Weekly Wrap Up

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Sweat drips, flies buzz, time seems to stand still. The chicken egg I accidentally dropped on the sidewalk is literally cooking in the sun. Here in Florence texas it is not unusual to have hot summers. Triple digit days are common for mid summer, except we have already had a month of triple digit weather. With no rain in sight, we have no relief in view for a while.

So what do you do with yourself, your sanity, and your kid's energy when it is 104 outside still at seven o clock at night?

Splash pads, waterparks, pools, or sprinkler parks are the way to go. Thankfully people around here got smart and started adding water features to a lot of the local parks. Most of the sprinkler parks are free or at least low cost so we can afford to go. In fact there is a new one that we are going to try to hit this week. It costs a dollar to get in.

 It is not realistic for us to get out every day. We live too far outside of town to make it affordable for one thing. Also, I have a three year old and a six month old that really have to stick to nap schedules. We might be able to skip nap time one day, but the next day would be impossible without naps.

On the days we are stuck here and it is too hot to play outside we have to get more creative. Here are a few ideas: We play ball in the hall with brooms. Of course we have certain rules applied so we don't kill anyone or break anything, but it is pretty fun! Sometimes we play basketball with socks and a small trashcan. (or you can play fold and throw in laundry basket and get two things done at once) Bubbles in the bath tub. I am out of bubbles and need to get more. This is a great time filler. You only need a few things for the times when the fighting starts or they start to get restless. In our house there are naptimes (or rest time for those that don't nap any more) plus meals and snacks and maybe a movie in the heat of the day.

I am finding if I have a few fun things to do that are different then we can make it through the rest of the day. If you have one day a week where you go to a sprinkler park or a bounce house, and one day you run and do shopping, then you only have a few days where you need to come up with extra projects. Don't forget you can enlist your kids help with your daily chores too and most of the time they enjoy it.

A few more fun ideas for days you can't get outside: make indoor tents, have a tea party and let them help you make cookies for the party, hide and seek indoors, and even make up a treasure hunt. You can google and find more great ideas. The trick is to have your list of options available ( I now have a list on Cozi, which is a free app for Iphones ) so when the summer time blues hit you can whip out your list and come up with something fun!