We’re all going on a summer holiday…

I can’t believe it’s really nearly here. I’ve been looking forward to it with a mixture of relief, excitement and dread and now I only have one more day to go.

The summer holidays. (DUM DUM DUUUUM!)

What fun stuff has everyone got planned? Holidays? Outings? Adoption?

This summer is going to be different from most for me. It will be the first summer where I have been officially working for myself and it’s a fantastic relief not to have to worry about holiday clubs, childcare or missing out on any fun.

But that’s the problem in itself. No childcare. ‘Excellent!’ I thought to myself, ‘I will wind down to the holidays, keep work to a minimum and enjoy lots of Quality Time with the girls’. But now I’m starting to get a tad panicky. Winding down is all very well, but I do still actually have some work to do, and you know how these things happen – the minute you actively DON’T want to get offered anything, you can guarantee something will land in your lap.

So the no childcare thing suddenly seems just a little bit foolhardy. Don’t get me wrong, I love my children, they are fabulous, but six weeks of non-stop seven-year old may just tip me over the edge.

To try and reduce the risk of home/child induced insanity, I have planned a full and varied programme of activities for the coming weeks. I have a special corkboard with a calendar in the middle and around the edge I have all kinds of interesting looking outings pinned, which I have cut out from magazines and newspapers. (Read – GEEK).

It is going to cost me a fortune in crap cafe coffee and overpriced novelty stationery from countless gift shops, but it will be worth it. And yes I am aware that you can apparently have just as much fun at home, making and baking, and all very cheaply, but seriously, making models out of old dairylea boxes and eating home-made high-fibre muffins for lunch really just isn’t my scene.

The difficulty lies of course in finding activities that appeal to both a seven-year old and an almost 15-year-old. They both like Burger King, but that isn’t really a six-week plan.

I have actually been very impressed with just how amenable Bee has been, and by her focussed negotiation skills – “I’ll do zoos, that’s fine,” she told me, eyeing the corkboard suspiciously.

“How about Dunster Castle?”

“No, absolutely not.”

“What about the Glastonbury Children’s Festival?”

“Really?” she sighs, “but that’s for kids!”

“OK, how about this nature trail?” I ask, the picture of innocence.

“NO!” She looks visibly horrified. “Alright, I’ll do the kids festival and dry slope skiing, so long as I definitely don’t have to do any form of outdoor crafts.”

“Done.”

Excellent.

So that just leaves me tomorrow to finish up some outstanding bits of work and brace myself for a six-week rollercoaster of fun! (Positive Mental Attitude).

Hoorah!

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13 Comments

  1. 22 July, 2010 / 10:39 am

    God i’m so with you on this one. This has been my first week of summer holidays too, and i had a post ready to go all about the fear that has overtaken me this week! My boys are 4 and 1 1/2 and i am also struggling to find things they can both do, i really feel for y ou with your age gap. I’m crap when i’m at home – too much tv, don’t do craft and baking etc. So i have to get out. But there’s only so many days at the same park one can do.

    M2M

    • 25 July, 2010 / 10:29 am

      And who wants to spend time in parks anyway?? So boring.

      Not off to a good start this morning quality time wise. I stayed in bed reading and Belle went off downstairs to watch TV and eat mini cheddars…

  2. 22 July, 2010 / 11:20 am

    Good luck and hope it’s a great one with tons of sun and not too many Burger King over doses!

    • 25 July, 2010 / 10:30 am

      *Looks outside at the grey clouds*

      Hmm… fingers crossed!

  3. Lauren
    22 July, 2010 / 11:33 am

    Six weeks? SIX WEEKS? Jeez. I would be breaking out in a cold sweat (and breaking open the gin) around about now. Why do they release them into the wild for so long??

    Why don’t the three of you have a challenge… see who can write a novel first? Hope you have a fun time anyway with not too many squabbles! You’re welcome to come over to Oxfordshire for a few days if you’re looking for stuff to do!

    Lx

    • 25 July, 2010 / 10:31 am

      We’re lucky we’re in the UK, they have even longer in other places! It’s just TOO DAMN LONG though I reckon.

      I will suggest the novel idea, but I’m not sure it would go down well. Plus then I’d have the added humiliation of one of them writing one before me while I wasted all my time pissing about on the internet…

  4. 22 July, 2010 / 12:21 pm

    I see this, not as a six week survival course, but more an opportunity to uncover countless blog posts. I for one, look forward to the tales.

    • 25 July, 2010 / 10:33 am

      I iwll make sure I carry a camera and notepad with me at all times so I can capture my children’s witticisms and pictures of me falling off skis.

  5. 23 July, 2010 / 11:23 am

    good luck and hope you all have a thoroughly wonderful summer, and if the going gets tough you’ve always got burger king for a bit of respite…

    • 25 July, 2010 / 10:34 am

      I have become rather fond of KFC strawberry shortcake milkshakes, so I always have that to fall back on.

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