Surviving summer-- I have a plan

 I excel at parenting from the couch.

Which is why the impending summer has me like:

 SUMMER.

A WHOLE SUMMER.

JUST ME AND THE KIDS.

AND MY RAGING PMS.

WHAT COULD GO WROING?

I mean, I hope it will be all blue skies and picnics

 And also Barbie baths

 FIIIIIIIRES

 And fashion statements

But really the thought of all those days spreading out in front of us and me with work to do and no dedicated time to do it are making me crazy and they haven't even started yet.  Like, I am literally sitting around the house all day while the kids are at school, and I am preemptively stressed.

SO I MADE A SUMMER PLAN.

The kids are on board because they-- like me-- need a little structure in a day.
Library Monday: This one is self-explanatory.  I feel like we will, um, go to the library.  I need a regular library schedule or my holds list gets unwieldy and I lose things.  The kids need to sign up for a library reading program anyway.  And!  We don't have to go to the same library every Monday.  I mean, maybe we can hit them all before summer is through-- HOW THRILLING.
New Park Tuesday: Again, I bet you can tell what this means.  I really loved last summer's Bucky Hunt, and it was so great to explore places we usually would not.  So, that's the general idea here.
Water (that's not the pool we belong to) Wednesday:  We have a few fun public pools in this town and also some splash pads, and we are going to make it a point to check them out on Wednesday afternoons.  We also have a hose and a giant unicorn sprinkler.  NEED I SAY MORE?
Screen Time Thursday: This was Dorothy's suggestion, so I think she actually said Screen Time Fursday, which I like even better.  Basically, phones! tablets! video games!  TV! Maybe a movie or two at the theater!  Skies the limit with screens, and everyone wins.
Fun Fun Friday:  The kids are stoked about this one because they like pulling things out of bags.  Basically, we are going to brainstorm a whole bunch of free or cheap activities (museums! walking around campus! ice cream on the Terrace! bowling! board games! LEGO contests!) and put them in a decorated bag (Dorothy is all over the decorating).  Then the kids will draw a slip of paper from  the bag on Friday morning, and we will do the thing. This is especially good because Friday is the one day of the week they won't have swim lessons.

I am also going to print out blank weekly calendars, and we are going to take some time together on Monday mornings to fill them in (except FUN FUN FRIDAY because that would totally ruin it), so everyone knows what to expect, and we can use the weather forecast to help us plan things out.  It would be good, I think, to plan on doing the activities in the afternoon, generally, os we can spend the mornings doing swim and dive.  We will still have plenty of time to go to the pool, too, but I wouldn't hate it if we avoided peak sun at least a few days a week.

Another thing I want to do is have a pretty strict morning routine that mirrors school mornings to some degree.  I think no one will get any electronics or screens until they have eaten breakfast, cleaned their rooms, brushed their teeth, gotten dressed, done 20 minutes of reading, and done a math worksheet.

I need to get up early all summer, sadly.  That way I can check in on my online class, keep up with my adjunct class, work out, and get dressed before the kids wake up.  This is going to make me SO much happier and less stressed out, but it will take some getting used to.

I am not going to have time to write, I don't think, and I need to be OK with it.

I also need to schedule lots of fun nights out when Ben is not coaching baseball.  Wine with a friend. A movie with the girls.  A trip to the library by myself to bask in the quiet.  Bar trivia.  Date nights out.  Date nights in.  You get the idea.  I need to have a few rewards sprinkled through the week to keep me looking forward to summer and its freedoms.

Any other tops for surviving summer as a SAHM?