Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: I'm Laura Vanderkamp. I'm a mother of five, an author, journalist,
Speaker 2: and speaker.
Speaker 3: And I'm Sarah Hart Hunger, a mother of three, practicing physician, writer,
Speaker 3: and courtse creator. We are two working parents who love
Speaker 3: our careers and our families.
Speaker 2: Welcome to best of both worlds. Here we talk about
Speaker 2: how real women manage work, family, and time for fun.
Speaker 2: From figuring out childcare to mapping out long.
Speaker 1: Term career goals.
Speaker 2: We want you to get the most out of life.
Speaker 1: Welcome to best of both worlds. This is Laura.
Speaker 2: This episode is airing on May twentieth, which, by the way,
Speaker 2: is Sarah's birthday. And also, I believe we have never
Speaker 2: had an episode air on May twentieth before, because I
Speaker 2: can tell you that the twenty twenty five date cycle.
Speaker 1: Goes back to like twenty fourteen. This is a first
Speaker 1: for us. Sarah, Happy birthday.
Speaker 3: That's so funny. Maybe I've had a best laid plans
Speaker 3: on my birthday.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you've had a bestide plans, but there has
Speaker 2: not been a Tuesday that has been May twentieth since
Speaker 2: quite a while.
Speaker 3: We're exciting. Well, if you want to give you a
Speaker 3: birthday gift, you can leave our podcast a wonderful review.
Speaker 3: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Yes, that would be great. We would love that.
Speaker 2: So yeah, feel free go to Apple Podcasts or wherever
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. Right about how amazing Sarah is,
Speaker 2: I mean, you could say I am too, but it's
Speaker 2: her birthday.
Speaker 1: So throw that in.
Speaker 2: We would really appreciate it. Well, this is our annual
Speaker 2: summer episode. We've been doing summer episodes for a long time.
Speaker 2: This is going to have a bit of a Top
Speaker 2: five theme to hopefully shake things up from the last
Speaker 2: time we've been talking about summer, if not on May twentieth,
Speaker 2: but on other days around now.
Speaker 1: What are you really looking forward to this summer?
Speaker 3: Sarah? Yeah, so I feel like we have a pretty
Speaker 3: busy summer. But the highlights I'm looking forward to is
Speaker 3: we always take a family trip. This year, we're going
Speaker 3: to go to New End and I also am hoping
Speaker 3: to see my college friends this summer. The destination is
Speaker 3: tbd because we might go somewhere or they might actually
Speaker 3: come to me, which they offered after my little cardiac incident,
Speaker 3: so to be determined. But I'm very excited to see them.
Speaker 3: And then the other thing is I'm just excited that
Speaker 3: we won't have any really late night kid activities. Yeah,
Speaker 3: we will have like seven thirty pm pickups, but since
Speaker 3: we've been used to the nine pm pickups, that is like,
Speaker 3: that sounds amazing and it's not even every single night.
Speaker 1: So wow, excellent, excellent.
Speaker 2: Well, you had tried to go to you had been
Speaker 2: thinking about going to New England last summer, right, and
Speaker 2: then you guys pivoted to sort of the Pacific Northwest.
Speaker 3: Because of Olivia Rogers.
Speaker 1: Yet, oh that's trick. Well, you know, and that was.
Speaker 3: Specifically her tour did not coincide with where I wanted
Speaker 3: to go, and I was like, you know what, you
Speaker 3: know what's also nice and cool in the summer, Seattle.
Speaker 3: So we went to Seattle. But this time we're going
Speaker 3: to make the New England trip happen even without a
Speaker 3: pop star concert.
Speaker 1: What part are you going to? I mean, like Maine
Speaker 1: or you know what.
Speaker 3: We have settled on New Hampshire so you can send
Speaker 3: me your New Hampshire White Mountains recommendations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, as I were looking forward to
Speaker 2: summer from the beginning of it. Here I always have
Speaker 2: to remind myself it's less time than I think it
Speaker 2: will be.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 2: Some points in life I think I have less time
Speaker 2: than I do as summer for our summerson, I always
Speaker 2: feel like there's more time in the summer than there
Speaker 2: actually is, this vision of an endless summer, but it
Speaker 2: really won't be. Jasper and I are starting the summer
Speaker 2: with a choir tour, so that will be an experience.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be a lot of fun. I hope
Speaker 1: it will be.
Speaker 2: And we end the summer with our time at the beach,
Speaker 2: which is always great, but there will also be a
Speaker 2: chunk of time where we will probably be taking Jasper
Speaker 2: to his next stage or whatever university he is at,
Speaker 2: which as we're recording this at the end of April,
Speaker 2: has not one hundred percent been determined, so more on
Speaker 2: that later.
Speaker 1: But we will be doing that.
Speaker 2: But I realized, like you know, so there's like a
Speaker 2: two month chunk, like there's less than that's less than
Speaker 2: two months between when I get back from the choir
Speaker 2: trip and when we go to the beach, and within
Speaker 2: those times, like some of the weekends, we're going to
Speaker 2: have to be transporting kids camp like Alex Is going
Speaker 2: to a two week camp, or it's going to one
Speaker 2: week camp, Like, there's a lot of transaction costs in
Speaker 2: getting to and from camp, so you know it'll be good.
