planning ahead

We are barely out of winter and already I'm finding myself coordinating activities for the upcoming summer. The flyers are coming in, the parents are talking about the camps they are or have already enrolled their kids in. They already lead such a structured life during the school year that I kind of like to go with the flow attitude of doing whatever whenever for their summer. More of a vacation mode. But some activities they need, gives them something to look forward to and honestly gives me a break from having all 3 kids with me ALL day. As I've found out, activities need to be well chosen. So many of them are lead by youngsters for whom its only a summer job. They can be but overglorified babysitters. And I willl not fall in the pressure of enrolling them in a whole bunch of activities just to get them out of my way.

Already have big sis registered for a week at a sports camp, not a sleepover kind of camp, hubby totally dislikes that idea. She's been going to this camp with a friend for years. She will also do 2 non-consecutive weeks of horsebackriding at a stable nearby. She tried it out with a week last week and totally loved it. Add to that her regular two evenings a week of soccer and that should be enough of structured stuuf.

As for the twins, they are starting soccer this season. Of course, they are in different teams that will be playing on the same evening and at the same time, hopefully in parks that are close by. I'll continue with their weekly gymnastics lessons since they love that so much and may consider putting them in some swimming lessons.

As for the unstructured stuff to do, we'll have the pool, playdates, going to some local beaches, museum visits, library time, craft time around the house, etc. I'm surprisingly less freaked out than I was last spring at the prospect of being with them all the time all summer and what on earth was I going to do with them. Last summer I also "hired" a local teenage girl to come spend some time with them for a few hours here and there so I could catch up on domestic stuff. We'll go day by day and cherish those long lazy days of summer.