Summer Time!!

The weather has turned for the better, so it's time for us to start thinking about our summer plans. Obviously we aren't going on a huge expensive vacation, we plan on maybe a couple of smaller things closer to home, but still trying to keep things a bit exciting for the kiddos. Here's just a tiny list of what we hope to do this summer:

1. Memorial Day Parade
Nathan and Matt will be marching in the Wayland Memorial Day Parade with Scouts. It should be pretty fun! We always go and cheer them on from the sidewalk. If Lauren can hold it together, we might be able to picnic in the park afterwards? Or maybe we'll end up at Grandma's house at the lake for some swimming? Either way, it's going to be a fun day!

2. Family Game Night
We're hosting a family game night in June for some of our friends. We'll have a potluck, plenty of things for the kids to do and play lots of board games and stuff that we already have on hand.

3. Family Cookout at Camp
Matt works for the YMCA camp where Nathan goes all summer, and one night a week they do a parent show and a cookout. We go every single week! It's a night we don't have to cook dinner and the kids get to play outside as well. Nathan ends up spending the night that night and it's always a fun time for him.

4. Michigan Adventure
It's a smaller scale amusement park not terribly far from our house. They have a couple of days where we can go on the cheap (through SavingsAngel and Scouts), so we're going to have to pick a day and go for it. They have a huge waterpark there, so that's perfect for the kids, who absolutely adore being in the water.

5. Family Picnics!
Oh my word, can I even start to figure out how many of these we'll be going to? Family reunions, informal gatherings, birthday parties, etc. It seems like we have one at least every other weekend! It's so fun though to see the kids play with their extended family and have that time together. We have a mesh bag that we keep plastic plates, cups, and silverware in so that we can just toss it in the car and head out. I hit a great sale the other day at Meijer and loaded up on things like pasta salad so that we can just throw one together for the last minute stuff.

6. Vacation Bible School
I am volunteering at our vacation bible school this year since it's at night, and my intention is to take Lauren and Nick with me. I am going to be ushering around kindergarten kids, so my kids will blend right on in there. They'll have so much fun, I just know it. I love that our VBS is at night this year because I'll actually be able to get involved and see the program.

7. The Park
We have 2 very nice parks by our house. One is walking distance, less than 10 minutes away and it's pretty quiet there. The kids love to play there! It's a great way to end our day. Last night I braved it and took all 3 kids to the little park a bit farther away that is right on Gun Lake. They just played on the equipment there, but we are going to test it out and see how it goes if just one adult goes with them and we attempt swimming. The water is very shallow all the way out to the swimming line, so it should be a pretty reasonable thing to try and pull off. There is no charge for the park Monday-Thursday, and $5 if you go on the weekends. We wouldn't go on the weekend anyways since it's just crazy busy with out of towners.

8. Misc Other Things...
Though we don't have everything precisely nailed down yet, we know that there will be some camping coming up, an overnighter at the Whitecaps, and some scouting events. Just a little planning ahead on these things really do help keep the costs low and the day fun!