Speaker 2: But there's less time in summer than one might imagine.
Speaker 3: I guess, yeah, our summers aren't even that long. I
Speaker 3: feel like they're like ten weeks. They're not even like
Speaker 3: a full three months where we live.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, but you said summer is coming, Winter is
Speaker 2: that's the winter is coming, right?
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 3: As I was thinking of creative ideas for the episode,
Speaker 3: because again we have to mix things up. We talk
Speaker 3: about summer most years, and my initial thought was like,
Speaker 3: winter is coming like Game of Thrones, and then I
Speaker 3: was like, accept better. But then I was like, well,
Speaker 3: I fear me it's worse because I was just highlighting
Speaker 3: the fact that summer is not our best weather season.
Speaker 3: As we will get into it during the challenges section,
Speaker 3: but first let's be positive and talk about top five
Speaker 3: ideas or just five ideas for celebrating the kickoff of summer.
Speaker 1: All right, well you had some of these and I
Speaker 1: had some, so let's start with yours.
Speaker 3: Sure, So our summer kickoff has been a traditional family
Speaker 3: dinner right after school ends at the melting pot.
Speaker 1: Not known as a summer cuisine by the way.
Speaker 3: No no, but it is indoors, so for us, that's
Speaker 3: sort of summer.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 3: My kids just really like it. They think it's like
Speaker 3: the pinnacle of celebration. It's just like so specific, and
Speaker 3: now that we've done it so many times, they're just like, yep,
Speaker 3: that's what we do at the end of the school year.
Speaker 3: So I've gotten to like really associate it, and it's
Speaker 3: just like fun. I think one could also decide to
Speaker 3: be like social and do an end of the school
Speaker 3: year bash with neighbors. I've always thought that was like
Speaker 3: a fun idea for us, though, like doing an outdoor
Speaker 3: bash right now is like less favorable or a little risky.
Speaker 3: So yeah, melting pot is our summer kickoff, all right.
Speaker 3: My second idea is to have fun making a summer
Speaker 3: reading list. And this can be done before the start
Speaker 3: of summer, but whenever you feel ready to do it.
Speaker 3: But it can be nice to have some beachy light
Speaker 3: reads to look forward to. And there are number of
Speaker 3: book curators who come out with summer reading lists We've
Speaker 3: talked a lot about and Bogul who does Modern Missus,
Speaker 3: Darcy and I feel like there's so many other awesome
Speaker 3: like book casters and books to gram people, and probably
Speaker 3: there's a lot of resources for this, but I have
Speaker 3: a lot of fun making a summer reading list and
Speaker 3: then starting to reserve a bunch of holds all at once,
Speaker 3: which then come from the library and it's just kind
Speaker 3: of festive. And then my third idea is to spend
Speaker 3: some time planning your summer fun. Sorry I had to
Speaker 3: get it in there, but this can be a reminder
Speaker 3: that as you are kicking off summer, to make sure
Speaker 3: you have a session where you really think about what
Speaker 3: you want those rhythms to look like, because summer is
Speaker 3: a season that is usually kind of different. Like when
Speaker 3: you go into spring, you're like, okay, fine, where it's
Speaker 3: a continuation February, March, whatever, But summer often different drop offs,
Speaker 3: different schedules and people, different works, et cetera. So really
Speaker 3: thinking about how you might make the most of those
Speaker 3: changes and the sort of specialness of the season can
Speaker 3: set you up for success.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, and part of that would be like making your
Speaker 2: ideal weak, right, that might be a good time to
Speaker 2: revisit what your realistic ideal week would be.
Speaker 3: Yes, definitely, a great seasonal activity, and I think more
Speaker 3: important for seasons where things change. So for me that's
Speaker 3: actually like summer and the start of school. Those are
Speaker 3: the two biggies.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, like you were saying, I mean, because now
Speaker 2: you have no evening events, so you start thinking about, Okay,
Speaker 2: well what could I do between seven thirty and nine
Speaker 2: thirty if I'm not driving around to places. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's a chunk of time that is usable in a
Speaker 2: way that maybe was not. So I'll go with number
Speaker 2: four in our top five here wardrobe revamped for places
Speaker 2: with definite seasons.
Speaker 1: Now, Sarah is not in a.
Speaker 2: Place where you switch out your clothes I guess from
Speaker 2: summer to winter so much.
Speaker 1: But for those of us who are this.
Speaker 2: Can be marking, like an actual marked moment, right, Like
Speaker 2: you switch the sweaters out of your closet and maybe
Speaker 2: get them cleaned and stored for the summer. This is
Speaker 2: when you move your coat from the mudroom into a closet,
Speaker 2: so it's not something you're dealing with every day.
Speaker 1: The way out the door.
Speaker 2: Maybe you switch out your shoes, like if you had
Speaker 2: boots for winter or sort of bigger shoes that you're wearing.
Speaker 2: This might be when you bring the sandals out and
Speaker 2: put them into the by the door rotation. Obviously, if
Speaker 2: you want to go shopping, this could be a time
Speaker 2: to think about what you're hoping to be looking like
Speaker 2: in the summer or what you need in your wardrobe
Speaker 2: and try to fill those pieces. But that can just
Speaker 2: be a way to honor the change of the seasons.
