Fifty Things To Do This Summer

It never fails – kids look forward to summer vacation nearly as much as Christmas, and twelve hours into it we hear the first, “Mom, I’m bored.  What can I do?”

We’re all glad for a break from the rigorous schedule of school, but not having to do anything turns into having nothing to do rather quickly.

Kids need to be engaged in something new almost daily or you’ll soon have a couch potato or two on your hands.  So in case you’re suffering from the summer blues already, or just want to be proactive, here’s a list of things your might want to do this summer.

1.  Build a fort in the backyard.  Cardboard boxes, blankets, whatever ya got.

2.  Make Kool-Aid ice.  (Fill an ice tray with Kool-Aid, freeze it, eat it alone or in a drink.)

3.  Fly a kite.  Make your own if you’re feeling ambitious.

4.  Pack a dinner and take it to the park.

5.  For that matter, you could have a picnic right in your backyard, or your living room on a rainy day.

6.  Bake cookies.  (In the morning if it’s hot!)

7.  Let the kids set up a Popsicle or lemonade stand.

8.  Play doctor.  Now, don’t go thinking this is dirty.  You get an old phone and a notebook for making appointments, a card table for a reception desk, maybe a waiting room in the living room and the exam room in the kitchen?  Be sure to have band-aids and gauze for any ailing patients.

9.  Have a bike race.

10.  Or a bike parade!  Let the kids decorate their bikes with streamers and balloons.

11.  Run through sprinklers.

12.  Play-doh creation contest.  See who can build the best alien, wedding cake, longest snake, etc..

13.  Movie day!  Pop popcorn, give out tickets, make posters with show times, invite the neighbor kids.

14.  Make a bug habitat and find some residents for it.

15.  Go to the library.  Most have pretty cool summer programs going on.

16.  Tell the kids to plan a talent show for Mom and Dad to watch.  (Or grandparents?)

17.  Let the kids make their own summer scrapbooks and spend three months filling it up!

18.  Read a book under a tree with an apple.

19.  Pick berries at a farm.

20.  Watch for community activities throughout the summer – check your city’s web page.

21.  Water balloon fight, or water balloon volleyball  – (two kids hold opposite ends of a towel and launch a balloon across a net or imaginary line, team on the other side has to catch it in their towel and re-launch to the other side.)

22.  Sidewalk chalk mural in the driveway.  Make it HUGE!

23.  Sleep under the stars.

24.  Take a walk through the neighborhood, let the kids take a picture with your camera of something they’d like to paint, (a rosebush, a pond, a bug…), and come home and let them paint their representation of it.

25.  Visit an elderly neighbor who might need some company.

26.  Visit Dad at work and go to lunch together.

27.  Play school.  (Sounds awful this soon out of it, but kids love to take turns being the teacher.)

28.  Game day.  Pull out every board game you have and play them all, indoors or out.

29.  Drive in movie – have the kids spend a day making cars out of cardboard boxes and park them in the backyard at night and watch a movie outside.  (Just bring an old TV out and plug it in to an extension cord or something.)

30.  Spa day.  Give each other mud facials, manicures, etc.

31.  Go to the community pool.

32.  Invest in a slip n’ slide.  Hours of fun, all summer long.

33.  Teach your kids a new sport – tennis, baseball, whatever.

34.  Learn something new with your kids – chess, cross-stitch, French, anything that strikes your fancy.

35.  Check out a library book about plants and identify some in your neighborhood.  Same could be done for trees and bugs.

36.  Invite friends over.  All their old games and adventures will feel new if they have someone to share them with.

37.  Plant a garden or a flower.

38.  Practice your cartwheels, hand-stands, somersaults, etc.  Attach a ribbon to a dowel and do a ribbon dance.

39.  Make simple scenery and costumes and put on a play.  Or just use your imagination and skip the scenery.

40.  Play hopscotch or jump rope.

41.  Color in a coloring book.

42.  Explore a new part of town – is there a park or restaurant you haven’t tried?

43.  Build a bird feeder out of an empty milk carton.

44.  Go hiking.

45.  Make your own ice cream.

46.  Climb a tree.

47.  Wash the car.

48.  Go to a museum.  I bet you can find a free one near you.

49.  Go camping!  Don’t forget the s’mores.

50.  Have a carnival.  Tell your kids and their friends to make their own game or booth, invite them all to your backyard and have a blast!  Try making your own corn dogs, elephant ears, or snow cones.  (Or all of them if you like to slowly kill your innards like I do.)

Post Note - This is an article I wrote for a website about a year ago.  I was an idiot and just gave them my content for free.  Nice, huh?  So I'm re-posting it here because I can and because I think it's relevant, and they can bite me.

Gettin' Comfy

I have a sis in law who loves Applebee's. It seems that she and her husband go to that restaurant whenever they go out, (I'm sure they really don't), and over the years I have spent a collective hour of my life telling my husband how boring and unadventurous that is! Why do I care, right? I don't really. But I don't like Applebee's, so maybe I just don't understand.

