It has recently come to my attention that summer will be over before I know it.
I’m not sure why this feels like such a surprise to me, but it does. And at the risk of sounding like a petulant 4-year-old, I’M NOT READY!!!
That said, since I don’t have the time (or the floor space) to throw a proper temper tantrum, I’ll just go into planning mode. Because there’s so much fun stuff left to do, and because I’m a mom and that’s what moms do.
So, here’s what’s on my list….
Get our butts to the beach. We’ve been going to the pool with friends, but the beach feels like a whole other exhausting, potentially dangerous production. How do you do this safely with two small kids? Right now, I’m thinking that you don’t. You take your husband with you because your friends have their own kids to worry about.
Teach the 4-year-old to swim. After four summers of swim lessons, my son loves the water, but he sinks. So, um, that was money well spent. Anyway…we need to fix this problem ASAP for his safety and my sanity.
Make root-beer floats. Soda is off-limits in our house, but I’ll make an exception for these. I made root-beer floats with my dad every summer when I was a kid, and it always felt so special and so summery. Even thinking about one still elicits the best memories.
Go to a slew of outdoor concerts, have champagne-filled picnics while the kids play nearby, and be all cultured and sh*t. In related goals, stop saying things like “all cultured and sh*t.”
Take lots of field trips. We’ve been doing these pretty regularly, but there are just so many fun places to go! The interactive Ghostbusters exhibit in Times Square is next on my list, and then a cat cafe in Soho (oh, yes, you read that right), a fish hatchery on Long Island, and a dinosaur exhibit and a water park in New Jersey.
Get my son to do more journaling. I had a grand plan that we’d do this every morning, writing and drawing about the previous day’s fun. It’s a great way to prevent the summer slide and work on skills he’ll need for pre-K in the fall. He’s done a bit…and only a bit. Doing pretend-play with us starring as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has instead dominated our mornings, which is equally good and important, of course. I just wish that he’d journal about it afterward!
Raise our very own butterfly family. You get the little caterpillars in a box via FedEx, put them in a mesh container and two weeks later—voila! Butterflies! Last summer, we released our butterflies in Central Park just two days before the baby arrived, which makes the whole experience feel extra warm and fuzzy.
Plan Olympics-inspired activities. So far, we’ve only managed to decorate our windows with red, white and blue gel decorations. But I’m envisioning an opening-ceremonies party and some friendly preschooler competitions in the park. I’m hoping that this doesn’t get downgraded to (only) death-defying gymnastics on my poor couch.
Make ice cream sandwiches. Yes, make them, not buy them. Check out these recipes. Seriously, how good do they sound?!
Go to a baseball game. It will be my budding slugger’s first, and he’s going to love it…once he understands that he can’t jump on the field with the professionals.
Declutter my apartment. Oh, and teach myself iMovie. And sort through the 20,000 pictures that I’ve taken since my son was born 4 and a half years ago. (No exaggeration on that number.) And finish a whole slew of Momsanity projects. And get my life together. You know, simple stuff.
Learn how to slow down time and occasionally make it stop. What’s summer without at least one lofty goal? I’ll let you know when I figure that one out. (UPDATE: Believe it or not, I actually kinda, sorta figured that out over the past year. Check it out here!)
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