Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Do anything special the last week of summer

Do you do anything special the last week of summer vacation right before school starts?

We don't have any traditions, except making sure clothes and supplies are ready. Knowing our time is limited makes me want to do a bit more with kids. We plan to go to the beach, which is always relaxing and fun. I love to build sand castles.

We also need to start getting up earlier. Ugh. I think it's the hardest for me.

Our tradition is to go to the indoor waterpark the weekend before school. They usually have an awesome deal that includes 2 days of waterpark and a night in the hotel. The kids love it. Also, the first day of school, the kids get to pick what we have for dinner.

This week (DD7 starts second grade on Wednesday and DD5 starts kinder a week from tomorrow), we will start waking up earlier and retrn to school bedtimes.

We just spend it preparing normally because the kids have a busy summer all the way up to that point ( their summer ends here first week of august though )

The indoor water park for a day or so sounds like a great tradition!

When I was a kid, we always made homemade ice cream in our backyard.

We had an old, hand-cranked ice cream maker and the top always wanted to pop off so my brother and I would take turns sitting on it while dad cranked away. It was a fun way to stay cool...since September in California is still very hot.

I miss that ice cream.

We have birthdays that week... DD and DS are only 5 days apart. Between parties, presents, school supplies and registration for activities, we have no money left to do anything 'fun'. We always try to have a beach day right before school, but with all the recent great white shark sightings in our area we may stick to the grandparents pool!