Looking Forward to Summer

San Francisco’s Rec and Park summer camp registration opened this past Saturday at 10am. All over the city, eager parents sat at their computers, waiting for the “Add to Cart” button to appear next to their desired camps on their Wist List pages.

I got my daughter into most of the camps we wanted. I didn’t get anything for the very first week of her break, the four-day week after Memorial Day. I’m waitlisted for two camps during that week but doubt I’ll get either (I’m far down on both lists). A few other friends are in the same boat; we may try to pool resources to find coverage four our kids together that week. Ah the joys of being a WOHparent in the summer.

Of course I don’t have to work outside the home in the summers, so I really only need four weeks of child care, for the three weeks in June and one week in August when my daughter doesn’t have school but I do. I’m very grateful that I don’t have to find camps for every single week of the summer.

My daughter will be in five weeks of camp this summer. She’s doing two weeks of a fun outdoor camp that she really liked last year, then two weeks of an arts and theater camp, and a final week, in August, of rock climbing.

I have four days in the beginning of June I need to get covered and three days in the middle of August (when my staff days start but my daughter is not yet in school–her district pushed back its start date by a week but they did it so late that the summer camps didn’t plan for that week). That week in August my son’s daycare is also off, so I’ll just have to find someone to watch them together for the three days (my in-laws won’t take our kids together–they say it’s too intense–and my mom will also be back at school so I have to figure these three days out).

My daughter is not going to camp at all in July. The first 10 days I’m in Ecuador, and the kids will be split between my husband and his parents (first half) and my parents (second half). My cousin’s daughter–she’ll be a Freshman in high school next year–is coming while my parents have the kids to help them out. My uncle will be accompanying her.

I come home from Ecuador late on the 10th and early on the 15th we leave for 10 days in St. Louis where we visit my aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins’ kids. This is where we stay at my uncle’s farm with the massive private quarry lake. It’s a ton of fun and I’m really excited for the trip. Two new cousins were born at the end of last summer so I’m excited for my kids to meet and play with the one-year-olds. My one cousin has a girl and boy almost exactly the ages of my daughter and son and in the past they’ve gotten along really well. I always love visiting St. Louis with my kids.

We also have a long weekend trip to San Diego planned for August. My husband’s friend has a “casita” (converted garage) behind their house that we can stay in and generally our kids play with their kids at the beach for a few days. We only go every other year (we don’t want to take advantage of their hospitality) so it will be fun to see them again. I also love the beach and up here the water is way to cold to swim, so I’m looking forward to some boogie boarding and just playing in the waves.

There are about three weeks when we’ll be home and I don’t have my daughter signed up for camp. That should be interesting. I wonder what we’ll do. I guess I’ll figure it out.

All in all I’m really looking forward this summer, and I’m relieved to have most of the big trips planned and camps secured. I’ve even purchased all our flights! We had put in for Camp Mather, a very popular family camp that is owned by the city and runs a lottery to award week-long cabin reservations every summer. My in-laws wanted to take us, and we’ve been waiting two months to see if we won a spot. Unfortunately we are 618 on a waiting list of 848 so I don’t think we’re going. It’s probably for the best though, as we have a lot going on; mostly I’m just relieved that we have a definitive answer.

Oh, and my daughter’s birthday is in early June. We just finalized plans to take five of her friends to the local amusement park. I’m so excited! I don’t love throwing parties and the idea of putting on another two hour affair at the local playground was totally depressing me. She actually came up with the idea herself and I immediately jumped on board. Because we’re season ticket holders we can buy discounted tickets, which makes it more affordable. Mostly I’m just excited that she’ll be doing something she loves with her closest friends. Yay!

I can’t believe how few weeks are left of the school year. I’m realizing I have to truncate some units I was planning to teach because I won’t have enough time. We haven’t even had spring break and yet students are asking me how many weeks are left almost daily. It’s probably the sudden warm weather and lighter evenings that are tricking us all into thinking summer is just around the corner. And in a way it is, but in the day to day, week to week reality, it’s not. There is still a lot of time between now and the beginning of summer. I gotta keep my head in the game.

But first I have to renew my passport! Eek, so excited for that trip!

What do you have planned for this summer?

7 Comments

  1. First things first – how awesome are those camps! I am sure your daughter will have a splendid time!
    My problem with some camps here are that 1 kid can attend b/c she fits the age while the other cannot…so makes it hard to find the right one. Another problem, the expense! Just sending them 3 days out of the week to dance/gymnastics camp…$135 each a week. Yikes.
    Hooray to finalizing birthday party plans. I have a birthday party this weekend for my daughter & it’s stressing me out. What was I thinking?!
    your summer plans so amazing. Can’t wait either!

  2. Sounds amazing!

    I’m spending July in Madrid with the kids. I’ll enroll them in camp there — there’s one at the zoo that sounds like fun.

    In August, I’ll sign them up for a couple of local day camps. Probably indoor rock climbing camp which is near the house and they’re big fans of.

  3. So what am I doing this summer? Right now I’m just crossing fingers and hoping it will be a spot in my other child’s daycare for my older daughter – – something I thought was guaranteed based on the kids I’ve seen there during the summer and I learned it’s not.

    I have a major work event starting in September that I’m preparing for and I just cannot afford to take any time off this summer–I’m already taking two weeks right now for spring break.

    I’m still not ready to put my 37 pound six-year-old in a camp by herself. There’s local parks and rec stuff but it’s just kind meh and there will be a lot of older kids. There is one theater camp but it’s like a 40 minute drive each way which probably doesn’t sound like much when you live in San Francisco but for us it would be a deal killer. And our ballet studio has a little mini camps but of course they only go from like 930 in the morning till noon – – gee thanks for catering to only families with a stay at home parent. I know will have to do the camps next summer but at least then I’ll have the two of them together.

    Sounds like you have a great plan for your summer – – yikes about the school district changing the calendar at the last minute. I miss the days when I was in school and we all started the day after Labor Day we all had three months for summer etc. Now even the local districts around here are all on different calendars.

  4. Very impressed that you already have all your summer all figured out and booked! I work from home pt and have a sitter my daughter goes to as needed so that is the plan for covering my work time for the summer.

    As far as fun stuff – haven’t gotten that far, my husband’s family has their big group vacation/get together in the summer and I tried to steer the location in a more fun location this summer but looks like everyone will be coming back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house (the other families live 12 hours out of state in different directions, we live an hour away from my in-laws. So not very interesting for us but on the upside at least I can stay home for part of the time and just run over here and there.)

  5. I also dislike throwing parties. I find having people over, even for a simple meal that requires minimal preparation, is more stressful for me than it is for others. I never know how much food to buy, where to put the chairs, when to serve the cake, etc. And it’s not like I’m baking a cake from scratch and making a half dozen side salads. My son’s birthday was bagels, cream cheese, lox, fruit salad, and vegetable slices. I can usually pull it off just fine, but it always feels hard. And I feel like there is pressure to love it and be creative and make a quinoa salad.

  6. My goodness, I’m looking forward to hearing all about your summer as it plays out!

    We’ve booked up our summer as well, and I feel good knowing what the summer calendar looks like. I’m pretty excited for nicer days!!!!

  7. I am just trying to get through the next three weeks of school before spring break! As for summer I will be in my third trimester of pregnancy chasing after 3 year old twin boys, frozen embryo transfer in December worked!

    I do not put them in any camps or send them to a sitter but my mom will help me so I can get maternity plans written for my leave in September. I live in the St Louis area so we have a lot of free attractions, I try to do one trip a week for my boys with a friend and her older kids. Hoping we have a mild summer!

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