What made me think about a Staycation is the cost of fuel. Prices are getting so high that many have to stay home. I love having a vacation at home, but sadly, this summer is already getting crazy busy with plans and travel. I have company through out the summer, a trip up north (to the Northwest Territories) to see family and friends, a trip down south for a family reunion, camping, and then my sister is coming home from Kenya Africa for a visit – so I will be spending as much time with her as I can. When it gets this busy, I honestly shake my head as to why I bothered planting a garden or flowers…. I won’t get to enjoy them. Oh well.
Back on to Staycation. If you are planning on enjoying a lovely summer at home, there is one problem I encountered… and that is to “walk away from work!” It is a hard thing to do, but that is what I wanted to remind you to do, I give you permission to leave your laundry, your dishes in the sink, your floors unwashed on those gorgeous hot days when you should be outside enjoying them. If you don’t – the next thing you know summer will be over and all you did was your normal routine. You will not have enjoyed any “recreation,” you will be lacking sufficient rest and rejuvenation. After all, the root word of recreation is “recreate” or to make new again.
Make A List
The first thing I suggest is to start a list of the activities you would like to do this summer. Much like goals, if you don’t write them down, they are really just a wish list, and you have nothing concrete to plan or work towards. You don’t want this to be another summer of regrets. Get your family to write down the activities they would like to enjoy too.
Make A Tentative Schedule
I don’t like to have a schedule when I am on vacation. As a matter of fact, the reason we loved one Resort in Mexico so much was we didn’t have to make dinner reservations. The last trip there they kept calling us to find out where and when we wanted to dine. I was really annoyed. I soon changed my attitude when they forgot to phone me for my reservation one night. We went to dinner and had to wait in line for 1 1/2 hours to eat. They didn’t phone me after that…. I was phoning them.
So I am not suggesting you make a schedule, but what I want you to do is start penciling an activity each week on your calendar for two reasons:
So you actually plan on doing it
To make sure your list is realistically possible. You might realize it is not possible to do everything on your list, so you may need to pare it down. We get great plans in our head – but when you put them on paper, it becomes obvious that there is only so much time in a day or week.
Rainy Day Activities
Do you have some ideas or plans for those rainy days? I remember when I was young and I went to visit my big sister. She organized a treasure hunt for us, and at the end of the hunt she had hidden a game – I think it was Spirograph. It was so exciting to solve the riddle to find the next clue, it kept us busy for a couple of hours. We got to play with a new game on which I created hundreds of pretty pictures for the rest of the summer.
If you have never made a Treasure Hunt before, I quickly made one and have posted it on my website along with this article if you would like to download it. My website is noted at the bottom.
Another wonderful memory was camping in doors. Our family were not campers, that is something I learned after I married Ken. One cold rainy weekend mom turned the kitchen chairs upside down and drug out all her bedding. She turned the upturned chairs into tents, made up beds underneath, threw us comics, Barbie dolls and snacks, and we were camping for the weekend. We stayed in our pj’s the whole weekend, and when we got tired of reading, we would watch TV. But I am now amazed at how she didn’t care that her living room was a total disaster for that whole weekend. Hmmm, but when I stop to think about it – we were out of her hair for the whole weekend…… WISE WOMAN!
Here are some great ideas you may want to include on your Staycation List:
- Treasure Hunt
- aint rocks in your backyard, and enjoy them in your garden
- Learn to Sew
- Learn to Cook
- Learn to Knit
- Read a fun book
- Plan a picnic
- Plan a hike to some nearby falls or park
- Go berry picking
- Make play dough together in lots of colors
- Homemade Sidewalk Chalk and enjoy driveway graffiti and Hopscotch
- Introduce your kids to classic movies like Anne Of Green Gables
- Make Bubbles for Blowing
- Make frozen popsicles
- Spend a day at the pool – and order in pizza for lunch
- Spend a day going to all the garage-sales
- Spend a day at your local or State Fair
- Plan a Mexican Party with a Pinata
Embrace your summer whether you are traveling or staying at home. It goes by fast!