For the Lyntons, that question has an easy answer: four wheeling! Nothing says summer quite like the mountain air swishing past your face, and a white-knuckle ride on an ATV in one of Utah’s glorious canyons. I know, I know-you all thought I was more mellow than your typical four-wheeler. No way! Although I’m not as skilled of a rider as David, I love the workout of a “not-too-steep” trail and the calm-down of the amazing vistas.
And when we involve our kids, it’s heaven on earth. A few days ago, David and I took off on a dirt road and saw the most amazing view. It was a valley so beautiful you could find it in a turn-of-the-century novel. So we turned off our engines to enjoy the sight and found ourselves completely surprised by what we heard—a choir of singing crickets! I thought I had died and gone to heaven! Sitting on the top of the world makes me see the big picture-what life is really all about. After an engaging conversation with David, we were off again, laughing and bouncing over the dirt holes and bumps! It’s simply a magical way to spend our lazy days of summer together.
So, now, I’ll ask you the same question: what do YOU do in the summertime? Are you a morning biker like me? An ATV enthusiast? Camper or card-player? Triathlete or porch-swing sitter? What does your family do to make summers special? Just post your favorite seasonal traditions-post before Wednesday, July 1, when I’ll be randomly drawing 10 lucky commenters’ names to receive a free, new summery stamp set from our Summer Idea Book. Until then, make summer something to scrapbook about!
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?
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Summers for me are times when spend a lot of time outdoors visiting with friends, having picnics and BBQ's and long walks outside.
ReplyDelete3 times a year we pack up a picnic, jump on our bikes and ride with our 5 kids the 2 miles to a Wonderful park here in town. We eat, play, and laugh all day! Then at dusk enjoy the fireworks!!!
ReplyDeleteWe live going camping and having BBQ's and making homemade icecream. The last three years we have also gone to a drive in movie. The kids love it. If I had a porch swing I think it would be heaven on earth to sit on the swing and watch the kids play in the yard.
ReplyDeleteSummertime. I love it! We BBQ, go to the Rodeo, visit with family and friends and enjoy the outdoors. Their is nothing that I love more than a camp fire and making smores.
ReplyDeletethere is nothing better than a bbq, fresh fruit and vegies and sitting outside on the patio enjoying the sounds and warmth of summer! Summer is my favorite season of all with it's long days! Now I just have to figure out how to move my scrapbook room outside!
ReplyDeleteLAKE, we go several weekends in the summer and we also go to the beach at least once. My kids love water and can't get enough of it! I love going to family cookouts and reunions also!. Debra
ReplyDeletedebradigiscraps@yahoo.com
Wow that sounds very adventurous. I enjoy grilling and having people over and swimming in my parent's pool.
ReplyDeleteAnything outdoors--camping, bbqs, picnics at the park. My two boys are still young, so they love being outside. Plus, since I'm a teacher, we take all of our vacations during the summer. This year, a trip to California and a trip to Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. Most of all, I love the time spent with family and the long lazy days.
ReplyDeleteWe love camping and always try a different campground each time getting further and further away from home. It is exciting and we love everybit of it!
ReplyDeleteRafting! We love the thrill of a white water raft trip. Water spraying in your face, tilting rafts, and peaceful places to swim in gorgeous spaces. Some of our most spiritual discussions have happened in peaceful waters. Some of our funniest memories have happened in white water. The river is a great place to bond with family and friends.
ReplyDeleteTo our family nothing says summer like baseball! We live in KC so we are lucky to have the Royals in our backyard. But my father-in-law is from St. Louis so we are HUGE Cardinals fans. Every August we head over to St. Louis for a week of fun. Catching a few Cardinals games, going to the zoo, checking out the Arch. It is something we all look forward to every year!
ReplyDeleteWe travel up to our friend's home in Bishop, CA and then take off on our Harleys. We travel the backroads and wind our way thru Yosemite. When we aren't on the bikes, we are by the river trying to catch fish! It's a great stress reliever and lots of FUN!
ReplyDeleteWe love 4-wheeling too, but summers for us used to mean heading up to Bear Lake for most of it. Enjoying the cabin and the incredibly blue water and just letting the kids run wild!! Wish we still had family who lived there so we could be there still!!
ReplyDeleteAs a mother of 3 boys, I find myself at the lake or river more often then not! My family loves to swim & fish together. We love taking advantage of the "natural beauties" God has blessed us with!