Speaker 2: I mean, are you doing this? I mean, even though
Speaker 2: you're not.
Speaker 3: I well, you'll hear on my list of things I
Speaker 3: want to do for summer involve getting some summary type clothing.
Speaker 3: And again, this is one of those things where like
Speaker 3: we don't need it, but sometimes I want to lean
Speaker 3: into those seasonal rituals because I miss the seasonality, so
Speaker 3: I need to like make it even if there's no
Speaker 3: actual real reason. So yeah, I love that one.
Speaker 1: And then the other one.
Speaker 2: Number five is to consider slightly tweaking your work hours.
Speaker 2: And this can be part of the ideal week schedule
Speaker 2: as well, but if you are not necessarily working for
Speaker 2: an organization that requires set hours, like you have to
Speaker 2: be in an office from nine to five or something
Speaker 2: like that, it might be possible to tweak this to
Speaker 2: work slightly differently, like maybe you want to start work
Speaker 2: earlier if that's something that would be more helpful for
Speaker 2: your schedule, and then end work earlier and have more
Speaker 2: of the summer afternoon and evening available to you.
Speaker 1: Or maybe it's that you work.
Speaker 2: A little longer Monday through Thursday and then take a
Speaker 2: half day on Friday. Or maybe it's that you don't
Speaker 2: work on Fridays and you work ten hour days Monday
Speaker 2: through Thursday.
Speaker 1: Or maybe you work somewhere that already has.
Speaker 2: Summer Fridays, like it's a half day and that's an expectation.
Speaker 2: But figure out how you might consciously tweak your work
Speaker 2: hours to meet more of the summer rhythms.
Speaker 3: You could also do that with PTO. So if you
Speaker 3: are someone who doesn't use all your dais each year
Speaker 3: and kind of look for like I just don't really
Speaker 3: need it, then one fun way to do it might
Speaker 3: be to like take a half day every Friday from
Speaker 3: like I don't know, Memorial Day to Labor Day or
Speaker 3: something really cool like that. So, yeah, can get creative
Speaker 3: with it.
Speaker 1: You can.
Speaker 2: Well, what about the five summer challenges Sarah? With our
Speaker 2: top five? What are some of your challenges with this?
Speaker 3: Well, the obvious one here is the challenge of childcare.
Speaker 3: So for those that kind of are used to having school,
Speaker 3: school is not childcare, but it can still serve as
Speaker 3: a useful backbone for many months of the year, and
Speaker 3: you lose that over the summer, especially with older kids.
Speaker 3: Sometimes daycares and stuff. It's not actually an issue, but
Speaker 3: for the older kids. And now I'm in this new
Speaker 3: frontier of like the dreaded like teen summer because I
Speaker 3: feel like I've always been able to very easily find
Speaker 3: camps that appeal to my kids when they're younger, but
Speaker 3: suddenly day camp is a little bit less popular in
Speaker 3: that kind of teen age group. And yet there are
Speaker 3: not necessarily a lot of like internships or we've talked
Speaker 3: about there are summer programs and stuff, but I've just
Speaker 3: found it to be more of a challenge. So one
Speaker 3: thing we are doing is that all three of my
Speaker 3: kids are going to Monday through Friday camp for three
Speaker 3: weeks at the same time. This is probably the only
Speaker 3: year that will ever happen, and they all really really
Speaker 3: wanted to go, so I think they'll have a great time,
Speaker 3: and then Josh and I will get to experience some
Speaker 3: together time, which would be really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, empty nest.
Speaker 2: It's Monday through Friday, so ken you're kind of working
Speaker 2: during that time probably, although maybe you guys could take
Speaker 2: a day off or something. I don't know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're gonna do a little traveling and stuff, so
Speaker 3: I think it'd be good.
Speaker 1: That'd be exciting.
Speaker 3: And then we did do a mix of kind of
Speaker 3: specialty day camps for the younger two kids, and then
Speaker 3: we still have our nanny and I mean, Annabell can
Speaker 3: be home alone sometimes as well, so we're being a
Speaker 3: little bit more flexible with it, but definitely something that
Speaker 3: always needs to be thought through ahead of time.
Speaker 2: How's your spreadsheet, Laura, Yeah, well I have the spreadsheet
Speaker 2: for sure. I do a camp spreadsheet every summer. Although
Speaker 2: for the older kids, I feel like to some degree
Speaker 2: Jasper and Sam, it's not so much my issue anymore.
Speaker 2: I don't entirely know what Jasper's going to be doing.
Speaker 2: But again, we don't have that many weeks, so we
Speaker 2: shall see on that front. Sam is taking two online
Speaker 2: classes to fulfill some requirements that will free up space
Speaker 2: in his schedule next year, so he will be spending
Speaker 2: most of his time on that. Ruth is signed up
Speaker 2: for a couple of camps. She's going to try Sleepway
Speaker 2: camp for a week with a friend. She's doing a
Speaker 2: theater camp for two weeks. She's also volunteering our vacation
Speaker 2: Bible school, which Alex and Henry will be at, which
Speaker 2: was fun thing. Alex has signed up for camp the
Speaker 2: whole summer. It's partly that he likes to do stuff.