Every time I try a new restaurant I think of this particular sis in law and wonder if she's still eating good in the neighborhood or if she's found a new favorite. I know - I'm so much cooler than her. (That was sarcasm, and I'm getting to my point.)

So this last Saturday was date night and Andrew and I had planned on a bike ride along a trail we've never ridden before and a picnic somewhere along the way. I was looking forward to it and even hit a couple of bike shops looking for a cute basket to carry our dinner in.

As the day wore on I became more and more exhausted and irritable, just because the week was winding down and I had had my fill of just about everything. When Andrew got home from work I had to admit that the last thing I wanted to do was go on a bike ride, get sweaty, and eat a cold dinner in a mosquito infested prairie. And I was grumpy about it. I seriously needed some down time to just relax.

So where did we end up? At the only place that I felt like going to. The restaurant that is my favorite when I'm craving a casual atmosphere and unpretentious food. My fallback. We went to Wingers. And it was good.

While I was sitting there in the booth, sipping my chocolate Coke, (not gross, by the way - I know you just made a face), I was thinking of my sis in law and her Applebee's habit, and then I understood it. Sometimes you just need to go where you want to go because you're comfortable there and it makes you happy.

We can be creative on our next date.

What are some of your favorite things to do for date night?

Andrew is always unimpressed when I take pictures of him eating.

Revolution

I've long felt that video games are a curse of our generation. They consume so much of our childrens' time and thoughts. Time that could be better spent experiencing life.

For my kids, video games are addicting. Andrew and I have tried a plethora of systems for allotting video game time: minute for minute with their reading, rewards for extra chores or good behavior, only allowing them on Friday afternoons, etc. All of our experiments left me feeling like it was still an unnecessary evil for my kids.

And so they are gone.

We will not have video games in our house anymore. There are so many things that are more worthwhile and healthy.

Originally I felt guilt that my kids would not have what other kids have, or do what other kids do, but since when do I want my kids to be like other kids?

Have you ever stepped back and looked at what our kids do these days?

They can't put their cell phones down for even half an hour without texting someone, regardless of who they might be ignoring in their physical presence.

Kids and grown-ups alike talk on their cell phones while in the check out line at the grocery store or in a restaurant. They check their Facebook accounts and surf the internet while they are out with their spouses or friends. It's rude, people! Rude!

They have to have the DVD player turned on in the car, even for short little trips around town.

Kids, and even some parents, turn on their MP3 players whenever they are alone together, and thanks to the handy earphones, they can ignore each other and waste an opportunity to have an honest to goodness conversation. (The car is the best place to talk to your kids! They are trapped! No distractions! Turn the radio off and talk!!)

Kids are allowed to bring portable video games to social engagements and completely withdraw from what's going on around them because it's easier for parents to not have to supervise or discipline them.

Kids today have an endless supply of entertainment at their fingertips, but very few books, very few responsibilities. They are not taught proper social behavior. They consider themselves entitled to whatever they want. They think they are equal to their elders. They are lazy. They are disobedient and disrespectful.

I wonder why?

I apologize that I cannot talk about this subject without coming across as self-righteous. And I know there is the argument that all things should be in moderation. But for my kids, it can't be. It's all or nothing, and I pick nothing. I feel so strongly that we are doing our kids a disservice by making electronic entertainment such a priority in our lives. I think about what kind of men I want my kids to grow into, and nothing that is popular or cool or accepted as "the norm" these days is going to help them be what I want them to be.

So Andrew and I are going to turn our backs on most of these things. We are going to provide our kids with the things they need to be good, productive men. Not grown-up kids.



End rant. Tomorrow I'll talk about all the ways in which I am not perfect. Deal?

Commercializing Love

The first time I ever celebrated a Valentines Day with a significant other was when I had just started to date Andrew. He was a senior in high school and I was a sophomore. I took the opportunity to profess my love for Andrew by hiring a female barbershop quartet to serenade him in the middle of his CWP class. I don't know that I've ever seen Andrew as mortified as he was on that occasion. I took pictures so that we could look back on that in fifty years and try to remember who those people were. The women were all over forty, they wore sparkly red jumpsuits, and they presented Andrew with a single red rose when they were finished humiliating him. Priceless.

The first year that Andrew and I celebrated a Valentines Day as a married couple, I gave him a Portland Trailblazers jersey. He doesn't wear it very often anymore, but he refuses to let me cart it off to Goodwill. I'd like to think that it's because he's emotionally attached to it, but I know better.

This year I am giving Andrew a gift certificate to Massage Envy. He's been talking about getting a massage for years, and I am finally giving in because I realize that while I have no desire to let a stranger rub me down, he does. I hope he gets a man masseuse.

