecone316: I was due last September and we still managed to have an awesome, busy summer! Just keep active so that you are used to it!