Speaker 2: He likes to lots of different camp related kind of things,
Speaker 2: and I think it's also good for him to have
Speaker 2: camps because otherwise he will be on his iPad all day.
Speaker 2: And then Henry is in a few things. But we
Speaker 2: also have our nanny through the summer, so they'll probably
Speaker 2: be doing playgrounds, trips to.
Speaker 1: Sesame place, various other things like that.
Speaker 2: But yeah, spreadsheet as usual, weeks of the summer down
Speaker 2: the left hand side, kids along the top. It just
Speaker 2: is very helpful to kind of keep track and see
Speaker 2: the whole summer at a glance and know what people
Speaker 2: are doing.
Speaker 1: And so when.
Speaker 2: Somebody's like, oh, could we come visit you this time,
Speaker 2: it'll be like, yes, I should tell you that these
Speaker 2: two kids will not be with us, but that's fine,
Speaker 2: But so you know, but you can tell that instantly
Speaker 2: looking at it as opposed to like sort of hunting
Speaker 2: through your calendar and trying to figure it all out.
Speaker 3: No, I did the same thing, and partly for also
Speaker 3: like drop off stuff, like if all three kids want
Speaker 3: to do different things, is that realistic if they're all
Speaker 3: in different parts of town. No, So it helps me
Speaker 3: to know like what to line up with what.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: All right, Well let's take a quick ad break and
Speaker 2: then we'll be back with more on summer challenges.
Speaker 3: All right, our next summer challenge is kind of related,
Speaker 3: especially if you have chosen not to kind of program
Speaker 3: a lot of your kids summer via camps, and that
Speaker 3: is sometimes it just gets a little old where there's
Speaker 3: like too much free time and not enough structure. I
Speaker 3: don't really have a solution for that, but I just
Speaker 3: want to like mention it because I think that sometimes
Speaker 3: it seems impossible, and yet we often get to a
Speaker 3: certain point where we're like, oh my god, when is school?
Speaker 3: And so maybe I guess that's like a note to
Speaker 3: myself though, like if I worry that I'm overscheduling the kids,
Speaker 3: I'm probably not because I don't like to get to
Speaker 3: this point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, No, I know that there's like a beam
Speaker 2: on Instagram where people are like, Okay, we in this June,
Speaker 2: Like the June mom is like, oh, we're going to
Speaker 2: the splash Pad, We're going to the you know, children's museum,
Speaker 2: We're going to the amusement park. And then like by
Speaker 2: late July, you're like, yeah, you know, Netflix is your
Speaker 2: parent now, so it can happen, which is why there
Speaker 2: is an upside to having some structure. But there's also
Speaker 2: been the challenge of managing screen time and particularly with
Speaker 2: when kids don't have something they have to be up
Speaker 2: for at a certain time and the way. I am
Speaker 2: very curious to see how my older children, who don't
Speaker 2: have so much structure this summer, what their sleep schedules
Speaker 2: are going to look like.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've already actually addressed this because like out about hostymnastics,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't start till four pm, and so that's
Speaker 3: not much of a deadline. So we've already talked about like, Okay,
Speaker 3: we're going to have to think about like a reasonable
Speaker 3: time to get up and what we're going to want
Speaker 3: to do before then and stuff like that. And I
Speaker 3: know it's going to be a challenge because they're of
Speaker 3: that age where they're kind of driven to stay up
Speaker 3: later and lead. And I know it for my patients,
Speaker 3: I know exactly when they're sleeping again, like I can
Speaker 3: tell from the diabetes pump downloads who's staying up till
Speaker 3: five in the morning and going to bed at like
Speaker 3: the middle of anyway, So I know what happens. It's
Speaker 3: a challenge, and I think it does happen. I think
Speaker 3: managing screen time goes hand in hand with this, because
Speaker 3: one thing that keeps kids up extremely late is like
Speaker 3: having access to very exciting content twenty four to seven
Speaker 3: on the screen. So I mean, in our house, we
Speaker 3: continue to have discussions about this. We go up and down,
Speaker 3: but right now we're kind of in a lower screen phase.
Speaker 3: And it's honestly the kids have kind of most of
Speaker 3: the kids have embraced it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know that's something I need to think about,
Speaker 2: and I will talk with my older kids about and say, I.
Speaker 1: Mean, because I wouldn't bother me so much if they're
Speaker 1: up at random times, if they stay in their room.
Speaker 2: But the problem is like that people want snacks and
Speaker 2: they're like down and then the lights are all on
Speaker 2: in the kitchen again, and you know it's just all right.
Speaker 3: You're like, it's two in the morning.
Speaker 2: It's two in the morning, don't move if you're going
Speaker 2: to be in your room reading, I don't care.
Speaker 1: But past that, the next challenge is mostly for you.
Speaker 3: I mean the It's not just me, okay, it's for
Speaker 3: anyone in Texas, anyone in Arizona, anyone in like Louisiana, Mississippi.
Speaker 3: There are a lot of parts of the United States
Speaker 3: in particular that are disgusting in the summer. I'm just
Speaker 3: saying it's not just me.
Speaker 1: That could be. That could be. We tend not to
Speaker 1: be so bad here.
