Planning for Summer Fun

Hard to imagine, as I look out on the chilly rain and trees still devoid of leaves, but it’s time to start planning for the summer. A friend and I were chatting the other day, and the debate was how much to “schedule” the summer with our twin toddlers.

My knee-jerk reaction was “oh, no, I don’t want to sign up for too many things.  It’s summer! We’ll be out of town too much!”  Um, hi.  That was my old life.  I’m sure there will probably be a 2-ish week trip to Chicago.  Maybe a trip with friends?  But the honest truth is that, most of the summer, we’ll be right here at home.  M still has to work, and we don’t have a lot of fabulously wealthy friends with summer mansions on the Cape.

And while I like the idea of having the freedom to go here or there and spend lots of unscheduled time in the sunshine and fresh air, the reality is that I think we still need some structured activities.  But what?

At the moment, we’re in Music Together and gymnastics at The Little Gym.  We love them both.  But do we keep them over the summer, or take a break?  Neither is cheap, of course.  Gymnastics is pretty pricey, and I think Music Together only seems significantly better because it’s a shorter session. But the kids have a great time and seem to be learning a lot in both of those classes.  That said, this isn’t the dead of winter when the classes are practically the only way we can get out of the house.  We have our nice big backyard and playgrounds at our disposal, for free.  Beaches, not free but not too bad.  And an aquarium membership (not free, but already paid for).

What about the other SAHMs out there?  Have you started planning yet? How is your summer shaping up?  Moms of slightly older kids, what did you find was a good balance for the 2-year-old set in the summer?