Your 2 Cents on Summer

I need your advice. How do you set yourself and your family up for a really great summer? Not crazy. Not lame. Just a good combination of relaxing, memorable, and productive?

To schedule or not to schedule: So. I'm one of those people who educates her children. So when the bell rings (no, we don't actually have a bell in our house) announcing the beginning of summer break I can go a little crazy. I have 6 million projects, ideas, schemes and dreams built in my mind from 9 months of nose-to-the-grindstone schooling. I get dizzy even trying to write them all down. I am starved for creative outlets and time to do something just because I want to. So if I had it my way, I'd probably wake up at dawn and procede to paint a bedroom, refinish a piece of mid-century furniture, write a novel, yoga like a yogi, landscape the front of my house, remember how to pull shots like a barista, and paddle board around the lake-- probably all at the same time. Oh, hold on. Wait a minute. I have four children.

Sometimes I charge into a day like that anyways- everyone has a piece of toast for breakfast, no lunch, no sunscreen, no shoes on their feet, and we are all crying at the end of the day. That, folks, is kind of what I'd like to avoid.

So, give me your ideas. Your things that worked and. Did. Not. Did you make your kids keep up on reading and math? Did you set a schedule you loved? Did you do certain necessary but evil chores on certain days? Did you have a relaxing, memorable experience with (or without) your kids that has stuck with you? Summer is nearly upon us and I want it to be awesome. Don't you?