ReplyDeleteChristina Gray
we love our backyard. grilling playing in the water and sand box and garden
ReplyDeleteSummers for us go so fast, every weekend has something planned but in the evenings it's baseball games and sitting on the porch swing catching up on the days activities and just being together enjoying the nice weather.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Utah rocks for more than just the views :D We are summer parade people. With every city doing their own thing, there is honestly a parade a week and we try to hit them all. So far we have made it to Orem and P.G.'s and plan on Lehi's this week ( we missed saratoga and e.m.... car issues ) and can't wait for Provo's next week :D
ReplyDeleteWith my babes being 3.5 and 1.5 years old, they LOVE the parades and so it is becoming quite the family tradition... well for as long as we are in Utah :)
~C
Eating a plate of fresh tomatoes with my dad means Summer to me! Since I was about 12, my parents have always had a garden. My dad and I used to always "pig out!" on a plate of fresh tomatoes. YUM! Now that I'm grown and have children of my own, I was excited this year to find that my youngest (almost 3) loves tomatoes as much as I do. Now her and I can "pig out!" together this year!!!
ReplyDeleteBBQ, Eating Cucumbers from my grandparents garden, ICE CREAM and popsicles, watching my 3 babies play in the sandbox and my favorite activity of all time, swimming. This year we are trying to teach our two older ones to swim and of course, the teacher in me makes sure they don't forget everything they learned the year before so we still do some school work just so we start the school year on a good note.
ReplyDeleteThis summer will be great for us. I am looking forward to just spending time with my family. Because I live in a House full of boys I get to do some of the most amazing things, baseball games, arena football games, motorcross races, stock car races, and anything that involves mud and dirt is high on my list for this summer. I am looking forward to taking tons of photos and scrapbooking all of them this fall when the days get shorter and cooler! It is going to be one amazing summer I am sure!
ReplyDeleteGerriann Armstrong
People always ask which beach did we go to to get our tans....it's the baseball and softball fields! We're there 4-5 days a week. This summer, we're going to the Cooperstown (NY) Field of Dreams Tournament with my son's team!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post! We like to spend our summers camping, especially at the lake lately. With the kids out of school we also make a goal to go on a bike ride every day - there is a bike trail close to our house and we just love the fresh air!
ReplyDeleteOh, how I love summer. Well, not so much right now since it is over 100 degrees here in North TX. lol However, just listening to my kids running around, laughing, and my house full of noise is the best thing to me. We love to take this time to visit family, play in friend's pools, and cook out. Yay summer!
ReplyDeleteHey Jeanette! We take our pop up camper out for a weekend of nature, swimming, hiking and quality family time! Love playing Uno and Yahtzee and roasting marshmellows. Happy Summer!
ReplyDeleteI always look forward to our Ladies' Summer Bible Study. This summer, we're doing "Me, Myself, & Lies" by Jennifer Rothschild.
ReplyDeleteWe know summer is here when the local waterski team has their shows every weekend. I love canning strawberries, going to the farmer markets for melons and sweet corn. I work with daycamp class in the summer which means t-ball, mini camps, our Salsa Scouts badge program, and all of the fieldtrips...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite summer pleasure, though, is when the breezes bring a waft heavenly smells from the car hop diner across the street Ahhh..
Juli
Summertime stirs wonderful memories of vacations with family to the Lake, fresh picked vegetables to prepare and freeze or can, fireworks, ocean breezes at my parents' beach cottage, visits with cousins, aunts and uncles.
ReplyDeleteI loved the lush green grass like carpet under my feet, the beauty of early morning flowers dripping with dew at my grandmother's house in the mountains.
I remember taking a cool dip in the pond near our house without worry of snakes, mosquitoes, parasites, or mud at the bottom.... ( Now, I shudder at the thought) I remember Riding our ponies to a friend's house in the country, and my first "job" helping them with their tobacco crop. At 10 years old, they even taught me how to drive a tractor!
I loved to go Flying with my Dad in his small plane whether it was to the large department store beside the airstrip, or to the beach,(where the local authorities would hold up traffic for us to land on the narrow road that ran the length of the small island where the beach cottage was located.
Though my circumstances have drastically changed, the love of traveling and adventure has never changed. Those brief times are now gone, and we don't travel much, I still have very fond memories about the times together that we did have, and thank God for them. It's a different season of life now.
