READY FOR SUMMERTIME!

I am so suprised how fast this year has gone. It really seemed to sneek up on me for sure. But I am sitting down and thinking about what all I can do to keep the kids entertained. My children are all 3 years apart , 12, 9, 5, the little one will be 6 at the end of the year. Its hard to accomidate all of them equally. The little one obviously likes things the other two don't and vice versa. The 12 year old, only really wants to talk on the phone, cheer, and lay around all day. I was thinking of trying to find things to do around home, this summer, like the lake. Cheap, easy fun.My sister and I have also decided to take all of the kids together a few friday during the summer to other activities to. But i was thinking how nice it would be if I could plan a few things around home, so we didnt have to travel to far or spend alot of money. We live really close to Big Ridge State Park and Norris Lake http://www.tn.gov/environment/parks/BigRidge/. I also decided to cancel some of our expensive cable channels and pay $11 for Netflix. It is wonderful and we can get DVD's or watch movies on the days it rains right from our Wii console. I bought some of the new Window Crayons by Crayola. All the girls love them, and Windex cleans it right off. The Sidewalk chalk is great too, exspecially the new  Glow Chalk, I even love playing with it. Who ever doesn't love to color must be crazy. LOL! I have been writting down all the things that I need to make summer fun from home. If you have any ideas, please share them. I love a good Idea.