Summer Planning ⛱ (Travel Journal Printables, 4th of July, and more)

plus a quesadilla hack 😋

Hello! As we mosey into July, I hope you’re finding some really sweet times of connection with people in your life. Today I’ve got some printables for you to help you think through the next couple months!

Summer Interview

You might be surprised by how much it will mean to each member of your family if you sit down for five minutes and ask them what their hopes are for the summer. Sure, you probably can’t go to Disney or see the Eiffel Tower, but…I’ll bet there are some free things in your area and in your home that mean a lot. For example, when I was a kid, my mom took us to libraries in our county that we hadn’t visited before, and that—paired with a Sonic slushie!—made really great summer memories 😅 Libraries tend to have excellent free programs over the summer, too.

What simple joys do your kids look forward to this summer? U-pick raspberries, visiting a sunflower farm, going to a splash pad? Hot dogs over the fire, homemade popsicles, nibbling on corn on the back porch? Any movies, books, or albums that are summer “musts”? Encourage your kids to think about their five senses and what memories have been their favorites in years past. I’d love to hear some of the things you come up with. Remember to interview yourself, too 😉 (And you might want to save everyone’s answers for the future!)

I would love to hear what you come up with.

Travel Journal

If your kids can write (or even just doodle) a travel notebook might be a helpful companion for a road trip! You could also use this concept as a commonplace book throughout the year. The great thing about travel journals is that they compel you to expect wonderful things. Even if your trip is to your boring hometown in the suburbs, you might find a bit more wonder and joy in it when you’re intentionally on the hunt for funny moments, breathtaking nature, and nice people. (Breathtaking nature can be a little green sprout coming out of a sidewalk, remember.)

Below is the PDF; I designed these pages for a Travelers Notebook or Midori journal, which are about 8.5” x 4.5” (quite narrow.) I got these for my kids because the notebooks inside are skinny inserts that can be swapped out without having to get a new cover. A good journal with inserts is about $12 on Amazon (here’s a cute $9 one) or you can get a 3-pack of the inserts for $7. You can get lined, dotted, blank, or graph inserts. Your kids might have cool ideas for what they want to do with each one.

Our Family Trip (1)

1.59MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

I’m not big on souvenirs but I do like to say “Yes!” to letting the kids spend money on stickers when we’re traveling. They put them on their journal to document where they’ve been (and to support the local economy a little.)

If you want more travel tips, you can see my posts Traveling with Kids and a $0 Attractions Budget and Planning a Last-Minute Trip. I love talking about planning meaningful and cost-effective trips, so let me know if you have a request for a post 😁

Planning for 4th of July

Last year we shared some simple ideas for things you could do on the 4th of July; my favorite activity was “painted fireworks”; you put a piece of paper in a tray, dab some paint on it, and roll a marble or two around. (You can also use an acorn!) It’s fun to do again and again.

Here were the results! Enjoy the process.

One more thing that makes great memories that you might want to plan for is tie-dyeing, but specifically redemptive tie-dyeing. Gather your stained clothes, pillowcases, and even underwear, and once you have a good collection of ruined things…whip out your tie-dye set and un-ruin them! I made a post about it last year and plan to share fresh pictures after we do it again this year. Till then, though, gather your stained clothes and your supplies 😄

I’ve found that I enjoy a more simple 4th of July. Last year we had friends over and they stayed all day and then we had pizza, and it was better than any fireworks show or Independence Day event we’d ever been to. I hope your day is full of lightning bugs, yummy snacks, gratitude, and giggles.

Holding Plans Loosely

Last week I sat down and wrote out all I wanted to accomplish this week, from meal plans to homeschool goals to a short story class I’m taking. I sighed and thought, “If I get 20% of these things done, that would be a new record.” 🤪 But I really think that’s okay, especially in summer. I decided that if winter is a time to burrow away a little, summer is a time to be out in the sun, fully present, soaking up the sweet relationships around me. If my elaborate recipe goals don’t work out and we choose to make quesadillas for dinner two days in a row because they’re great for a backyard picnic…that’s a huge win.

I really think that easy-goingness is one of the most useful traits a person can have in life. Someone has said “Overprepare, then go with the flow” and that’s brilliant. Plans are helpful not because they give you perfect control, but because they free you up to be flexible! That’s something I’m trying to work on, anyway.

Meal Idea: Birria Quesadillas

If you are planning on doing a lot of quesadillas this summer, go for it, they only take a few minutes to whip up on the griddle. But if you want to elevate them a little, use Beef Birria from Trader Joe’s as a filling and dip your tortillas in the birria broth before frying them up as tacos or quesadillas. Soooo flavorful.

Anyway, I hope this is helpful. And I really, really hope you have a sweet week.

Warmly,

Hope from Family Scripts

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