We are just finishing our second week of summer, which means that our summer is officially 33% over now. 6 week summer holidays are wild. Last year summer went on forever, in a very unideal way.
The first week of summer was summer camps and work, kids had a good time and I got in the groove of lowered work expectations (and also took a day trip to London for work)
This week has been a holiday at home week. My brother is visiting from the states, and I've been off work for a week. It hasn't rained much. It's not been too warm either. We've done lots of local adventures and ticked many things off our summer fun list
We visited castles and a beach. We did stand up paddle boarding at the local reservoir. We've been swimming twice and are going again on Sunday. Today we did a family bike adventure
This is the summer of doing stuff and I am very tired. Unfortunately we are not yet at the age of not doing stuff. There is very little "relaxing" that happens. Toddlers need to get out and enjoy the world. Big kids start sniping at each other if they spend too much time at home.
I know the summer of doing stuff is a short lived thing, really. Getting out of the house by 9am because we've been up since 6am is not for the rest of my life. It's just for now. Kids going to bed at 7 and loving simple adventures of train rides and local walks and castle visits is not forever.
We went to a local castle on Sunday, which reopened on Saturday. We went back again on Thursday
"are you here to see the reopened hall?" asked the ticket seller "It only opened on Saturday!"
"yes, we saw it on Sunday" we said "and now we're back"
It's fun going to the same places. It's fun having memberships to local sites so that we can do 20 short visits without worrying about getting our money's worth.
Next week is back to summer camp and two weeks of work before another week of holiday. It feels like I've actually been out of work for a while and it's been fun to be off. However... I'll definitely find work less tiring than this holiday.
Summer is exhausting as a parent. Honestly, every season is exhausting. And those little years require so. much. movement. I remember before we had kids looking at young families and wondering why they were constantly out doing things. Then I had kids and got it!
ReplyDeleteMy current struggle is how late my kids stay up! They sleep in, and have so much energy. Belle is almost 15!! So she has all the energy of an adult, with none of the morning responsibilities. I find it hard to wind down and get to bed at a reasonable time because the kids are still up and about. They're independent and can put themselves to bed, and they're quiet. But still...I hear them getting a drink of water or using the washroom, or puttering around their rooms. It's such a reversal from the many years of being woken up early in the morning and collapsing after they went to bed at like 7 pm. HA! A 7 pm bedtime. I just...cannot even imagine that anymore!
Yay for castle visits! I'm so glad you have some so close and being able to go to those sorts of places for short, frequent visits is the best. I always think of Lisa and how often she goes to the zoo. It takes so much pressure off seeing everything when you know you can go back again and again!
Oh, these busy years are precious and exhausting, right? A membership is always such a good idea. I have a membership to a couple of local museums, and it takes so much of the stress out of visiting. Want to go in for 10 minutes and see your favorite painting? Go for it.
ReplyDeleteHi it’s Daria from momofchildren
ReplyDeleteWe are in vacation in France this month and we ALSO wake up at 6am and out of the house by 9am! Thankfully, the bakeries open early. Everything else seems to open much later- 10 or 11am. I miss the summer of 2022 when we would go to the beach every other day and the kids were small(er)