Speaker 2: We have like a few days that will be ridiculous,
Speaker 2: but yes, that could be a challenge. So making sure
Speaker 2: to stay cool, having indoor opportunities.
Speaker 3: Yeah, remembering that you can't summer can't Like, I actually
Speaker 3: do better if I'm like, you know what, this is
Speaker 3: the cozy season. Not to be disappointed by the thunderstorms,
Speaker 3: but to like expect them and be like this is
Speaker 3: a great backdrop to movie night, and like this is
Speaker 3: when we stay inside because guess what, all winter we
Speaker 3: can go and do whatever we want, which is wonderful.
Speaker 3: So I think sometimes just owning it rather than fighting.
Speaker 3: It has actually helped in our case anyway.
Speaker 1: And then this last challenge. I guess I hadn't really
Speaker 1: thought about this so much, but the.
Speaker 2: Challenge of having projects to manage over the summer, like
Speaker 2: kids summer projects.
Speaker 1: Is that something that you guys have had.
Speaker 3: I feel like I learned it partly from you, Like
Speaker 3: you've had kids who were in courses, Yeah, and then
Speaker 3: it's like how much do you micromanage? How much do
Speaker 3: you just let them maybe leave things?
Speaker 2: Well we met, Yes, that has actually been an you know,
Speaker 2: I've had children take online courses over the summer in
Speaker 2: the past, and it has been a constant thing or like, okay,
Speaker 2: what percent are you through?
Speaker 1: Now?
Speaker 2: Have we talked about the fact that we're traveling this
Speaker 2: week and so if you haven't gotten to this, you're
Speaker 2: going to be way behind.
Speaker 1: I will say, everyone.
Speaker 2: Has finished what they are supposed to do in the past,
Speaker 2: and so I trust that it will happen. However, I
Speaker 2: probably get a little bit more anxious about it because
Speaker 2: to me, I'm like, well, why don't you get ahead?
Speaker 2: Like what would be the problem of getting ahead? As
Speaker 2: opposed to people who feel like, you know, as long
Speaker 2: as you're within a few percentages of where you should be.
Speaker 2: You could get to there where you should be with
Speaker 2: a concerted effort.
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe just different different philosophies of life.
Speaker 3: Yes, And even like my elementary age kids, we often
Speaker 3: have like a book assigned that they have to read
Speaker 3: over the summer, and then inevitably my kids are like,
Speaker 3: I have all summer to read that, and then we're
Speaker 3: traveling at the very end and they're like, I forgot
Speaker 3: the book.
Speaker 2: The book now, so suddenly reading I don't know, pride
Speaker 2: and prejudice in the last two.
Speaker 3: Days exactly, So that can be a challenge. I mean again,
Speaker 3: maybe they'll learn some time management lessons that's okay, and
Speaker 3: maybe they learn what we're for them in terms of
Speaker 3: leaving just enough time to do something, et cetera. I've
Speaker 3: also heard of scenarios where kids are like in a
Speaker 3: sport and they're told to train or something like that.
Speaker 3: I'm like, you're like, you're just watching them not train,
Speaker 3: thinking like, oh, it's going to be so miserable for you,
Speaker 3: but like I can't make you do it. Yeah, but
Speaker 3: I haven't experienced personally yet.
Speaker 2: With cross country, there you go the amount of running
Speaker 2: that has happened since the end of the cross country
Speaker 2: send may have been minimal, but you know it'll snap back,
Speaker 2: it'll stop back, all right. So the next section is
Speaker 2: going to be our Summer Fundless, a couple of you know,
Speaker 2: top five items on our Summer Fundless. Longtime listeners know
Speaker 2: that Sarah and I both make Summer fundless. These are
Speaker 2: things we want to do over the summer to make
Speaker 2: summer feel like summer for us. So I have a
Speaker 2: couple I Am going to try to make it to
Speaker 2: this Dollhouse furniture store that happens to be in New Bedford,
Speaker 2: which is also known to speak of summer reading as
Speaker 2: where Moby Dick happens. So if anyone's tackling that as
Speaker 2: a summer reading project, you could visit New Bedford. But
Speaker 2: you could also do that to see this famous Dolphouse
Speaker 2: store that is in New Bedford. I have to be
Speaker 2: in Boston for something in the middle of the summer,
Speaker 2: so I'm thinking possibly I will drive and then I
Speaker 2: could stop there on the way there, and I got.
Speaker 1: To stop there on the way back if I wanted to.
Speaker 2: I am going to go to some sort of concert.
Speaker 2: I want to go to some sort of concert. I
Speaker 2: have not figured out yet what that is. Last summer
Speaker 2: I had the amazing time of going to see Taylor
Speaker 2: Swift in Paris, although that was in May, and then
Speaker 2: seeing Olivia Rodrigo in July, which was also awesome.
Speaker 1: But I have none of that planned for this summer.
Speaker 2: And I would like to see something because you know,
Speaker 2: outdoors or even in a state indoor, but.
Speaker 1: Summer music is like it's concert season.
Speaker 3: Right, totally. I have a concert. Well we're not going
Speaker 3: to skip ahead to my list, but I'm going to
Speaker 3: be seeing Amy Mann in Durham, which is probably not
Speaker 3: on everyone's bucket list, but I'm so excited.