Summertime now means watching Grandchildren play, harvesting fresh vegetables from the garden, church camp for our youngest daughter and the deepening of friendships...
Hi Jeanette! Well, we live in the Houston, TX area and it gets *very* warm down here during the summers, which I might add, seem to start in April! We spend lots of time at the neighborhood pool and we absolutely love to drive down to Galveston and spend time on the beach. We always feel so refreshed after a day or even a weekend at the beach. It is such a change of pace and we feel like we are a world away, even though it's only a little over an hour from our home. Thanks for sharing your summer adventure with us!
ReplyDeleteWe love to go the beach, and we go often......there is nothing better than closing your eyes and hearing the waves crash onto the sand, and hearing the seagulls singing.
ReplyDeleteBuilding sand castles, boogy boarding, and at night marshmellows melting in the fire pit. Good times!
We also lo
My family's all for the long camping trips, playing on the beaches and hiking. Then, we refuel with yummy BBQs :)
ReplyDeleteMy fondest summer memories are the 4th of July all day/night cookout and fireworks with my dad. this will be the 3rd year without him so it's a hard day for me now. My husband and I take the kids to his parents' cabin on the lake a lot during the summer and they just got a new boat so I'm looking forward to making that a new tradition.
ReplyDeleteSummertime for my family means a lot of activities for the kids. We like to take the kids to the park, camping, movies, swimming, you name it we do it! We try to make the most of the summer by just going places with the kids!
ReplyDeleteUnder the stars, in a tent you'll find the McClane Clan early spring to late into the fall. Under the sun, on a mountain bike, during a long hike, or frolicking in the water; we love our time together. BBQ with friends in the yard, or snuggling in a hammock together, we spend time outdoors no mattter the weather.
ReplyDeleteBecause we all LOVE the Canadian winters so much *cough, cough*... we spend as much time as possible outside during summer.
ReplyDeleteWe love to work in our yard/garden. Its so great to get out biking or walking. My in-laws keep a trailer all summer that we can always camp out at. Mostly though -- what I love is just sitting on the front porch in the evening... talking with my husband and enjoying the warmth.
WooHoo!! I LOVE 4-wheeling too!!
ReplyDeleteOur family likes to go fishing and camping. Our kids are 8,7, and 4, so they are just now getting the hang of things.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, our summer plans are on hold now. Our house was severely damaged by tennis-ball sized hail and we'll be spending most of the summer doing all those repairs. Thanks goodness for insurance!
Another big thing I'm responsible for in the summer is VBS. So, I'll be wrapping up loose ends for that also.
We also have been introduced to the world of summer ball. How exhausting! 2 nights a week we're gone for our daughter's softball games. I enjoy watching her play of course, but look forward to the end of the season.
Basically, we're going to be watching our summer fly by way too quickly!
On the work front, summer for me means bird banding! I love it! Seeing the birds up close is so amazing! Summer also means going camping!!! I am so excited to take my girls camping this year...they are both finally old enough to really appreciate it!!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your summer!
Summertime in Norther Michigan!! We love the seasons, however summertime means every meal gets cooked outside on the grill and we spend as much time as the day is long outside.
ReplyDeleteWe visit our Houghton Lake country house every couple of weeks and take a canoe trip down the Au Sable. The kids are 2 and 6 so and like to go on adventures when we stop.
We also take the ATV's out on the trails (there is one that calls my name at the end of the county road on the way back to the city house; right takes you into town, left takes you home, but going straight onto the dirt road is where I long to be).
We also take the boat out almost every weekend for picnics on the boat and water time.
There are the impressive 4th of July fireworks too!
Summer is definitely about family and friends and fresh local produce and turning the playset into a mini waterpark!
Summertime is short in northern Vermont so you have to enjoy every minute because you know that the white flakes will soon be back. One of my favorite things is to sit out on my deck in the morning to enjoy my coffee. We live on a large pond which is home to a couple of loons and lots of ducks which are always fun to see. One of the most amazing sites I saw was last summer when we were out on our new boat. An eagle came swooping down to "catch" a fish in the water, right beside our boat then flew right over us. It was so close that you could see the talons hooked around the fish. I can't wait to see what we may see this summer!
ReplyDeleteMy summer usually involves a bit of fishing, camping, canoing, trips to the lake, BBQs, fireworks, late night movies, swimming pools, flip flops, snow cones and soaking up the sunshine!!
