I’ve officially declared this summer, the Summer Of Fun. One reason is that I plan to make my writing super easy, for the most part, this summer. And I want to be intentional, as a family, in having fun together. We only get so many summers (7 more before our oldest is in college) before the kids flying out of the nest. Sunrise, Sunset and so on. . . Hee hee.
So, in answer to the question, “How can I set up a system for writing this summer that isn’t too hard and also encourages me to enjoy this season?”, the answer is to make 2016 the Fritz Family Summer Of Fun.
So, what exactly does this Summer of Fun look like in our house? I’m so glad you asked!
Let me introduce Peanut & Henry. This is a photo of them enjoying the drive from MN to TN. They were great little travelers sitting in their cozy dog bed. They belong to Isaac. Isaac loves this little dogs so much. He’s often updating me on what they are doing. Yesterday, he was sad because one of his siblings moved on to playing something else before Isaac wanted to be done playing with the puppies. I told him that in the afternoon, I would help him with his dog training (that’s what he was playing).
And then I actually did it. I followed through and made Isaac’s day. We sat upstairs in the little area overlooking the entryway and trained our dogs. We learned to not reinforce their bad behavior (being wild and jumping up on us) and to give them lots of positive attention when they were being good. We even taught them how to jump through a little hoop.
The second genius move of last week was this one. Sometimes we invent things out of necessity. This was one of those times. I really wanted to sit and read a book. I also didn’t want to have the kids spend that time sitting in front a computer or television. That’s when I invented the idea of playing “Old-fashioned Cabin”. I told the kids we were playing “Cabin” and that the downstairs family room was the cabin. They could play with their toys and board games or read a book because that is what I picture people doing in their cabins on vacations when they are inside. I added the “old-fashioned” part because I wanted this to be a cabin without TV or internet. Genius move, right? Audrey played with her Barbies, Ethan played against himself in checkers (and won) and I don’t remember what Isaac did. Feel free to steel this idea.
Another way I’m enjoying this Summer Of Fun is by watching the show Lost. It’s on Netflix and I’m several years late to the party, but a blogger I read is hosting a “Show Club” (instead of a book club) and we’re watching three episodes a week and discussing them online. This is not deep and it’s not anything that is going to contribute to my spiritual development, but it’s going to be fun! I’ve watched the first three episodes. If you haven’t watched, or you loved it and want to watch it again, you should do this with me by watching it on Netflix. If I follow the schedule, I’ll finish the first season this summer. Check it out here.
Who is with me? Let’s do this Summer Of Fun together!