Summer Holidays

We’re already two weeks in to the school summer holidays in Spain. Yes, the holidays here are loooong, stretching on until around the 10th of September. So far we’ve been to the beach, a river swim spot, the park down the road (lots!), a mini music festival in the mountains and spent hours eating picking soft fruit in the garden. I have the pictures to prove it.

PicMonkey Collage

 

But the picture that, for me, most sums up what these looooong summer holidays are all about is this one.

image

 

These are the handwritten jokes that were left for us in our mailbox by two local children. A pleasant change from the usual deliveries of bills, bills and traffic fines. And a wonderful side-effect of those extended lazy, hazy days of summer.

With three full months of school holidays there will be an inevitable amount of ‘knocking about’ to be done as a child. Not every day will be spent in fantastically exciting, tightly scheduled, strictly ‘summer holiday’ activities. Some days you may just have to lay in the grass, stare up at the sky and come up with a plan to entertain yourself.

And those are the times when ingenious little plans such as this are born. Hand-written jokes delivered to all the neighbours, with a little survey incorporated to discover which ones are considered funniest. Genius. Fun for the kids and a delight for the recipients.

Three months is a long time for school holidays. I know this from both sides. I remember how, as a child in Ireland, I couldn’t quite bring myself to admit the truth that by the end of August I was actually bored and desperate for term to start again. Now, as a mother in Spain, I can’t quite bring myself to admit that I’m a little scared about how I’m going to cope with three full months of full time, full on childcare. But you know what?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

What about you? Are you more of the Michael Gove school of thought that shorter holidays are ‘family friendly’ or do you love the thought of endless summer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. I still haven’t decided whether long endless summers or short vacation stints are better–I change my mind about a hundred times a day depending on whether the boys are having fun or fighting. I do like having a lazy schedule, but I’m also not very productive…

    Happy Summer Days!

    • That’s the dichotomy isn’t it? I’m feeling guilty and unproductive right now ….but really I should be grateful for this chance to hang out when my son is little. Precious times. Am SO glad he doesn’t have a brother to fight with – that would do my head in!! (Selfish mum that I am!!)
      Happy Summer Days to you too!

  2. I have to admit I used to be bored by the end of August too! I’m not sure how I would keep my own child entertained for that amount of time!

    • The biggest thing I have to be thankful for right now is that there are other children in the village and they all get on well so they really help take the pressure of me as my one is just happy to hang around at home/in the garden/park with them for days on end. If it weren’t for that I’d be in BIG trouble!! LOL

  3. 1st born has 6 weeks off, twins have 8 weeks off this summer until school re-starts in September and I will go through childcare hell (again) I normally don’t mind as the summer weather has been crappy. But now the Summer hot sun has arrived I want to stop work and take the time off to have fun with the kids!

    • That’s the bottom line I guess. Long holidays + childcare hell = a total nightmare but long holidays + good weather + time off = heaven! Am lucky enough to have the latter at the moment so I guess I should stop worrying about not having a decent job or enough money and just enjoy it while I can!

  4. I love the idea of an endless summer… the reality? I am lucky as Bibsey is at guardaria all summer in the mornings except for a two holiday coming up. She would be climbing the walls otherwise and I would be tearing my hair out.

    As a kid I never wanted the holidays to end…

    • Funny how perspective changes isn’t it? Gazing into the abyss of an endless summer from the precipice of June was joyous as a child, as a parent it feels a little like gazing down the barrel of a gun!! LOL

  5. Well, here for a great part of the families kids go to grandparents in summer :) and as I remember myself at school summer was not enough but we didn’t spend a lot of time with our parents and only came home to eat, hanging out in the street, parks and so on (at times when we were with parents and not with grandparents) :)
    These are unforgettable moments because when you grow up it might be hard to stop and simply have a rest sometimes…

    • Oh to have grandparents nearby…. That really would be fab. You’re so right though, these are moments to treasure before the non-stop pace of adult life.

  6. I love the fact that summer holidays are a break from the normal treadmill of clock watching and running from school to one activity or another. It’s a chance to spend some quality time together having fun as a family, thanks for sharing your outdoor adventures from your holidays with Country Kids.

  7. Wow. That is a very long Summer holiday you have over there! But you do have the weather for it! I am planning lots of activities for Little A but we will have one day every week where we just take it easy at home…. guess it all depends on the weather too!

  8. Help :) I guess something changed in the settings. The news is that I started getting every comment from here in my wordpress reader. It’s not I’m against reading all the comments :) but the reader line consists of only ten posts, as every comment is registered as a post I might miss other blogs’ posts. Do you know how to deal with it?

    • Oh no! You should be able to sort it by changing the settings in your Reader. There should be a menu on the right hand side of the reader that has ‘Blogs I Follow’ on it. To the right of this is an edit function. Click there and you can tinker with your subscription settings to unfollow comments. Let me know if this works for you!

  9. I looked it up and it’s only about sending comments to the email, not about reader. Anyway, thanks, I can see a positive side, I’ll be aware of all the chatting :)

    • Really? That’s a drag. I’m so sorry. Maybe you can email WordPress support and see if they can help. It seems a crazy way for it to be done. In the meantime, I’ll try and keep my voice down ;-)

Leave a Reply to Svetlana Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.