Schools Out, Summer Plans

Now that school is out, what on earth are we going to do all summer long until school starts back up!?!

Some are dreading summer vacation because that means expense, kids fighting, boredom, finding someone to watch the kids while you’re at work, etc. For me, I am one of those who are dreading it, but also excited for it. I’m only dreading it because my girls are at that age where they fight a lot. They are also alot like me and get bored very easily.

However, I do have some ideas on what can keep us busy and from them being glued to the tv, until we go on vacation. Hopefully my ideas that I have planned will give you and idea or two, this summer too.

Since this is the first year (since having kids) that I’ll be with them all summer long, I’ve come up with some ideas to keep them/us busy until we go on vacation and until school starts again.

Planned Summer Vacations

We do have a couple of trips planned for the summer. Some trips this month are still up in the air, but as for July we have 2 trips planned and 1 trip in August planned.

For July we are going to San Diego for 4th of July week. This has become a yearly tradition. The family gets a beach house and we normally spend the entire week there. However, this year we will only be spending 3-4 days in San Diego; then we have to come back because Robert and I have tickets to watch Kevin Hart’s comedy tour, which Robert and I can’t wait to see!

At the end of July the whole family and I will be traveling to Illinois again to visit my brother and his family. They are expecting a baby girl at the end of this month.. YAY I’m another Aunt! So we all want to visit the family and see the new baby.

Since we are there we are going to spend 2 days in Chicago. The last time we were in Chicago it was freezing and we couldn’t do much there. So we are excited to see more of what Chicago has to offer next month. (To check out our last visit to Illinois click the following link; First trip of the year- Illinois and a extended vacation surprise?)

After Illinois comes our annual camping trip in Utah, which falls at the beginning of August. This is yet another family vacation, and when I say family I’m not just talking about Robert, the girls and I… nooo I’m talking about my sisters, niece, nephews, mom, dad, cousins, etc..

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That sums up all of our planned vacations so far. We do have a vacation planned for June, but not sure yet if we are going because of Robert’s work.

Other than our planned vacations, I needed to keep my kids busy so they don’t drive me up the wall. Below are some ideas I have planned for the summer as well.

Summer School Work

You’re probably thinking I’m crazy! Well call it what it is, but yes i’m giving my kid’s school work, especially since I’m not placing them in a school summer camp this year.

In the past summers, I would let Melia take a break from school work during summer and actually give her the whole summer off, which I totally regreted. When school started for her, it seemed like she forgot most of what she learned, and had a hard time in school the first few weeks. I’ve decided not to let that happen this summer and do at least 45 mins to 1 hour of school work Monday through Friday with her.

I’ve also decided to do the same with Avery and have her do 30 minutes of school work with her Monday through Friday.

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Wet N Wild

Since we are yearly season pass holders for Wet N Wild, we come here quite often. The best part is that we live right down the street from it. We like coming here for either the whole day or just a couple of hours. We also enjoy the dive in movies they offer and story time. Purchasing season passes for our family is well worth the money.

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Library

My kids love the library. They love picking out their books, which Melia will read everyday during reading time to herself, and then we have bedtime reading, which Robert or I will read to them before bedtime. The also get to interact with the other kids there and get to play. We love coming to story time and they also love doing arts & crafts there too. This is a great idea to take your kids. Plus it’s all FREE!

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Discovery Children’s Museum

Along with being season pass holders at Wet N Wild, we are also yearly pass holders at the Discovery Children’s Museum. This is a great way to spend the whole day especially when it’s really hot outside or when its way too cold out. The kids learn so much from this place. I love how every other month or so they change certain rooms out to another theme.

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Parks

Now, it’s hard to go to parks in Las Vegas during the summer because it gets way too hot, but the last hour before the sun sets it starts cooling off a little bit; making the slides bearable to slide down at least. It’s a nice way to have dinner at the park while the kids get to burn off that extra energy.

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Sea Quest

Las Vegas has a few aquarium places to visit. There is a new one in particular that just opened up a few months back, that we would like to visit called Sea Quest. It seems very affordable and the kids even get to feed some of the animals there.

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Indoor Playgrounds

We are very big fans of indoor playgrounds. My kids absolutely love it. They can play for hours and hours here, and while they do that, I like to get a lot of work done, specially blogging.

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Arts & Crafts

It’s always fun to do some type of arts & crafts with your kids. It opens up their imagination and calls for great art work. You can find a lot of arts & craft ideas on Pinterest and you can purchase alot of the items at the Dollar Store, making it very affordable.

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Mommy/Daughter Date & Daddy/Daughter Date

One thing Melia and Avery asked for this summer was doing a date day/night. We have yet decided when this will be (I’m predicting some time in June since we will be busy in July), but the girls are very very excited about our date. We love to do this every now and then, to get that quality/bonding time with them.

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Movie Theater

Movie Theaters are becoming quite expensive now a days. We only go to the movies on certain days now (Monday or Tuesday) where it only cost $5 a ticket. This makes it very affordable to be able to watch a new movie. We don’t go on any other days where we have to pay full price.

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Hopefully that gave you some ideas on what you can do this summer. Always remember to look out for deals or check out Groupon. There are so many places offer great summer deals. I know I’m always on the lookout to save some money! If you have any suggestions on what I can add to my list, I’m definitely up for suggestions. Hope you are having a great start to your summer.

All with love,

Christine