Summer Vacation - Week #2 The Pool

Now this is a gem in our community. It is Mountainside Pool. It is a pool run by the City of Burlington. It has a diving board, a two loop water slid, lots of shallow water to play with the kids and a splash pad for the little ones.

It cost us less than $10 to swim. That is for all three of us and we could have stayed all day long. We were there for about three hours. Now that is a lot of swimming

It was a great afternoon. There are chairs to sit on, grass to throw a towel on and more than enough shade if that is your thing. There was even a little snack bar that sold fries, hot dogs, drinks, slushies and freezies. 

I love finding these great gems in our own community. The pool was a 10 minute drive from our house, that is talking door to parking spot. There were lots of life guards on duty. They were friendly and helpful. We will be going back to this pool for sure! A great way to spend a summer afternoon with the kids before heading off to work. The other bonus of this pool, it fits in with my summer on a budget idea. I really don't like spending a lot of money to entertain the kids during the summer and I am always on the look out for budget friendly activities and this is a definite fit!  Great job city of Burlington! 

This is the girls playing with a ball in the  middle of the pool

Summer Vacation! Do You Have a Plan?

Ah great days at the cottage. Ya, those are part of our summer plan. Well, I will admit is really isn't a plan. I actually try not to have a plan per say for the summer. It is actually more of a wish list really. I like to keep the summer months with the kids lose and free. I work nights and so during the school year I don't get to spend very much time with my two girls during the work/school week. When summer comes around we all look forward to just spending time together, no matter what it is that we are doing.

So, there are a few things on our summer wish list. We hope to make it to the beach a couple of days, they kids are hoping to play with friends a lot, they also have a few sleep overs on that list also, and of course there will be a lot of sleeping in!!!

I rarely put the kids in summer camps. I don't like to be over scheduled for the summer. I don't like the idea of having to get up early and rushing off to any particular place. Some of the best summer memories that I have are the days when the girls and I say in our PJ's for most of the day and just hang our together, watching movies or talking. Those are some serious cuddle moments and as the kids get older those are becoming few and far between.

Do you create a plan? Or do you wing it for the summer? I would love to hear what you do with the kids for the summer.

I NEED A VACATION FROM MY VACATION

Has this ever happened to you before? You go on vacation and you come home almost more tired than before you left? That's kinda how I am feeling right now.

The hubby went to San Diego for the Comic-con( you will find more about that at his blog www.ledkillaloves.blogspot.com in a few days) Anyway I digress. So I decided to take the week off from work and head up to the cottage with the girls. My folks headed up too. It was going to be a great week of sun, sand and relaxation. Or rather that was the plan!

Firstly, the sun seemed to take a vacation on my vacation. It made only brief appearances. The rain on the other hand, it made a grand showing. It poured rain for hours and hours on end. And you can only guess what that did for the mood in the cottage, especially when a 4 year old and a 6 year old were cooped up inside for hours and hours on end. There is only so long we could listen to the same songs over and over again as the two little dancers strutted their stuff. And even the two of them could only dance for so long before they started to go after each other. I was a mediator or rather referee more often than I was a member of the audience.

Don't get me wrong there were some good points. I did get to read a pretty good Nora Roberts book called Brazen Virtue. It was a fast read. I also got a chance to remember why I love Vanity Fair magazine once again. It seems the only time I get to really read the magazine is at the cottage. They are always old issues, like 2 years old but they are just as good as they ever were. I get up to the cottage and almost read each issue from cover to cover. This cottage visit I read an article on Katherine Heigl, Pitcairn Islands where the mutineers from the Bounty settled, a tragic piece about a couple called the East Village Suicides, just to name a few. It was a great week for reading. The weather sucked but the reading was good. I was feeding my brain after a long, long literary diet. It has been so long since I have been able to savour some good writing, or any writing for that matter. I feel much better for the chance to get some reading done, I needed the brain nourishment. My brain was starting to die of starvation, so too was my imagination I think.

The reading aside, I must admit the kids were actually starting to drive me a bit insane. They were at each others throats almost all week. The fighting, quarrelling, squabbling, whatever you want to call it, was nearly more than I could take. And by the time we go home today I was ready to lock myself in the bathroom, screaming! The fighting continued and my oldest daughter was more than a little bit emotional. I think we all need a vacation from the vacation.

Tonight at bedtime, in the quiet of their bedroom, my oldest daughter said to her sister and me, "Isn't it so good to be home?!" She must have said it 4 or 5 times in the minutes as she drifted off to sleep. What does that say? To me that says it all.

GET READY DISNEY, HERE WE COME! AGAIN!

So we are hooked. On Disney that is.




Growing up my parents took our family, all 5 kids, to Florida every few years. A lot of those vacations included a day trip to Disney. It was a challenge I am sure for my parents to save up the money on one income to take 2 adults and 5 kids to the most Magical place on earth for kids. Now that I have children of my own, I wanted to make sure they got to experience the joy and magic of Disney. We went for the first time last year. There were 9 of us. We stayed at Disney, at the All Star Sport, a value resort. It was great value for the money and perfect for anyone with kids. The rooms were good, not huge but enough room. We had 3 rooms in total, two of them were adjoining. The pool was warm and the food was tasty, with a perfect choice for everyone in the family, even my Dad who has to eat gluten free. We were the perfect group, my parents ( now grandparents), my sister, my niece and nephew, my husband and our two children.



It was as magical as I had hoped for my kids. They were awe struck the entire two days at the park. It was so much fun we are going back again this holiday season. This year there will be 10 of us in all. This time we are going to stay 3 nights, 4 days.



I have to say I have learned a lot from our last Grand Gathering visit. This time I have done a lot more research, asked more questions and searched on the Internet more. I must admit advice, tips and tricks from other mothers has really paid off. The main Disney site was helpful, including the live chat option where you can chat live on line with a Disney agent, and a site I recently discovered that is all this Disney, unofficially that is. It's call AllEars.net . There is also fellow Mommy and twitter friend Resourceful Mommy, she has a Disney section on her blog.

This year we are putting a plan together, what park to go to first, what rides to go to, etc, in an effect to make it the most fun it can be. We want to get the most we can out of our trip.

The kids can hardly wait. I can hardly wait. There is too much excitement and we are still months away.

What's your favourite ride, story or memory of Disney? Would love to hear your tips, tricks or advice about going to Disney.