Summer "fun"?

So thanks to some combined inspiration from my older sister and one of Kyle's teachers I have formulated a plan to have a great character building summer.  Okay, so I'll be happy if my children don't kill each other and nobody's brain rots out their ears!  Here's my plan:  before you can rot your brain in front of a screen you must do something from each of the five categories listed above.  You must report the first four to me, the last is on your honor (because really, the best service is done privately, right?)  If they can convince me that their task fits into a category it counts...I'm really looking forward to this...I have some pretty creative kids.  They are supposed to spend a minimum of 15 minutes on each task...that's not really enough time but I figured if I said longer they would rebel and maybe, just maybe, they will get so engrossed in an activity that they will lose track of time and forget about the TV/xbox/Wii/computer(ha!).  Also, my children tell time in 'episodes of Phineas and Ferb' rather than minutes/hours so saying that each activity must be done for 'one episode of Phineas and Ferb' made sense to my Phinadroids and Ferbots. 

We're on day 3 of summer vacation (but really day one because they wouldn't have gone on Sat/Sun anyway) and it's going well.  I stocked up on crafty things at Hobby Lobby the other day and that kept them busy for about half a day, fun!  My van is spotless, and Tyler has been making lunch for everyone (it doesn't count to make food unless you make it for more than just yourself...woohoo, a lunch chef for the summer!)  I don't know all of their service acts but they have been slightly more kind to each other...only 84 more days, we'll see how the project goes.

Okay, so before I close I have to let you in on the best/worst part of the deal.  While I was explaining the summer plan to my children I had a flashback from a talk I heard to the youth of our church.  The speaker was asking the youth to do some things and said that she never asks the youth to do something she doesn't do herself and then committed to do all those things.  Soooooo, I took a page from that book and committed to do all 5 tasks every day right along with the crew.  On Saturday, day ONE, I was preparing to grab a few pizzas for our start of summer pizza and a movie night when my dear sweet children asked if I had done all 5 things from the list...because if not I couldn't have screen time.  DOH!  It was a really busy day but I quickly thought of things that fit most categories...unfortunately I couldn't convince them that I had sufficiently 'exercised my body'.  That's right folks, I hitched up the bike trailer, rode myself to Little Caesar's and filled that baby up with dinner.  If you know where I live in proximity to LC you aren't very impressed but I have to say I took the trail, went PAST the restaurant and stopped in on my way back home.  It was a good little ride and I'm glad they held me to my commitment, maybe we will have a character building summer after all.