Things I want to do this summer...by (Angela) Jean

Last summer we were spoiled.

I was still on maternity leave, and since my husband is a high-school teacher, he was home too. We had 9 weeks of summer together with the kids before I returned to work in September. Glorious. We had the luxury of being able to get lots of work done on the house and in the garden without feeling like we were missing out on 'fun time' or 'family time'. We didn't need to do a lot of holiday planning in advance. We could plan outings spur-of-the-moment, if we wanted to. Like I said, spoiled!

This summer will be a different story. I am working full time, and my husband has taken an unpaid leave of absence to stay home with the kids. He has regular gigs on the weekends, and picks up extras when they are thrown his way. I have booked a few weeks of vacation spread out over the summer months, but if I want to fit in all of my plans we are going to need to be strategic.

As I may have mentioned before. I love making lists. A lot. This is my summer wish list.

I think I need some categories. 1) Around the house 2) Around the garden 3) Family stuff

Around the house 

1. Switch the kids' rooms. For a combination of reasons, the kid with the bigger bed, more furniture, more clothes, and generally more stuff, ended up in the smaller room with the smaller closet. I really enjoy a good room switch-a-roo so I'm pretty excited about this. This plan includes sewing new curtains for both rooms, sewing Otis a big-boy quilt for his big-boy bed and possibly some painting.

Around the garden

1. Plant a fantastic veggie garden. I have started some of my crop from seed this year so I'm off to a good start already. I promise to post more details about the garden soon.
2. Fix the fence. This is not sexy, or fun in any way, but it needs to be done. I hate those kind of projects.
3. Do 'something' with the area around the large tree in our front garden. I don't have a clear plan for what this might be, but I have put a call in to my Dad landscaping consultant and I am hoping he can come up with something brilliant.

Family/Fun Stuff

1. Big. Birthday. Party. Both of my kids and my husband have summer birthdays so we usually do one giant backyard party. I love having everybody here and doing it up right. This is one of my favourite events of the summer.
2. Get a family membership pass to either the Halton Region Conservation Parks or Provincial Parks. 
3. Take the kids to their first Jays Game.
4. Day trip to Centre Island. We had a great time there last year and I'm excited to go again.
5. Annual trip to Grand Bend to hang out with the Goossens Clan.

 I'm sure that other things will pop up, but those are my "must-do's". What are your plans for the summer?