Please share!
We’ve been really fortunate to have already had an incredible summer vacation to South Carolina. But since the Schoolhouse Review Crew is discussing summer staycation ideas, I wanted to share about a wonderful tradition Ben and my Mom had every summer. This will be Ben’s first summer without his Nana (boy, do we miss her!), so I think we will continue this tradition, in her honor.
Every August, Mom would take Ben for 4 days, so that I could have time to work on school planning. She would pick him up on Monday morning and bring him back home on Thursday night.
When Ben got to her house, he was met with a whole list of activities from which to choose for the week. Basically, she just spoiled him for 4 days — he chose where to eat, what movies to see and what other activities to do. And she scrapbooked it all as “Ben and Nana’s Summer Staycation.”
I asked Ben to remind me of some of the things they did, and here is what he remembered:
- Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and play
- Afternoon movies, complete with popcorn
- Lunch at Steak n Shake
- Driving around the city photographing Gallapalooza horses
- The Louisville Zoo
- The Science Center
- Favorite parks for picnics
Mom’s scrapbook always included photos, brochures, movie tickets, and the week’s itinerary. I love that he has those to remember the time with his Nana. Mom always loved photography and was much better at remembering her camera, putting photos in albums and scrapbooking than I will ever be. During Ben’s first year of life, she took more than 1000 pictures of him. Every year, for Christmas, she presented me with a CD of all of the pictures she (and I) had taken of him during the year. She was incredible. I think she was probably trying to make up for the 2.5 pages of me that are in the “family” photo album. What a difference a digital camera makes!
Anyway . . .
I think the key things for her, as far as planning their staycations went, were:
- Having a budget
- Giving him choices for fun activities within the budget
- Eating out a lot 🙂
- Keeping close to home
- Making a scrapbook
Ben doesn’t know that I am going to continue the tradition next month. In fact, he was just saying the other day how sad he was that he would not have “Ben and Nana’s Louisville Staycation” any more. I hope he’s ok with a new tradition, “Ben and Momma’s Louisville Staycation.” Not that it’s the staycation he’s missing, of course.
I guess I better get to planning . . . I have big shoes to fill. Not that I ever could.
Please share!