Speaker 2: Okay, excity, Okay, well I have to figure out like
Speaker 2: who i'd want to see you.
Speaker 1: At this point, I'm not entirely sure what that is, right,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll do some perusal on that.
Speaker 2: I want to go to a Phillies game because I
Speaker 2: need to complete my Philly sports trifecta. And we went
Speaker 2: to the Eagles, we went to the Sixers. We need
Speaker 2: to get on to there. I want to spend some
Speaker 2: time on the hammock, and I want to make sure
Speaker 2: to spend some solo time in the pool. So I
Speaker 2: spend a lot of time supervising other people in the pool,
Speaker 2: but I do not spend a lot of time on
Speaker 2: my own in the pool.
Speaker 1: And I like being on my own in the pool.
Speaker 1: So you know, there we go.
Speaker 3: I love it. So you have cultivated your little are
Speaker 3: those last two are part of your quote little habits
Speaker 3: of relaxation? Is that correct?
Speaker 2: Yes, cultivating a Saturday vibe, that's what I have to
Speaker 2: think of summer the Tianna. If maybe like June is
Speaker 2: the Friday night of summer, July is Saturday, August is Sunday.
Speaker 2: But you know, in general, we want to cultivate a
Speaker 2: weekend vibe for this summer.
Speaker 3: And September is Labor Day, literally this Monday. Get back
Speaker 3: to work, all right? So my five things I already
Speaker 3: mentioned one which I want to see some live music,
Speaker 3: and yes I already have tickets, so that one, hopefully
Speaker 3: I can check off the list. I do need to
Speaker 3: see my parents and sister, that is important, upgrade my
Speaker 3: and my niece. Sorry did not want to come out here,
Speaker 3: I think so all right. I didn't specifically say Philadelphia
Speaker 3: because like if we could all meet at the shore
Speaker 3: or something, but I think it'll probably just be me
Speaker 3: coming to Philly with the kids and or Josh depending
Speaker 3: on his call schedule. I want to upgrade my travel stuff,
Speaker 3: so I might even replace my Way suitcase with another
Speaker 3: a Way suitcase so away if you listen. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3: I would just buy it. But I love that suitcase,
Speaker 3: but I kind of want the slightly bigger one. And
Speaker 3: I just want to have like a really streamlined like
Speaker 3: kid with my cousband because I just feel like I
Speaker 3: have a lot of travel calming and I just I
Speaker 3: don't like my setup. So I'm gonna upgrade my travel stuff.
Speaker 3: I want to watch a TV show with the kids.
Speaker 3: I don't know what, but something. And then I had
Speaker 3: on my summer this is not really summer fun, but
Speaker 3: like I do want to like have fun by getting
Speaker 3: some new summer wardrobe pieces. So I feel like I
Speaker 3: need a new pair of shorts because I feel like
Speaker 3: my old ones are looking dated. I want a summer dress,
Speaker 3: and I know that's like a thing and not an experience,
Speaker 3: but like having a cute outfit makes experiences more fun,
Speaker 3: so it goes hand in hand. And I feel like
Speaker 3: I want a new pair of sandals, So yeah, those
Speaker 3: are my five things.
Speaker 2: All right, Well we'll take one more quick ad break
Speaker 2: and then we'll be back with a little bit more
Speaker 2: of our summer extravaganza.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 1: Well, we are back.
Speaker 2: We're talking all things summer. We've had sort of a
Speaker 2: top five approach to this. I will say I wasn't
Speaker 2: sure where to put some of this needs to happen
Speaker 2: summer project kind of thing. But Henry needs to learn
Speaker 2: how to swim like that absolutely has to happen this summer,
Speaker 2: So we'll try to push that over the top.
Speaker 1: He likes being in the water. He loves snorkeling.
Speaker 2: We were in Hawaii of our spring break. He liked
Speaker 2: snorkling a lot. But of course he has to have
Speaker 2: his little swimmys on to do it. So we shall
Speaker 2: see if we can maybe motivate him to get over
Speaker 2: the top with the swim lessons.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, especially because you have a pool. I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's super in Florida, Like, yeah, you're like in a
Speaker 3: hurry because you're so scared that there'll be some social
Speaker 3: gathering where things will be crazy. So I bet this
Speaker 3: will be the summer he will get it. Maybe at
Speaker 3: camp too, they'll reinforce swims yeah, that's true.
Speaker 1: He hit one of the camps he goes to.
Speaker 2: They did do swim lessons for the little guys, and
Speaker 2: so hopefully that will help as well. And I think
Speaker 2: some sort of peer pressure will kicking because I think
Speaker 2: probably when you're in like a five and six year
Speaker 2: old camp, a good number of the six year olds
Speaker 2: at least should be swimming.
Speaker 3: So one hundred percent, as a former counselor of the
Speaker 3: five year olds and or six year olds various years,
Speaker 3: five was like the age where a lot of them
Speaker 3: like got their deep end certification. Yeah, so he'll do
Speaker 3: it all right, So oh, any other like need to
Speaker 3: do use.
