Remember Saturday morning cartoons, where the Wile E. Coyote would look at the Roadrunner who would mysteriously morph into a chicken leg or perhaps a pot of stew over firey coals? We had that very SAME phenomenon here at our home!
I recently did our summer activities planning and mysteriously enough, both of my children have visually morphed into a dollar sign which is going up in a blaze of glory!!! :-) Goodness gracious! I've heard that "kids are expensive" but man alive, they are EXPENSIVE!
The economy is hitting us hard and we're feelin' the pain of gas prices (anyone else suffering out there?) I drive an SUV and I did a quick calculation, which in hindsight I probably should NOT have done (ignorance really is bliss), and it costs me $16 per day just to drive the kids to/from school. Hence, we've decided to NOT enroll Ruby or Gorby for this year's school summer camp. I would say that I'll probably save at least $100 a week in gas just by NOT driving the 26 mile round trip to/from school. Gorby is still considered a preschooler so he's priced at a whopping $750 a month, and Ruby's fees would be about $600 per month. Oh yeah, not to mention the soft costs of not being with my kids away at camp each day... I wouldn't even SEE them. I really miss my kiddos when they're at school and want 'em home this summer.
I think I'm going to be extra efficient and work M-Th and take Fridays off. We've hired a college-aged babysitter to come to the house from 9-2pm to do crafts with them, play in the backyard, go on field trips, the park, the amusement park, the library, swimming lessons and summer rec classes. I have high hopes and am confident things will be sufficiently balanced.
Tomorrow is the first day of summer registration at our local parks and recreation district. Have you noticed how competitive summer camp and activity registration is? Goodness gracious! People are mapping out the catalog, getting all their contingencies planned and are armed with the exact date and time the online registration opens. It's almost as if folks are camping out waiting for Rush tickets!
Oh.
That's not everyone?
That's just me?
Hmmm.
Interesting.
By now I've scoured the activities guide to make my list (I can hear my Mom chuckling now) of which sessions to enroll the kids.
T-Ball, Soccer, Ballet for Ruby, one-week soccer camp for each of the kids and swimming lessons 3 days/week should keep the kids sufficiently exhausted busy and active all summer long and Frederer's and my checking account fully drained.
I'm armed with our season passes to the local amusement park and am looking forward to the summer reading program at the library. We've identified the free days at the movie theater, SF Zoo, Exploratorium, and Bay Area Discovery Museum.
We're also taking our August summer trip to Colorado to see my family. This annual trek is quite fun and it's great to see family and friends.
Bored kids are the worst. Correction: a bored GORBULAS is the worst. If the
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