ReplyDeleteRead a book from cover to cover while sitting in the shade under a beautiful tree with a glass of ice tea...
ReplyDeletesummers we try to go to antique car shows(crusie -ins), it is just me and my hubby. we also go to a couple family reunions each summer and we are defiantely porch swing sitters!
ReplyDeleteDiane Tuggle
We try to do lots of BBQs with friends and neighbors. Also, since my husband is a teacher, he gets to spend lots of quality time with the kids, which is nice. They really get a chance to "know" their daddy.
ReplyDeleteNothing says summer like homemade apple wood smoked thin crust BBQ pizza on the grill. Its a labor of love for me as it takes several hours from start to finish to make and grill the individual pizzas but getting an A++ from my 7 year old and "you're the BEST mom ever" from my other kids makes it all worth while! This year we upgraded to a 15' quickset pool so my husband and I can get in there with the kids and have fun! We roast marshmallows on our gas firepit, make snow cones, enjoy our flower garden, have friends over, eat watermelon and just enjoy having a long stretch of time to enjoy eachother's company. I love summer with my kiddos!
ReplyDeleteSwimming, camping, hiking, BBQs, family reunions. Anything where there will be an opportunity to take pictures for scrapbooking!
ReplyDeleteMy family does a lot of smaller day trips over the summer and of course I go to leadership or convention which is always a summer highlight for me but i think my favourite thing is to wake up in the morning with my cup of joe and know that I can just hang out with my son all day- that is just priceless!!
ReplyDeleteSummer means lots of good things. Things like BBQ's, camping outdoors, summer vacation, family reunions, picnics and best of all sunshine!!!! And of course, I can't forget watermelon eating, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, melons, lots of good, yummy fruit!!!! These are some of the priceless things about summertime!!!
ReplyDeleteI love summer because as a teacher, I am on vacation! Our favorite thing to do in the summer is travel to the California Coast and hang out at the beach! This year we plan to camp there for a few days!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do I like to do in the Summer....summer to me is slowing down from all the Spring time sports, and with 4 kiddos, that can be constant running in the car...so summer time comes and I say, that is it!! Time to slow down, enjoy the pool on a weekly basis when Mom gets done work, then come August, we hit the shore...we have been going to the same shore, every August for about 10 years now.....and of coarse, we have to play a little Pinnocle while we are down there...and I have to have my summer novel all picked out=}
ReplyDeleteLiving near the Gulf Coast, we load up the car with friends and family and head to Galveston for a long day at the beach. (We do this several times during the summer.) I love watching my girls; they have more fun digging in the sand, building sand castles, etc., than they do playing in the water. We will be going this Saturday, the first time since Hurricane Ike hit Galveston last Sept., so it will be interesting to see how much Galveston has changed.
ReplyDeleteSummer is a time to hang with friends later in the evening and just enjoy each others company more than when it gets dark so early.
ReplyDeleteThe ATVing sounds like fun. Our girls love the beach and since we recently moved to Tigard we are about 1.5 hours from the beach. We got there often. We can spend the entire day just hanging out and enjoying the peace of the beach. Treena
ReplyDeleteDuring the summer we BBQ. Food, friends, and music in the backyard. I have the most fun with friends and family. We even have a baseball game. I have some really great pictures of my kids and their friends play backyard ball.
ReplyDeleteWell since I live in Arizona summers are HOT HOT HOT! If I am outside on a summer day you bet its at a pool! More typically I spend my summer trying to get away on vacation as often as possible to visit places under 110 degrees! :)
ReplyDeleteMy family of 3 loves to go to the pool and enjoy lazy summer nights outside with friends just enjoying the fresh air and each others company!
ReplyDeleteBrandey Downs
Summer in Alaska means long drives to see our state, family picnics and lots of hiking to see glaciers.
ReplyDeleteJudy Applegarth
Lots of grilling, and time at the beach.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and I love going to movies to beat the heat, then head to the mall, then Cold Stone Ice Cream!
ReplyDeleteWith both our schedules so opposite this could be on a weekend or weekday.
The beach! We go several times during the summer- plus we live in the mountains so we have the best of both worlds!
ReplyDeleteWe've recently moved back to the place I spent my early childhood years and it's been so fun being back to share those memories with my children! Tonight we did one of our new favorite summer traditions... eat ice pops on the front porch in our jammies while we wait for it to get dark enough to catch fireflies!!!
