Equal parts.
I think I am just as excited as the kids for the last day of school. I have no idea how parents who have been working from home this whole time have also managed the whole homeschooling side. You rock by the way. Truly amazing people because I have no idea how you have time to do everything. I spend a good chunk of the day answering questions, writing schedules down, reminding them about the schedules, fixing technology, fighting with them to do their work and re-learning grade 5 math. I gave up on grade 7 math. I have accepted that geometry and I are not compatible. Or at least not the “new geometry”. There are not enough hours in a day.
Although I am really pumped to see the backside of online learning, I have a new challenge coming my way. What am I going to do to keep these kids busy all summer, for 2 whole months, that costs nothing, is local and keeps us healthy?
Bow and arrow he carved out of branches. 
Elastic gun he carved. Note to self: take the pocket knife away. 
16.3kms for this particular death march.
Usually I can come up with some creative activities to keep us busy but I am starting running out of ideas. The death marches I have been taking them on, while building incredible stamina and calluses, are getting a little old. Backyard badminton has, unfortunately, resulted in some very tense and awkward quiet times between certain family members. And even though the home bartending school that I have been putting the Monkey through is going to pay off later, he is not demonstrating the same enthusiasm that I have for it.
Since I am not working at the moment, I am trying to capitalize on the time I have with the kids. The Peanut is almost a teen and the Monkey is hot on her heels. What that means is “hanging out” with mom is going to be more like a chore than a desire very soon. I will no longer be “cool”. Ok, cool is a strong word. Tolerable is probably more accurate. None the less, the clock is ticking.
So, I decided I would ask the kids to put together a list of things they would like to do this summer. I gave the the “affordable and local” speech to them beforehand. I also reminded them that I am a touch older (read: out of shape) than they are to ensure we had some level of reality with the list. This is what they came up with.
The Peanut delivered the list to me explaining that they added walking because I like doing that. But, they prefer hiking. I asked them what the difference was and they explained that hiking was a slower pace and in the mountains. “You know mom, fun walking. A walk that doesn’t hurt.” If they were my age, they would know that mountain hiking hurts some of us more than mere jaunts through the city.
They went on to say that they tried to make the list equal parts of fun for the family. In other words, everyone has something they like to do on the list. The hubby got biking, I got walking and they got the rest. Equal only in a kid’s eye. At least I will get some downtime with Lego building and drawing days.
The drink this week, the Negroni, is actually made up of equal parts. And I suspect I am going to need that drink before the big Nerf War of 2020. Enjoy!