What Are You Doing This Summer?

I’m off to D.C., hobbling as I go, though my knee is much improved.

And I’m curious friends, what are you up to this summer?  Where are you going?

If you’re in Houston, what’s your favorite activity – as a couple or with kids?

We just wrapped up swim team this week.  Little bit was the only five year old that made it to finals!  I am so proud of her but the boys, especially the baby, were less than good sports about it.  Mercy this is a competitive house.  We had the final team party on Sunday and she won a medal as well as the little team trophy – the boys ribbon paled in comparison to her proud medal worn around her neck.

We’re just now starting to schedule play dates for July.  Vacation has passed and the kids are starting to get on each other’s nerves.  The boys are starting to play more “boy games” that little bit is less interested in and she went to bed crying last night that she didn’t have a girl who lived at the house to be her girl buddy.  So sad.  They really do all play together but inevitable one ends up on the outs.  While we’re playing with friends from the old school, I’m hoping to set up some play dates with new school kids too so it’s not brand new faces when they start in August.

We saw Inside Out this weekend at the movie theatre and it was wonderful!  Great for kids and adults and it helps start conversations about the emotions that are sometimes hard for kids to understand.  We were invited to a law firm’s big family event in a few weeks to see Minions and have breakfast and fun and a rented out theatre – that’s a big hit each summer.

We rotate the Science Museum (Houston’s is wonderful), Children’s Museum and occasionally throw in the zoo and Aquarium but we’re not members there so it’s pricier for us.  Maria takes the kids to the park, splash pads, and jumpy places during the week.  She also takes them to the $1 Wednesday kid movies Cinemark puts on.  We swim at our pool every day and my mom, the retired teacher, comes over and does reading comprehension, math, and spelling a couple of times a week to keep their new skills fresh in their mind.

I take the baby on a weekend trip to Alabama in a month, it’s his turn as I rotate each kid on a solo flight with me to a different destination each year.

So how about you?  How do you pass the summer?  What do you cook?  What do you do?  I’m a sponge always looking for ways to break the monotony and keep things fun without the stress of running ninety-to-nothing.