Speaker 2: Well getting Jasper launched right, you know, we have to
Speaker 2: figure out what he needs for college, which I don't
Speaker 2: even one of the things that's unshown because as we're
Speaker 2: recording this again, I don't know one hundred percent sure
Speaker 2: know where he's going, and I don't know what the
Speaker 2: timeline will be for that, because some colleges have you
Speaker 2: move in in August, some have you move in September,
Speaker 2: and if you don't know that date, it's kind of
Speaker 2: hard to plan the end of your summer show TVD
Speaker 2: on that.
Speaker 1: But sort of the leading contender at the moment.
Speaker 2: It would be sort of mid to late August, so
Speaker 2: that we'd be sort of figuring that out. What he
Speaker 2: needs again, kind of the life skills that are important
Speaker 2: for college.
Speaker 1: We have to some discussion of that this summer and
Speaker 1: get him set up with that.
Speaker 2: You know, lots of things. But that's definitely a summer
Speaker 2: project too.
Speaker 3: That is a very bittersweet but also exciting summer project.
Speaker 3: All right, Well, we have a five top mo months
Speaker 3: top five summer Love of the Week. All right, you start,
Speaker 3: Sarah Love of the Week number one, Ben's mosquito repellent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got this last summer.
Speaker 2: Okay, because you had raved about it, I can't say
Speaker 2: that I noticed a huge difference between that the other.
Speaker 1: What do you like about it? You think it's more effective?
Speaker 3: I think it worked well. I am like the mosquito
Speaker 3: magnet of all mosquito magnets, So like, if it's subtly
Speaker 3: better than something else, I will notice, probably before anybody
Speaker 3: else would notice. Like I joke that there could be
Speaker 3: like one mosquito in the state and it will like
Speaker 3: find me specifically. So for me, it's absolutely like makes
Speaker 3: a difference. I mean, there might be others that are
Speaker 3: almost as good, but for me, Ben's all the way,
Speaker 3: so I always stay stocked in that not a sponsor,
Speaker 3: just ordered online and I think I learned about it
Speaker 3: on Consumer Reports or Wirecutter or something like that. Number
Speaker 3: two classic Birkenstocks. Love them, loved them when I was
Speaker 3: like fourteen, love them much older. My T shirt favorite
Speaker 3: brand is Marine Layer. They seem to last multiple, multiple seasons,
Speaker 3: so I have some going strong from like a few
Speaker 3: years ago, which I feel like T shirts don't usually
Speaker 3: hold their shape and stuff that long. So yay, throw
Speaker 3: on out to Italian Ice because it's just such a
Speaker 3: fun Stumm. Rita's is okay.
Speaker 2: There's Rita's like a mile and a half from Sarah's
Speaker 2: parents home by the way.
Speaker 3: Yes, that was a common stop on my walk home
Speaker 3: from school as soon as we got past maybe April
Speaker 3: or so, and it is okay, But we have Jeremiahs
Speaker 3: down here and we have Rita's too. Jeremiah's is like
Speaker 3: a little better, so sorry, I'll just say in general
Speaker 3: Italian Ice. And then finally, I do love good or
Speaker 3: sunglasses because they're like twenty dollars but they like look
Speaker 3: kind of cute. And you don't have to stress if
Speaker 3: you lose them, which I did. I left a pair
Speaker 3: on Slinky Dog Dash at Disney World, So that's actually
Speaker 3: not the first time I've left a pair on a
Speaker 3: disney World ride. But the other time they were like
Speaker 3: fancy designer ones, so I had to like go find them,
Speaker 3: which I did, but it was so stressful, and this
Speaker 3: time I was like, Eh, anyway, it's fine.
Speaker 1: You put them in that little pocket in the front
Speaker 1: like for roller coasters.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Then you like when they're saying, please take your belongings,
Speaker 2: You're like, well, I'm doing that.
Speaker 1: Apparently you didn't listen to that.
Speaker 3: I grabbed my bag with like my wallet and stuff,
Speaker 3: but I did. I forgot that I had my sunglasses
Speaker 3: separate from said bag. Yeah, but oh, it happens.
Speaker 2: It totally happens, especially if you're like hurting three other
Speaker 2: people off the roller coaster with you, and then yeah,
Speaker 2: whether you have your bag or not may not be
Speaker 2: the first thing you're thinking of. All right, So my
Speaker 2: top five I am going to say, honeysuckle, beer gardens.
Speaker 1: I like beer gardens.
Speaker 2: I'm just so you know, fun about being outside and
Speaker 2: they feel festive and it's in the evening, so it's
Speaker 2: you know, an excuse to be outside waking up later,
Speaker 2: so me not being a natural morning person, It's not
Speaker 2: been as bad this year because they shifted the school
Speaker 2: start times so most mornings we do not need.
Speaker 1: To wake up before seven, which is lovely.
Speaker 2: And even if we are waking up on the early side,
Speaker 2: like our early shifted routine is six forty, which is
Speaker 2: still not that early, but still this summer.
Speaker 1: Doesn't even have to do that. So you know, if
Speaker 1: the kids are going.
Speaker 2: To camp at like nine, nobody really has to wake
Speaker 2: up before eight. I'm feeling like I could get up
Speaker 2: at seven and get a lot of stuff done before
Speaker 2: anyone else is up, and that could be amazing. Maybe
Speaker 2: I'll start being a morning exerciser. Maybe not because it's
Speaker 2: not I mean, if you're gonna rint outside, I guess
Speaker 2: you need to do it in the early morning and summer.
