Top 10 of Summer

A mom blogger I follow does this and sometimes I copy her because it seems fun.  So I asked the kids what their top 10s of our summer were.  They got to six before they got bored of this game.  In fairness, I have probably asked them a dozen times what they're going to talk about at school when they ask "what you did for summer vacation."  The answers vary by what they *think* the answer should be and what they actually liked best (more iPad, video game, television veg time).

So before I dive off into an aside ... here is our top 10 (their top 6) of summer ...


10. Not having school

This one just seems obvious.  But when I asked him what his very favorite thing about summer was ... he said not having school, so I'll list that as #10.  We still mostly stay on schedule; bedtimes and wake-ups.  But they have autonomy in the morning (I did not get up at 6:30 over the summer) and that freedom is coveted.  If mom stays asleep ... well we can still do what we want without her telling us to do chores.

9. Camps

Every year G does golf camp the week after school gets out.  We love the Coach and it's a fun time.  This year he had a friend from school/cub scouts there too.  And the following week I found a camp that would let them both go.  And David really enjoyed being included and he talks a lot about golf and playing with his Dad.

8. Playing video games

This one makes me roll my eyes but I feel I'd be remiss if I didn't include it.  They do love video games.  They want video game parties, they want video games with friends, video games with Dad, video games with Uncle Brian.  They love Lego Star Wars, Lego Jurassic World, Mario, Super Sluggers ... Minecraft.  I still control the scene so there's no talk of Fortnite.  And honestly the hours I heard of our friends playing that had me shaking my head.  Really?  You let them play for hours?  Unsupervised?  We talk constantly about internet safety and chat features and how first person shooters are rated T for Teen (and many are M for Mature, 17+).  It sounds simplistic but when they put the ratings on things to help you parent ... why not use it?  (For perspective, Minecraft is E for everyone on certain settings, and 10+ for others.  We don't have creepers or zombies in ours, though the kids in creative mode have figured out how to spawn those things).

7. Going to the Pool

In June we were at the pool almost every day.  I mean how much explanation does this one need.  Kids love the pool in the summer.

6. Cousins

The past few summers we've had the cousins come stay with us for a few days and the kids love it.

5. The Boat

We only got to use the boat one weekend.  We were supposed to go last weekend but it rained out.  Hoping for Labor Day weekend now.  This was one of my concerns with buying the boat ... what endless amount of free time do we have that we can spend on a boat?  But.  It is great fun.  Big-O is fun.

4. The Lake

In that vein we had a lot of fun at the lake(s) this summer.  Cedar Creek visiting our grandparents and Palestine with friends.  Both Grady and David "stood up" on the board (training skis?) and we caught fish, canoed, swam, jumped, stayed up late, watched fireworks and had marvelous fun.

3. Washington, D.C.

Our trip over the 4th of July with cousins to their last baseball stadiums was a very good time.

2. Houston

My kids love staying in hotels and walking around urban centers and eating out and going to museums.  Who doesn't love vacation?  Not sure why this one ranked above D.C. for them (probably because it's where Dad goes for work all the time?) but it did.

1. Disneyland

The number one for both boys was Disneyland.  Technically this was before school let out but I let it go. (see what I did there?) I could go through why this might be so but it seems fairly obvious that an amusement park would rank high on lists of amusement.




If you go back to my post on our bucket list ... we did everything on the bucket list but our reading list ... oi.  Not good.  We did read.  But we found a library book (Jack Stalwart) that we read instead.  We started reading the next My Weird School.  We finished the second Boxcar book and we started Harry Potter (again) but the rest ... oi.  We did not get to it.  We did read every day.  We just didn't read what I had planned.  Oh well.  Flexibility and all that.

As to summer slide ... we worked on reading and our math facts; practiced our multiplication and division.  Where I probably should have done more (for G) was spelling words.  I told him this yesterday ... we're going to have to buckle down when the first list comes out, because we didn't keep up with that.  David practiced writing his name almost every day (not in July), still won't spell his last name without it in front of him, and knows most (if not all) the first six weeks sight words.  So I feel confident he's okay (last name withstanding).

Julia really only had to be potty trained and she's figured that out.  I don't have silly expectations about these things and don't expect perfection before I call her potty trained.  She's ready for school.



I never look forward to the first day of school.  I'm an anomaly here.  The school year is stressful and busy and requires levels of parenting.  The summer is my domain.  Sending them into someone else's care relinquishes control, turns over their development to a stranger.  I'm a prime candidate for wanting to home school.  But I recognize my need for control as something that could possibly hinder them; and growth opportunities emerge when change is put before us.  More things are taught in school than just subjects.

Though I reserve the right to change my mind if things become unacceptable.