Gearing up for Summer, or how to prevent fights while keeping my sanity

So here I am once again, facing the final week of school for Aidan and Davin before summer vacation begins. Last week I spent in almost a frenzy, trying to figure out how we're going to survive our summer together. There are times when my children all play well together, they share, and help each other, they like each other. But then, who can tell when, this unseen switch is flipped, and then they're all at each other's necks.

It is, of course, made worse by the cabin fever that settles over our house by July when the temps are all well above 110. At that point we can swim at our in-law's house by 10 am, or after 5 pm, otherwise it's just too hot. Yes, there is a point when it becomes too hot to swim. If their pool were like the one I grew up with (unheated really), then it wouldn't be too bad. But they, brilliantly, have a safety cover (to protect the little kids from the pool), and this safety cover heats the pool up. On a good day, it will be bath-water warm. On a too hot day, it will be scalding! No joke.

Last year we tried summer movie passes. I would seriously dissuade anyone with a 1 year old from buying them, it was a fight for 90 minutes with Maddie, and at least one of the other three hated the movie we went to see. We'll give it another go this year, and if it doesn't work out, we'll just bag the whole idea. So far, the kids seem receptive to the movie choices this year, I can only hope.

Last year, I also had the idea of going to the library every other week. But it usually ended in a fight when Eme had to return her book. I'm hoping this year will be better, and if we go early enough, we can walk around the preserve next door. Aidan burns through books like you would not believe. 500 pages are nothing to him, that'll only keep him occupied for 3 days, tops. I'm always up for book suggestions for him: almost 10, reads at a 6th grade level, devours any genre of book. Thankfully our small library of books at home are all new to Davin.

One new thing for us this year: a membership to the Arizona Museum of Natural History. I can't believe we've lived here for 6 1/2 years and have never been! True, it's only about 15 minutes from our house, and it's full of dinosaurs and other cool Az related things (a territorial jail). But it's best feature, hands down, is the a/c, an absolute must for our summertime adventures.

I'm hoping that since the leg. passed the budget last month (woo hoo!!), unlike the previous two years when it was done in July (boo), that we can go do some adventuring up north where it's cooler. There's so much we could do, I'm really pushing for it.

So, I've got weekly movies, and alternating weekly trips to the library and museum, plus 3, or more, swim days a week. But that's it. I'm still trying to figure out how to keep everyone happy, entertained, have a creative outlet, and keep their minds stimulated, all while getting some needed sanity time for me, and keeping the house neat (notice, I didn't say clean). Any suggestions?