Summer Time, Daily Treats

Summer sun and fun is coming as well as the ever present children crying "I'm bored." Well, beat the migraine of whiney kids and motivate those little soldiers by letting them know about the fun planned for the summer. Kids can easily entertain themselves. A great motivator for that is knowing that they are going to be rewarded for playing nicely and sharing with a trip tomorrow or the next day. I like to plan a summer calendar, so I can tell my kids that in two weeks, one week or tomorrow is the BIG day.

Our calendar is filling up. We have three weeks booked with BIG Things: a day camp, an overnight camp and a vacation. We have loosely scheduled one FIELD trip for each summer month: the Children's Museum, the Zoo and the Oil Ranch. Now it is time to look at Daily Treats.

Daily Treats cannot cost a lot of money since they are daily. So we start with a loose schedule. The morning is stuff around the house (cleaning, video games, building train tracks or Lego's, whatever), about 10 am is an activity which will be discussed later, about 12 pm is lunch, about 1 pm is quiet time / nap time / reading time, about 3 pm is park time and then 5 pm is dinner and normal evening stuff. It is summer so I am not strict about the schedule. Lots of things depend on the kids and how they are doing. If they are particularly interested in what they are playing, we may not do a morning activity and focus on the fun we are having. If they are being particularly bad, we may delay a FIELD trip day or skip an activity for appropriate time outs and groundings. It all just depends on you and the kids and what you think is appropriate for a reward or for a punishment.

Activities are not in stone, but it is good to have a bag of tricks to easily pick something out that fits the day and the mood. Daily treats (activities) include physical time, mind time and go time.

• Physical Time - Everybody knows how important exercise. Physical time is easy with kids. Kids love to swim, ride bikes and run. We try to go to the swimming pool 2 - 3 times a week which takes up a number of morning activity time. We also like to ride bikes to neighborhood parks which easily takes up 2 - 3 afternoon activities. Running can be done in the backyard, in the cul-de-sac playing with neighbors or at the school park. I like to keep a stash of water guns in the backyard to promote running. Except for an annual pool tag fee, all these activities are free.
• Mind Time - You will have rain days or in Houston we have days where the temperature and humidity are just too high for outside play. For Mind Time, I like to have something interactive for the kids to build or to experiment. Play dough is a cool one. You can buy it to have on hand or make an experiment out if it by letting the kids make their own (http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Play-Dough ). The computer has all sorts of kitchen science experiments available (baking soda and vinegar are favorites as well as Menthos and soda). A couple of sites I like are Science is Fun (http://www.scifun.org/homeexpts/homeexpts.html ) and Mad About Jesus Laboratories (http://www.madaboutjesus.net/index.html ). Mind Time also includes crafts like finger painting or painting a planter or t-shirt, planting something like a potato to watch it grow, building a bird house or a pine cone bird feeder, or creating musical instruments with stuff around the house. My older son is a Cub Scout and I have found the Cub Scout manuals a great resource for constructive and creative things to do. This year my son needs to work on his Craftsman Badge. I think we will make a leather wallet (supplies at the local hobby store) and I saw some interesting kids crafts for camping on the Oriental Trading Website (http://www.orientaltrading.com/ ). There are just tons of things you can do at home with stuff around the house. Just keep a list of websites readily available and a few generic supplies readily available. Generic supplies include paper, scissors, glue, tape, markers, paint, bubbles, balloons, and baking soda. Paper airplane day is always fun too.
• Go Time - I have two boys and boys need to move. They are busy and need constructive activities that allow them to be loud and to move. Parks, malls and tourist spots help with cheap and fun ways to fill the days. Parks - We are fortunate that we have a large county park near our house where we can ride bikes, picnic and play on the playground or in a field with Frisbee or football or kites or whatever. There are a number of parks that we can drive to and enjoy (http://www.co.harris.tx.us/parks/park.asp ). Many are not good for bikes so check ahead, but almost all have good picnic spots and bathrooms. Malls - Again, we live in the Greater Houston Area and shopping malls can be a fun daily activity that can easily be combined with an errand for Mom (need new shoes or a purse?). Our favorite mall is Memorial City (http://www.memorialcitymall.com/home.html ). It is a treat for the kids to pick their own lunch in the food court, we run our errand and the kids get rewarded for good behavior with a ride on the carousel, coins for the arcade, time on the castle playground for preschoolers, and/or ice cream. Tourist Spots - These could easily be put under Field Trips, but because they are economical, they can be enjoyed more often and thus have been placed under Daily Treats. Tourist Spots include the Houston Arboretum (http://www.houstonarboretum.org/ ), San Jacinto Monument (http://www.sanjacinto-museum.org/ ), Sea Wolf Park Galveston (http://www.galveston.com/seawolfpark/ ), and Sea Center Texas Lake Jackson ( http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/visitorcenters/seacenter/) There a bit of a drive, but a good day for the kids.

