Summer vacation can become a nightmare if you do not have any plans set up for when the kids are out of school, and it is too early for summer camp to begin. Oddly enough, all your relatives have gone out of town and you are left alone to figure out what to do for a week with three kids under the age of ten and very little money to spend. This is where imagination, spunk and creativity come into play. Plan to spend the entire week outdoors engaging in fun activities that fit into your tight budget and keep your kids interested.

The first stop is the apple orchard. Dress in old clothes or at least in something you do not mind getting dirty and even torn. Be sure everyone has sneakers or similar shoes on, and that they are all wearing socks. On the orchard ground there will be many twigs and broken branches, along with rotten apples and even small ditches where tiny animals live. Wearing sandals will be a big mistake. Be sure everyone has on a cap or hat, and if they are reluctant to wear one, then be sure they have plenty of sunscreen on their faces. Sunscreen will have to be reapplied throughout the day.

Set out early in the morning, this way you not only avoid the crowds that may have come up with the same idea to go apple picking, you also are more likely to encounter less traffic on the road to the orchard. Once you have arrived with your kids to the apple orchard, be sure to leave the windows of the car a crack open and place a sun shield across the windshield to help keep the car cooled down while you are out among the trees and other apple pickers.

Unless one of your kids shook the apple tree hard enough to make the apples drop to the ground, stick with picking apples from the branches. Usually rickety wooden ladders are resting against the tree trunks to make climbing less difficult. Most kids will prefer to climb up the tree the old fashioned way, we is fine too. Pick apples that are not too green. Green apples will be tough and bitter.

A few hours of apple picking will result in several bushels of apples. These are bought by the bushel, which is cheaper than purchasing by the pound. If you choose to buy by the pound, the farmer usually is happy to keep the left over apples to sell later. They will have benefited from free labor, and your kids will have had an enjoyable day outdoors.

Once at home, you can either slice and preserve the apples using a heavy duty vacuum food sealer, or use one of the marinating canisters to soak the apples in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon to be pureed later and vacuum sealed in separate containers to be placed in the refrigerator.

At the end of the day, your kids will be able to feast on applesauce or apple wedges made from the apples they picked. As they lie in their beds, worn out from the physical work out they had in the apple orchard, they are sure to feel a sense of pride and satisfaction. They are certain to remember that day for years to come.