School’s Out For Summer

[00:00:00] Kellie: Hey guys, this is Kellie from Kentucky SPIN. So school is out or about to be out, and I know that many of you are probably thinking, what are you going to do with your time now that it’s not going to be wrapped up in NTI packets or zoom meetings? And so I had some ideas that I wanted to share with you.

These are things that I’m thinking about doing with my family this summer. The first one would be to make the yardzee game. So instead of Yahtzee, you have the big dice, if you don’t have access to wood and a saw, you can buy the big rubber die at dollar tree. I think you get four, or six for like a dollar and you can print or, buy the Yahtzee score sheets. And I think that’s a great way to spend time together outside, to take the games that you’re playing inside, outside. To [00:01:00] get out, soak up some of that Vitamin D. Have a great time, enjoy this nice weather, that hopefully will be here to stay soon. I also am thinking of ways to create a backyard obstacle course.

My granddaughter is only two, but there’s still lots of things she loves to do. She loves to crawl through tunnels. She loves, to dig around in the dirt, play with toy cars, build a race track. There are all kinds of things you can do, but, so my advice to you in trying to figure out what you’re going to do this summer is to figure out a way to do the things that you do indoors already.

Maybe that’s  a family movie night. Maybe you do that outside. Maybe you play games outside, or like I said, play with toy cars. It could be as simple as going for a walk every evening, but I encourage you to get outside every day, do something, soak up the Vitamin D, and just really [00:02:00] try to have a good time.

The past few months have been very, very stressful for us all, dults and kids alike. And I think this is really just a time to just unwind. Just let it go. We’re not going to be bombarded with activities that have to be done or places that we would normally go, so just enjoy it. If you have trouble finding something to do or thinking of something to do, maybe you’re not really creative, like I’m not, I have to count on other people’s ideas. Go to Pinterest, go to YouTube, look these things up. Or maybe even talk to your parents or your grandparents, you know, your kids’ grandparents about what they did when they were kids. What did they do all summer? You know, when they weren’t, when they weren’t busy with other things, how did they spend their time? I think that’s going to be really critical for us. I think we need to be able [00:03:00] to kind of ground ourselves in maybe some old-time ways. So that’s what I have to leave you with today. I hope you’re all doing well. I hope that you’re excited for summer.

I hope you’re as excited as I am for summer and I will talk to you soon. Bye.

Michaela: [00:03:20] Hey all, it’s Michaela Evans with Kentucky SPIN and I just wanted to take a minute to tell you how excited I am that school is out for summer. I cannot believe it. I have been counting down the days. I am so excited ask my son, I was literally singing the rock song “school’s out for summer” and he’s like, mom, where are you so excited? I said, because this is bigger day for me than it is for you, kiddo. He doesn’t realize that I am so tired of dragging his butt to the computer every day. I am so tired of having to fight to get him to do the schoolwork.

And praise Jesus y’all, the summer break is here. I’m so excited. So, eventually we’ll get back into summer routine and start doing some things and work on some [00:04:00] daily living skills. Right now, you know what this mom was going to do? I’m going to take a break, because I need it, and I think our whole house deserves it. So if you guys are there with me and you just need a break and you’re going to drop the routine for a week or two, go you, I hope you do.

And if you guys can pick right back up and go on with summer routine and keep everything on board. More power to you mama, keep on. Because that’s awesome. But I’m not in that place right now and I just wanted to let you know, it’s okay if you’re not too. Eventually what summer will look like for us is we’ll probably throw in a couple more game nights.

We’re going to play some catch in the yard. So lots of fun stuff. You know, those late night runs for ice cream. Caleb’s already been asking for Dairy Queen. But for right now, I’m going to take a breath and I’m going to breathe, and so I’m just really excited that school’s out and I hope you guys are too.