The key to keeping the kids happy and Mom happy daily is to have a bag of tricks to pull from. Your bag of tricks does not have to cost a lot of money and can easily utilize things from around the house, but on those days that the kids need a little more room to stretch their legs, it is good to have a list of cheap and easy places to go. Another website of interest when trying to figure out how to fill a day is Nina Loca, a Houstonite with a more comprehensive list of kid friendly restaurants and locations, http://www.ninaloca.com/ .

Our summer is full of fun and relaxation. No stress for Mom trying to figure out what to do with those wound up tots. We have a day camp, overnight camp and vacation to look forward too. We have a Zoo trip, Museum trip and Farm trip to look forward too. We have lots of days to relax and enjoy swimming, biking and numerous parks and picnics. We even have some rainy day things to do including paint and play dough. We will still have a few "down" days where we just hang out, but Mom is armed to battle the "I'm bored" shots with the "look what we have planned for...." and with the "if you are good, we will do a kitchen experiment (or craft or game or whatever)."

It's a rough schedule, but a fun and flexible one. Have a great summer!

Summer Time Field Trips

Summer is coming with good news and bad news. The good news is you can put the alarm clock on permanent snooze; the bad news is the kids will be home and will probably wake you up anyway. I love the summer, but bored kids can quickly steal any peace and quiet. So get prepared, let those kids know that BIG things are coming, FUN field trips are planned and daily treats will reward them for good behavior and using their time wisely.


Yesterday, we talked about BIG things which included day camps, overnight camps and vacations. Today we discuss FIELD trips. The number of field trips we schedule depends greatly on the budget. Since we have scheduled the BIG things, we know what is left to cover FIELD trips and daily treats. I try to schedule at least one FIELD trip per month, perferably two and in a perfect world, one per week. FIELD trips include museums, entertainment complexes, pizza fun places, tourist spots and farms.

• Museums - We live in Houston, Texas, which has a plethera of museums. For cost and kid friendly we like the Children's Museum (http://www.cmhouston.org/)%20and the Health Museum (http://thehealthmuseum.org/HomeDisplay.aspx ). Most musuems offer a "Free Family"; these musuems have FREE Thursday nights (check the websites for times). I like to do things during the day and do not care for the crowds on Free Nights. I try to budget time and money to go during the weekday. I also like to treat my kids to lunch out and eat at the museum (Health Museum does not have a food court). However, if money is tight, there are a number of parks and picnic spots near the museums. We get our re-entry stamp or sticker and then go picnic and come back to finish our day.


• Entertainment Complexes - These include laser tag, put put golf, go-carts, and inflatable jump places. These can get really pricey fast so I might go to one over the entire summer. However, living in Houston, the weather gets stifling hot and inflatable jump places are a great way for indoor and energetic fun for both my school aged child and preschooler. You have probably heard about these places for parties, but check out their websites, they usually have day time, open play times too and some even have "matinee" prices for going early. We like Pump it Up (http://www.pumpitupparty.com/ ) and Monkey Bizness (http://www.monkeybizness.com/ )