Speaker 2: But we'll see, we'll see waking up later. Anything grilled
Speaker 2: grilled food is good. I think we should try to
Speaker 2: experiment with this this summer, you know, beyond the basic proteins.
Speaker 2: Maybe some like grilling lettuce leaves and making a char
Speaker 2: grilled salad or you know, various vegetables.
Speaker 3: I was going to suggest octopus.
Speaker 1: Octopus.
Speaker 2: Well, I like octopus, and I'm sure it's good on
Speaker 2: the grill. Yeah, And then different combos of kids at home.
Speaker 2: This is just one of the fun parts of summer
Speaker 2: when you have some kids who are going to sleep
Speaker 2: away camps, as you wind up with like a totally different,
Speaker 2: random assortment of children, when you have five kids who
Speaker 2: might be home at any given point, and so it
Speaker 2: just changes the dynamic and interesting ways.
Speaker 1: And I kind of I'm here for it.
Speaker 2: I like seeing what the dynamic would be if you
Speaker 2: had this, this and this age, or if you only
Speaker 2: had these two, or if you had tho wan.
Speaker 1: So it'll be kind of fun to see. All right.
Speaker 2: So question this week what to do with the last
Speaker 2: week of summer. There are often no camps by the
Speaker 2: last week of summer, So Sarah, what's your general approach
Speaker 2: for this?
Speaker 3: I have nothing good this year. I'm going to be honest, Like,
Speaker 3: so last year we did travel, like we made that
Speaker 3: our family vacation. I don't know if you remember. It
Speaker 3: was like the most horrendous phase. We had other stuff
Speaker 3: going on too. But then I had like call week
Speaker 3: and then I went straight to vacation or maybe it
Speaker 3: was vacation to call to school, whatever it was. It
Speaker 3: didn't work. So I was like, I'm never doing that again,
Speaker 3: and so I booked our family vacation for June this year,
Speaker 3: like the beginning of the summer instead, when there's also
Speaker 3: not a lot of camps by the way, So it's
Speaker 3: like you can have your issue on either end. So
Speaker 3: our strategy is just going to be like really relaxed, careful,
Speaker 3: getting ready for school kind of stuff. I mean, I'm
Speaker 3: going to be working, but like on my more flexible days,
Speaker 3: I imagine like doing the back to school shopping, make
Speaker 3: sure the kids have what they need, because I felt
Speaker 3: like we just didn't have time for that last year,
Speaker 3: and I really felt it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is a challenge for people who
Speaker 2: are also like if camp has kind of been your
Speaker 2: child care over the summer, then having that gap in
Speaker 2: the last week week and a half is it's challenging. Obviously,
Speaker 2: you can make it a vacation week, though, then that is,
Speaker 2: as Sarah said, the trouble of having it go right
Speaker 2: back into school.
Speaker 1: You could possibly bring your kids.
Speaker 2: To family if that is an option, if you have
Speaker 2: relatives who enjoy spending time with your children and they're
Speaker 2: amenable to it. Maybe that could be a week that
Speaker 2: gets spent with grandparents or something like that. You might
Speaker 2: be able to trade off, like if you are working
Speaker 2: and you have other families in the same boot near you, Like,
Speaker 2: if you think about it, if you had three families,
Speaker 2: you could work out a situation where each parent takes
Speaker 2: one day that would cover six days. You'd only have
Speaker 2: to take one day off, and then the kids would
Speaker 2: be able to do something with the parent who was
Speaker 2: off on that particular day.
Speaker 1: Would probably be a pretty fun experience for those kids.
Speaker 2: But that might be a way to cover for everyone
Speaker 2: and still have a good experience but not have to
Speaker 2: burn through whatever limited PTO people might have.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that. That's fun. And another idea I
Speaker 3: did have is that, especially if you have a kid
Speaker 3: that's switching, either going to a new school or like
Speaker 3: moving off a level in school, orchestrating some kind of
Speaker 3: friend hangout for kids to see their friends if they
Speaker 3: didn't see them during the summer, it can be like
Speaker 3: ease everybody in it can be social and then they can,
Speaker 3: like I don't know, kind of feel more ready. Yeah, socially, Yeah.
Speaker 1: To start the new thing.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, this has been best of both worlds.
Speaker 2: We have been talking all things summer. We are, you
Speaker 2: know our top fives in various different categories. If you
Speaker 2: have ideas of wonderful things you'll be doing this summer
Speaker 2: you want to share with us, please let us know.
Speaker 2: And again, remember it is Sarah's birthday when this episode
Speaker 2: is airing, so please give us a happy birthday review.
Speaker 2: Wherever you get your podcasts, we would appreciate that. We
Speaker 2: will be back next week with more on making work
Speaker 2: and life together.
Speaker 3: Thanks for listening. You can find me Sarah at the
Speaker 3: shoebox dot com or at the Underscore Shoebox on Instagram,
Speaker 3: and you.
Speaker 2: Can find me Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. This
Speaker 2: has been the best of both worlds podcasts. Please join
Speaker 2: us next time for more on making work and life
Speaker 2: work together.