ReplyDeleteAside from gardening, baseball, and long hikes with our dog, every summer we take a big family vacation with my brothers and their families and our parents... twelve of us all together. Usually simple vacations.. 1000 Islands in a houseboat, adirondacks for a week, oh .. sometimes not so simple... my parents took us on a fantastic alaskan cruise a couple years ago. But it doesn't matter what we do... it's the getting together that matters and we always have so much fun and laugh our days away. Tomorrow we are surprising my parents for their 40th anniversary.. we're flying out to arizona unannounced. They think our vacation is at the end of August... little do they know, it starts now!
ReplyDeleteThe thing I most like to do in summer is be with my children more. We just sit and talk without being rushed, without another care in the world. My children are mostly teenagers now and their lives (thus mine too!) is busy with all their activities but in the summer everything gets slower. Whether we chat after eating dinner on the back patio or just sit in the family room, feeling unrushed, we are just more relaxed, and we spend more time unwinding together. . . that's what I love the most.
ReplyDeletemy kids would say work! Yard work, that is. We have a big yard with an orchard and a good size garden, so there is always plenty to do. We love the outdoors and we just got the fun pool from Costco and it is finally warm enough for them to play in it, so life is good!
ReplyDeleteSummer is my favorite time of year. I love bein able to go outdoors. We love to go camping and are lucky enough to have a spot close by for a quick weekend getaway. It's also time for motorcyle rides with my hubby even though it's not really my thing, I do venture out with him every now and then. And I LOVE watching my boys come up with new and fun obstacle courses for the backyard out of whatever they can find - rope, logs, ladders, etc. It's so much fun to watch them build and tweak their courses.
ReplyDeleteWe are water people. Beach, pool, waterpark...We are there! It should be an interesting and challenging summer because my daughter broke her arm yesterday!
ReplyDeleteSummer Vacation! We as a family somedays just exist :) WE always look forward to our BIG family reunion in Glendale UT at the Heaton Ranch...my KIDS love the reunion. They get to see cousins then would other wise never know... we also grow a garden and love watching the kids count the new tomatoes or potato plants that come up....
ReplyDeleteMy favorite is the 4th of july...I love tradition...and the 4th of July is my thing! I wish you and your family much "Summer wheelin' fun!"...(my hubby is a wheelin' dude..me not so much..it's all good though!)
Our all time favorite time of the summer is Fourth of July week!! We make a weeks long event as my son's birthday is June 29th and My husband is a active duty United States Marine! I love the honor that is carried throughout the house on Fourth of July... And this year is no exception... though my husband is deployed currently... my son graduated from Young Marine Boot Camp in May and is looking forward to marching in the fourth of July parade in his Young Marine uniform... God Bless the USA!!!and our service members!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite activity is going to a baseball game. Whether it my sons or the Cleveland Indians nothing screams summer like baseball!
ReplyDeleteStarting in May, my husband and I walk along the beach in the evening after work - we know summer is coming! Love to spend 4th of July watching the city's fireworks with friends and family on the lawn of the junior college.
ReplyDeleteWe love to play baseball together as a family of 7. We love swimming, pretty much anything outdoors. We also love to travel to see Grandparents in hot AZ. Love your blog.
ReplyDeleteSummer means camping, and cookouts for my family! I love to camp at both the State and Federal Parks here in PA! Don't forget those marshmallows, and chocolate bars!!
ReplyDeleteLinda
We are all about swimming when summer finally gets here. My 3 year old waits all winter long for this, and in Michigan that's a long time!
ReplyDeleteSummertime to me is being outdoors with the kids playing on their swings or running through the sprinkler or going to the beach on the other side of the neighbourhood lake.
ReplyDeleteHi Jeannette, you painted such a pretty picture with your summery post today. Thanks for sharing it. I love to go out walking in the summer. It is so fun to just head out the door and NOT have to put on heavy winter gear and boots, etc. It is like freedom! My family ends up visiting a lot of the relatives that we haven't seen for awhile. We also like to go camping.
ReplyDeleteNothing means summer around here more that Redneck Golf. A fun game of tossing 2 golf balls tied together on a sting towards a set a fences. We spend hours enjoying friends, outdoors and snacks playing this game in our yard all summer long.
