Canadian
Romance, Eh?
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Post by: Kali Willows
Gearing Up For Summer Plans On Canadian Soil
So here, in the land of weather you can get sunburn
one day and frost bite the next, summer is finally almost upon us with occasional bouts of excessive heat, then bone chilling cold. Just weeks
before the minions are free of school for another year and the last minute
panic of “what do we plan to keep them occupied?”
I’m a traditional parent in many senses of the
phrase, but summer planning is a double edge sword for me. We live in the rural
countryside, complete with open space, lots of green land and mosquitoes big
enough to carry small children away. Our family canoes, camps and hikes, so
what traditional summer plans can we make that aren't readily accessible in our
own back yard? We have BBQ’s and bond fires on a weekly basis. We bathe in sun
screen and bug spray several times a day. We run the hose over the trampoline
to make a hot day really fun, or watch movies to avoid scathing heat.
Last year, I bit the bullet and took the reins
for a scheduled summer filled with swimming lessons, day camp, a week of
overnight camp and the usual summer fun stuff. We invest in Badminton and
soccer for the yard, water guns are a must and who doesn't love a good Smores by
the fireside? Feeling like supermom last summer, I was quite pleased with myself
to have them booked up and busy with the exception of the first and last week
of summer to allow some breathing time for transition to and from school.
To my horror, my children who bore easily in
the lack of planning, were overwhelmed and didn’t want to do half the things we
planned. When is a good thing too much? This year, I’ve settled down and will
pursue more swimming lessons and maybe a little sporadic day camp, but short of
travelling to the big city and blowing wads of cash on trips to Marine Land,
Niagara Falls, museums and the Science Centre, what else is a parent to do?
I’d love to hear about your Canadian summer
plans. Where will you go? What will you do? How do you manage to find a happy
balance in entertaining your kids for two months out of school?
Reply for your chance to win an eBook copy of
any of my books~! The winner will be announced her after June 20th
and I will arrange to send your selected prize to you!
Have a great summer and happy reading!
Canadian living, at its best.
I do love our Canadian Summers. I have found Conservation Areas are great fun with little money required. You sound like you are not too far from where I live in Hamilton. We have Christie Conservation Area here and the walks and inline skating around the Coote's Paradise is great fun. For a small admission there is the Royal Botanical Gardens...there is a wonderful boardwalk through nature where birds will feed right out of your hands. Venturing a bit further west there is Elora with the Elora Gorge which is wonderful for walking/hiking and even tubing. A bit closer to home is Guelph Lake conservation Area with swimming and you can canoe. Gosh so many places...If you want a bit of indoor I'd recommend some of the plays at the Drayton Playhouse or Port Dover Light House ....Cambridge has the new Dunfield Theatre...and I think a lot of these have children oriented shows. For a more settled morning a lot of the public libraries have story book reads or even movies. I know here in the Hamilton Area...the Dundas conservation area has outdoor movies at night that are free and loads of fun.
ReplyDeleteHope some of these ideas help keep the kidlets entertained...hey they might even learn something *gasp* *grin*
Those sound like fantastic outings! Although I'm about 6 hrs east of there, it's definitely something to keep in mind for future road trips!
DeleteHave an awesome summer :-)
My kids always love to go to a different location and have a picnic. Easy and fun. We live on the shore of Lake Ontario so we went inland to conservation parks. with water guns, and books. Believe it or not, my kids loved curling up under a tree with a book that took them to another place. Have fun..
ReplyDeleteThat sounds wonderful Karen. Living on the shore is such a delight :-) my favourite go to play is The Scarborough Bluffs, which I finally stopped by last week after years. Too bad I got rained out ;-)
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