Borax-

An attic fan (or whole house fan) will work great, we had one in NJ &
ran it during the summer at night to cool off the house. It was windy
and kinda noisy but it really worked.

I have a 2 story (actually 1 1/2) story home in SoCal & we have some
hot days but we almost always get the good night time cooling.

I've been too cheap / lazy to install a whole house /attic fan so I did
the next best thing.

I put a couple of 20" box fans in windows of rooms that were unocupied,
with the fans blowing outward. I opened doors & windows in the rooms I
want to cool. The idea is bring the cool air into the rooms you want
cooled first and exhaust through the rooms that matter least. The box
fans are by no means as powerful as a whole house fan but you can give
it a shot & see how it works,

In your case you might want to conider some sort of powered attic
vents, this topic has been discussed before and with some disagreement.
IMO venting the attic is good when ever the attic is hotter than
outside. A superheated attic will drive heat into the house & make
the AC work harder.

The whole house fan is an "old school" solution but it works
http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i...fattfan2a.shtm
http://www.wholehousefan.com/theghost.html

here is a link to a newer concept

http://www.quietcoolfan.com/

Good luck w/ the kids.

I'm still working on one.

cheers
Bob