Get ready, get set…start your vacations!

The excitement was palpable in the yard at Ste. Odile elementary school Wednesday afternoon. While the graduating Grade 6 students were anxiously awaiting their graduation ball that night, the afterschool monitors tried their best to keep the excitement down to a dull roar.

For 10-year-old Gabrielle, the summer will be busy with trips to Toronto, to Florida, and then a fishing trip. Laurent, 12, will do some travelling with his parents as well. He will also spend time at his cottage and at the College Bois de Boulogne day camp.

Arielle, 11, will spend the summer at the Ste. Odile day camp, and is thrilled about it. "I've been going for the last six years. I know the monitors well and I have lots of friends there," she said.

Arielle is not the only one to consider that a full summer should be spent at a day camp.

"In (Ahuntsic Cartierville), in our vacation clubs alone, we had 1,824 kids registered last year," said borough day camps supervisor Michel Gerald. Add to that total a number of private day camps, often more specialized and more expensive.

For those kids too old (13 is the limit) to participate in the borough's vacation camps, they can sign up to be volunteer monitors.

"We ask for a commitment of five weeks, and they get credit for the time they put in as an apprentice when it comes time to get training to become a monitor down the road," Gerard said.

For teenagers not interested in becoming a monitor, the Maison des jeunes de Bordeaux-Cartierville is always humming with activity on hot summer evenings.

"We're always there, and we have a ton of interesting activities in mind," said Jeunesse-2000 l’Acadie leader Mikhael Peterson, mentioning shows and celebrations on tap this summer.

"I'm going to go to the pool every day," exclaimed six-year-old Edouard. "It'll be ready by the weekend," he said.

The contaminated-pools scandal didn't splash down in Cartierville last year and every measure in place to ensure another safe summer for Marcelin-Wilson pool users.

"Water-quality tests are run every hour," said borough official Karine Tougas.

In case of rain, Salaberry and Cartierville libraries will welcome big and small kids alike, all summer long – except holiday—with the same schedule as the rest of the year. Finally, The Bois de Liesse and Ile de La Visitation nature parks hold limitless outdoor possibilities, at a nominal cost.