I have always been a pain in Andrew's rear when it comes to gifts. My feeling is that if he's going to spend some money on me, he shouldn't buy something that will die. So flowers are out. I like flowers and all, but they are predictable and expensive and I'd rather see some growing in my yard than withering in a vase. (But only if someone else planted them in my yard, because I hate gardening.) Candy is a useless gift, because at any given time, I likely have a stash of chocolate and other sweets hidden in the cupboard.

This year I decided to give Andrew a hand with the process and just get myself a gift. So last night I signed myself up for Netflix on the computer, and then Andrew looked over at me from his recliner where he was watching ESPN, and said, "Happy Valentines Day!" I told him thank you for his thoughtful gift and then filled my movie queue with flicks that I want. You see, this is only a gift for me, so only I get to chose the movies. The power is totally going to my head.

First up: Heart and Souls, Signs (to watch with the kids), Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, and Four Weddings and a Funeral. I can't wait to check the mail tomorrow!

Utah Hot Spots; Vol. 1

We have lived in Utah for three years now, (I know - we're shocked, too), and we've been around long enough to know where the "hot spots" are. And I use that term loosely, because my family's definition of fun is likely different than most others'. For example:

We love the Brigham City Museum. We have actually only been once, but the kids were so impressed that they have begged to go again, and can we please bring some friends? I myself have thought of bringing my own friends, because the horror that is "Eliza's Attic" is more frightening than any spook alley I have ever been to and should be shared with as many unsuspecting folk as possible. It is dark and cold in the attic. There is strange light coming from the fake fireplace where you can see a stew simmering at a nice bubble with chicken's feet sticking straight out. A window sits on one cramped corner where you can look in and see your own head sitting atop a mannequin wearing funeral clothes. Everything smells old and musty, and the floor creaks with every step. My kids ate it up.

The museum staff is kind enough to provide a study sheet to go along with your tour of the attic. All of the interactive displays are numbered, and my mother, children and I will never forget display #4. You open a small chest and there is a "child" laying there in a white gown. The corresponding question on the study sheet is, "Why is the baby in the chest?" My kids couldn't imagine why anyone would put a baby in a chest, so as my mother begins to tell the kids that not everyone back in pioneer days had a crib for their baby, so they had to put the infants in drawers or whatever... "Nope," I interrupted. "The paper says that the baby is in the chest because the baby is dead."

Oh the screams and laughter that erupted from that attic!

And that's before we even got to the top of the short staircase that promised a surprise behind the door. We opened that door and were greeted by a life-size black and white image of Blind Man Jones with his gaping mouth and facial deformities. There was even a rubber rat hiding behind the door. Ethan fell backwards down the stairs in his haste to put distance between Mr. Jones and himself, and we all screamed involuntarily and didn't feel bad at all, because obviously the curator of this po-dunk museum was going for a fun-house type of horror. We began to wonder if this was some kind of joke and where were the hidden cameras?

The next question on the "educational" museum sheet was a multiple choice question asking what we thought Blind Man Jones' occupation might have been.

A) butcher
B) barber
C) mailman

My vote was butcher, but probably not in the sense that most think of a butcher. That museum director has a very sick sense of humor. I like him. Or her. Also, "barber" could have been a plausible choice because it would explain where Utah Hair came from. Turns out, however, that Mr. Jones was the town mailman. Can you imagine the confusion when Mrs. Roberts got a letter that belonged to Mrs. Abbot and Mrs. Abbot received Mrs. Roberts' tax bill? Actually, my mailman is such a gem that I wouldn't have a moment's hesitation in trading him for a blind model.

Outside of "Eliza's Attic", where the normal parts of the museum lurk, Mom and I tried to show the kids how to churn butter, and one of the museum volunteers offered to help the kids case their own sausage. Shockingly, they were not interested. They only wanted to go back and look at the "dead baby".

On our way home that afternoon, we took the opportunity to quiz the kids on what they had learned that day.

"And do you remember why the baby was in the chest?" I asked.

"Yes, because the mailman killed her," answered Ethan.

Yep, I think they got the gist of it.

Lost Dreams

Last night I watched five minutes of a Lost episode from last season, which I have already seen, and I had bizarre dreams all night long. The same type of dreams that I got when I was pregnant and had to take half of a Unisom every night and then dream about topsy-turvy out of control things for seven months, except my Lost dreams contain a lot more nature.

I love Lost possibly more than I've ever loved watching anything since I was fourteen and would watch snippets of Beverly Hills 90210 when no one was home. Nope, I think more than that.

I just wish that the show didn't come with psychological issues that cause me to toss and turn as I climb through tree houses and beach boulders with John Locke and his hunting knife. Why is it always Locke and never Jack or Sawyer?

Next Tuesday - Lost party. All are welcome. 7:00. RSVP. And Natalie, if you can make it, bring that chocolate fondue.

There will be no jalapeno poppers, however. I learned my lesson during season two, and my chin has not forgotten.