Open Thread: Summer Plans

Coming, staying, going? Tell us what you're up to, and how you're handling childcare.

Today marks the first day of the summer holidays here in Spain. Barring the occasional day release to a casal (the Catalan equivalent of a daytime summer camp), we are now solely in charge of our two children for eleven entire weeks.

As with previous years—and in line with vast swathes of continental Europe—I’ll be shuttering the newsletter in August to spend more time with the kids and recharge the creative batteries.

I have two projects lined up to keep us sane over the summer. I’ve been gifted a 1.0 x 1.5-meter map of Barcelona, and we’re going to pair it with our Instax Camera, a bumper pack of pins, and a boatload of red string to create a homage to the iconic It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia conspiracy meme as we make memories across the city (and maybe have the kids pick up some cartography skills in the process).

The other project will be a summer music camp, where I hope to teach the kids how to use GarageBand, maybe the eldest can learn to DJ, and I’ve got a musician friend I’m going to see if we can hit up his studio on a field trip. I’ve been playing around with ChatGPT to see if it can help create a lesson plan for the music camp, and been pleasantly surprised by the results. Paid subscribers can expect to see a little more about this soon.

That’s it from me, in what was a big week for TNF. So tell me: what’s your plan for the summer?