We FIRE'd in 2020, with a now-8-year-old. I'm 52 now, so older both as a FIRE-ee and parent. Retirement is funky when you are still beholden to the school calendar.
During the school year, we do many weekend-y things (for working folk): grocery runs / errands, etc. Otherwise, school day is downtime. Chill, watch movies / TV not suited for DS yet, together time.
We try to keep weekends mostly for fun things: we are mindful DS has had a week of school, and needs to blow off some steam. We do some chores, too, to both develop his understanding of that need, and demonstrate to him.
Summer is about he purest retirement time. We spent last summer in Europe. Fancy-sounding things, but we really just went back to living there, so did it much cheaper than most doing the same. If just staying at home, it can get intense to keep your little entertained. It seems that my childhood memories, roaming far and wide with some friends doing whatever all day, all summer, have gone by the wayside. Part of that are the times, and the relatively high profile of security threats. Part of it is that we are home, of course, and able to think about it. This past summer (school here is in its 3rd week already, despite 100+ degree days, every day) was our first summer largely at home. We are learning to schedule play dates, activities, etc. with a summer cadence, rather than a school year cadence.
DS is in 3rd grade, so we are seriously considering an away summer camp next year, both to continue developing his independence as well as to give us a break. My in-laws are in range, and although they are heavy traveller's themselves they are available for weekend visits for us to catch a local concert or something.