• Pizza Fun Places - What kids does not like pizza? Even my four year old, who does not actually like pizza, knows he is supposed to and will jump up for pizza. Pizza Fun Places include CiCi's Pizza (www.cicipizza.com), Chuck E Cheese (www.chuckecheese.com ) and IT'Z Pizza. (www.itzusa.com ). Depending on budget, is the one I pick. CiCi's is a pizza buffet so something for everyone, and they have a small game room that needs quarters. The quarters can add up fast so this does not take up much of the day. Chuck E Cheese can take up half a day. Never go without a coupon, they offer them on the internet and though the coupon does not help much with cost of food, it does help get more tokens so your kids can play and play. IT'Z Pizza is a buffet with much better variety of foods, but the games can get real expensive. My kids love this place, but it's a YIKES expensive place to go. They do have offer specials, so every now and then I will cruise their website for the deal of the week.
• Tourist Spots - These are super fun and usually educational. In Houston they include the Zoo (http://www.houstonzoo.org/), the Space Center (http://www.spacecenter.org/), and the Aquarium (www.aquariumrestaurants.com ). These can quickly become YIKES expensive, but again, check the websites for specials, coupons and "matinee" prices. And think about the cost of taking your family to the movies. When I figured out it cost the same to take my family of four to the movies as it cost to take my kids to the Space Center, we went to the Space Center. Of course, I was hugely surprised by the cost of food. Kid friendly food, but no kid friendly prices. Lunch ate my lunch. Next time, we will get our re-entry stamp and go picnic in the back of the minivan.
• Farms - Around Houston there are several farms designed for family fun and education. They used to be economical but as their popularity grows, so do their prices. Check their websites and be prepared. Around Houston there is the George R Ranch ( http://www.georgeranch.org/ ) which is more geared for older kids and the Oil Ranch ( http://www.oilranch.com/ )which has stuff for both preschoolers and older kids.

Living in the Greater Houston Area, there are a ton of tourist things to do. We enjoy our city, and have more tourist spots to highlight, but the economy of the next few put them on my "Daily" lists.

Our summer schedule is filling up. We have three weeks filled with a day camp, overnight camp and a vacation. We have scheduled some highlights for the other weeks with Field Trips to the Children's Museum, the Zoo and the Oil Ranch. Next is daily activities which we will discuss tomorrow.

Summer Time, BIG Things

SUMMER TIME IS COMING! A joy and a dredge if you are a stay-at-home mommy. I am looking forward to no alarm clocks and flexible, or no, schedules. I am looking forward to sunny days and star lit nights and time with my family. I am also dreading time with my family and mosquito filled nights and sun burns. So what's a Mom to do? Get prepared.

First things first, you need to set-up a schedule and map out the calendar. Three months at home can get really long and potentially hazardous to your house if the kids are not constructively occupied. It also helps with the "I'am bored," when you can tell the kids that next week you are going to go to ...whereever. Our calendar consists of the BIG things, FIELD trips and then the DAILY things.

I like to start by planning the BIG things. BIG things are just what they sound like, BIG. They take time, planning and resources and include day camps, overnight camps, and vacations. Planning the big things first also helps me know how much I have to spend, if any, on FIELD trips and DAILY things.

• Day Camp - Budget friendly, I always sign the kids up for at least one Vacation Bible School (day camp). They are usually free except for the cost of the t-shirt. This year we will be attending the Copperfield Baptist "Boomerang Express" VBS (http://www.ccpowerkids.org/events ). Next I look at what extracurricular activities the kids are involved in. There is some kind of camp for just about anything that interests your kids. My son is a Cub Scout (Boy Scouts of America). We went to the District Day Camp last year and loved it. They also had a sibling program so my other child could participate too. It didn't work out for us this year, but it is economical and very fun.


• Overnight Camp - My oldest child is still in elementary school so this is a tough one. When he was in Kindergarten, Grandma's house for a week was overnight "camp." Now that he is older we have more options. Again, look at the Boy Scouts of America. They have several camps that were not cheap but nothing near the cost of other camps. We haven't been, and they don't fit our schedule this year. However, I will keep it in mind for next year. We are going to go to church camp. This is again a budget friendly event and many churches offer scholarships if you ask. We will be attending Copperfield Baptist Preteen Camp (http://www.ccpowerkids.org/events ).


• Vacations - Vacations take up a lot of time and money. Last year we did what everybody else did and had a "Stay-cation" which for us looked much like years before. Anyway, this year we have decided to rent a beach house. The up front cost gave me a small heart attack, but then I looked at the entertainment and food and beverage value. Cooking our own meals will definately make it more affordable. Being on the beach will definately help the entertainment budget. To help the cost, we are not getting a beach house directly on the front row, we are getting one that is a row or two behind. You can see the beach but you have to walk to it via a sidewalk between other houses. We haven't booked yet, but we are also looking at townhomes and duplexes on the beach which appear to be more economical as well. I don't recommend waiting this late to book. Being the first of May, the list of available properties is quickly dwindling for the time we want to go in July or early August.

So our calendar has one BIG thing per month: day camp in June, overnight camp in July and a vacation in August. Tomorrow we will discuss "FIELD" trips. Field trips are great ways to break up the week, have fun and to use as motivators. Your kids have to behave to be able to go on the Field trip. More about that tomorrow.