End Summer Vacation with a Blast!
How has your summer been? Have you accomplished all the fun things you wanted to? Or has it just gone by in a big blur and you really don’t know what happened? Regardless, it’s not too late to end 
summer with a blast! Even if your kids are back to school (or going soon), you can still enjoy the last month of typically hot summer weather. For many kids, even though summer is shorter and school starting earlier (August 3rd anyone?), many of the sports and other extra-curricular activities haven’t started or at least haven’t reached their zenith of time consumption. That makes August a great month to sneak in a little extra fun in the evenings and on weekends. So, why not go out this year with a bang? Make it an August to remember!
What exactly can you still do? It may be too late for a summer vacation, but I bet there are still some things you’d like to do left on your “bucket list.” Or maybe there is something you have always wanted to do but never found the time or energy to get it together. Have your kids been asking to do anything repeatedly? Make a list of all the potential ideas and then survey your family – let them each pick out one they’d love to do the most. If you have time, schedule them all, if not, write them down, put them in a jar and draw one. Create a plan RIGHT away as to when you will do it. If you can, draw again next week. There are four full weeks in August, so you could potentially still have four fun summer adventures.
Your next question may be how can I squeeze this in? I am busy! I get it – so am I, so you may need to be a bit creative here:
- Could you take a half-day off or even a full day?
- Take advantage of longer nights. Even if you can’t get started on a fun activity until 6:00, you still have until 9:00 with light – plenty of time for a family putt-putt competition and ice cream.
- Don’t forget your weekends. It’s going to be cold soon enough and the deep cleaning can wait until then. Or have the whole family pitch in on cleaning Saturday morning so you can spend all of Saturday afternoon and evening on an adventure.
Need some ideas of what to do? I asked my family and this is what they came up with:
- A hike in a nearby State Park
- A day at the State Fair
- An afternoon at the zoo
- Overnight to a nearby city
- Go to the pool (this is so easy to do from 6:00 – 8:00 pm!!!)
- putt-putt and ice cream
- bowling
- camp out in the backyard
- S’mores over a fire (did you know August 9th is National S’Mores day?)
- have friends or neighbors over for a kickball game
What ideas do you have? Will you commit to doing at least ONE fun thing this month? Share in the comments or on my Facebook page your ideas and let’s cheer each other on!!!
