Library Time is Fun Time
June 17, 2008
Monday is actually one of my favorite days of the week this summer all because of the Summer Reading Program at my library. They received a grant that has allowed them to bring in some truly awesome performers every Monday.
We went yesterday to see Ken Lonnquist; this guy is awesome! His songs were funny, he involved the audience in his gig, and everyone had a great time. He was even nice enough to let me post a picture of him here. The theme for the library’s summer reading program is Catch the Reading Bug. Ken had some great songs for this theme; of course you know that he had to sing that one about “nobody loves, everybody hates, I think I’ll eat a can of worms” ewwww gross! He sang one about forbidden love…between a spider and a fly that is! LOL Every song he sang was a lot of fun.
As a single mom you know I keep my eye out for inexpensive things to do with the kids and being able to attend these free weekly performances is absolutely wonderful. It encourages the kids to read, gives us something to do for at least an hour every Monday night, and we always enjoy sitting down with our books from the library every night taking turns reading together.
Music is truly soothing to the soul and after the long day I had yesterday Ken’s music was fun, refreshing, and gave us a good ‘ole dose of laughter. Being able to see him for free was an awesome treat but I can guarantee you that I’d even buy tickets to his performances and I’m definitely going to pick up a CD or two from his website. If you visit his website (http://www.kenland.com/) you can even hear some samples of his songs and they’re available on iTunes too!
Hitting the Trails
June 6, 2008
I love taking the kids for bike rids and I’ve found that going for a bike ride with the kids doesn’t have to be a dull, mundane trip around the block. I’ve added several bike trips to our Family Fun Planning sheet.
I have a pick up truck and a bike rack on the Jeep to transport our bikes. A couple of months ago I visited the wisconsin tourism website and had a bunch of brochures mailed to me including one that listed all the states bike trails. Today we’re heading to one of the local parks that is a couple of miles away. We’re going to spend the day bike riding, playing frisbee golf
You wouldn’t believe what I did one day when it rained on one of our planned bike trips? My mom had given me one of those stationary bikes ( you know — the thing in the corner of your bedroom that you hang clothes on) I lugged that thing out and let every one take turns riding bike. It was great fun; the picnic lunch was already packed, along with our back packs which had a few good books. So we just straped on the camel packs (I decided to forgoe the frisbee golf!), and we had a really fun rainy day.Everyone took turns riding the bike and when we reached our destination we had lunch, read some of the books together, and just enjoyed each other’s company.
If you take a bike trip somewhere with you kids take along a camera and get some good pics of your trip. You can e-mail me one if you want and I’ll add it to the Surviving Summertime newsletter. You can send the pic to
family-fun-time@ssmommy.com.
Have a great weekend everyone!!
Here Comes Summer Vacation
June 2, 2008
This Thursday is the start of summer vacation for my kids; this school year seemed to really fly. The past few weeks I’ve been working on my Summer Fun Activity planner. Do you want to see what we’re going to do this summer? Go ahead and take a peek. You can download a blank copy of my Summer Fun Activity planner and plan what you want to do with your kids this summer too. It’s a fillable form that you can type your activities into and then print when you’re finished. It doesn’t allow for saving so you’ll want to make sure you print it out when you’re finished. Since I work from home I have to make sure that I have time to work every day so in addition to family outings I have created a daily activity planner for our days as well. Some of the things that I included in our days are homework time, TV time, and outside time (or a rainy day plan). I also planned for lunch and snack choices for each day. And most importantly I’ve got a new kitchen timer with a magnet that I can stick to the fridge; I’ve promised the kids every hour I’m for them for 10 minutes. This doesn’t seem like a lot of time but I’m home all day with the kids rather than being at a 9 to 5 job and them in daycare. I’ve also planned a 1/2 day off once a week.
So I think we’re ready for summer vacation to get started. The kids only have 1/2 day on Thursday so I’m going work till it’s time to pick them up and then spend the rest of the day with a bike ride to the park and spending some time talking about our plans, playing/relaxing together and an early picnic supper.
Have you spent some time planning your summer time vacation yet? I’d love to hear what you will be doing for the summer and how you are working the kids into your normal day.
