Summer break is teenage laziness at its finest!

We’re halfway through summer break and I can’t wait for it to be over!  Sure, I have two in-house babysitters for my 3 month old son but what’s the point when they sleep til 2pm, get up to eat, hang with their friends and then go back to “chillin” in their rooms? Actually, let me rephrase and clarify…my middle daughter Ci is a “tween” (10 years old) and she’s pretty good about getting up and helping out, it’s really my “teen” 14 year old Ki that’s driving me insane!

I’m trying to remember what I was doing at age 14…oh I remember – CHORES, then enjoying my Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys books! (Yea, I’m dating myself and I’m still a total nerd– whatever! haha) Some would say its my fault for letting them sleep in that late etc >>enter my mother!    I don’t mind the sleeping in, it’s the lack of motivation to do other things when she does wake up!  It seems to be all about incentivizing these days and lord knows technology isn’t helping, although when the technology gets taken away, I seem to have a leg up on getting things done around the house with help rather than without.

I’ve come up with a couple of solutions for the back half of this summer, including camp.  Truth be told, summer camps can be quite expensive especially considering I’m on maternity leave and good ‘ol Employment Insurance has taken away half my salary (I won’t get started on that rant here).  Our end result is what we can afford– each daughter will enjoy camp for one week in August – Ci in dance at Marquis and Ki in musical theatre at MTYP.  As for the other 3 weeks? Well, I’m a Winnipegger born and raised and there are a lot of inexpensive touristy things to do I still haven’t done in all my years, so I’ll be partaking in as much as possible and bringing the children with me!   After all this is my very first summer break off with my kids, gotta take advantage!   There’s always the trails in our fabulous neighbourhood, numerous parks and maybe even the beach to check out as well.  Regardless, we shall find a way to be a little more productive this month.

Ci, Ki and J at the Forks

Many of the blogs I’ve been reading have great ideas for babies, toddlers and preschoolers but tweens and teens are a different breed altogether!  I would love to hear any ideas you might like to share!