ReplyDeleteWe love to go to the beach! We live about 10 minutes from the NC coast and go as often as possible. The kids love to ride the waves on their boogie boards and I love to sit with a good book and my toes in the water. When my hubby comes with us we like to take long romatic walks on the beach. It's the perfect way to spend the summer for us!
ReplyDeleteCamping, camping and more camping! This year takes us on a ten-day trek to the Oregon coast; with 17 kids in our group there's bound to be lots to laugh about!
ReplyDeleteA favorite tradition of mine is our town's annual Celebrate America event on the thrid of July. We picnic at a park while listening to the Honor Guard band play their instruments. There's a parade, a table decorating contest and a pie-making contest. It's about as Americana as it gets!
We absolutely love the long hot summers! We are like you & like to be outside as well. My husband, son & I are off road adventurer's for sure. Wether we are 4-wheeling & dirt biking around the property or heading up north, the more of nature, dust & mud we can find the better. We try to fit in alittle camping, swimming & campfires as well! My favorite is firefly's at night ~ I like to catch them in a jar & watch them for awhile!
ReplyDeleteHappy Summer :0)
Summertime for us means family time. We're re-grouping from soccer season, tax season and busy lives. We use the summer to recharge and enjoy each other. Lazy summer days filled with bike rides, romps with the dogs, and catching lightning bugs - heaven on earth. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jeanette,
ReplyDeleteEvery year for the summer the ladies in my family take a trip to Holiday World & Splashin Safari in Santa Claus Indiana. It is the best mini vacation! There are so many things to do there and the park boasts that it is the cleanest park in the country and I think they are right! We make many memories there every year. As a matter of fact we just got back this past Wednesday from our trip there. My favorite memory from this trip would be watching my daughters face as she rode a rollercoaster for the first time! I am going to have to scrapbook that memory for sure!
Thanks for making it possible,
Meredith Wogan
Our family LOVES the outdoors -- we camp, hike, visit the beach. Being in Oregon we are blessed to have it all -- mountains to ocean and rivers in between!
ReplyDeleteOur family is separated by states, so our favorite thing to do is to travel to be together. Usually, it's my husband and I going to where our daughters are - northern Utah - and that means we get to do those things we love the most: picnic and hike up the canyons, play at Bear Lake, camp in Yellowstone and in general, just spend time with family. We love to play games, and a new favorite is Farkel.... gotta try it!
ReplyDeleteSummer is when I get to sit back, relax, and actually get some stamping done. As a teacher, it is difficult to find time during the school year to do the one thing I love most, which is stamping. Reading a good novel is another activity that I like to do during the summer.
ReplyDeleteLaurie W.
Summer at our house is a time to slow down. We love to sit out on the back porch eat ice cream, watch the kids play on the pool and just take it all in. I love summertime!
ReplyDeleteI love sumertime! We like go to the farmers markets with all the fresh fruit and veges and have BBQ's with family and friends. We also love to go to Lake Tahoe and ride our bikes and enjoy the natural beauty around us.
ReplyDeleteLiving on Vancouver Island means that we can enjoy BBQ's, biking, hiking & trips to the beach all year round, but in the summer there's just not as much rain. LOL
ReplyDeleteSummer means our children come often, even during the week and bring the grand kids and grt grand kids to splash in the pool,shoot hoops or just laze around. My wonderful son in law, or now the grown up grandsons do the outdoor grilling. I love being out in the sunshine, even in the 100+ degree heat. Lots of cute, everyday pictures get taken...which means more scrapbooking for the cold winter months. Long bicycle rides in the cool of the evening or another pleasure.
ReplyDeleteThe best part of summer for me is having somewhere to go on long trips. This year we're going to Iowa. We live in Idaho. I love the long drive. I love all the scenery. I love the corn fields of Nebraska. I love the red roads in Wyoming. I even love the night lights of the big cities we pass on the way. I love getting lost. Truth is I love America.
ReplyDeleteLiving in Coastal Florida means water, water, and more water!!! When I was a kid, we didn't have a lot of money but we had a lot of fun! Every year we got a new swimming pool - tee hee. I don't know if they are still around...they were about two feet tall, metal with a plastic liner. We had a blast!!!! It was just low enough that we could get a running start and fly over the side with a huge splash! Goodness, I can imagine how much water we used! It was so hot and we lived outside. My brother and I used to play Gilligan's Island - who knew Gilligan had a backyard pool?
ReplyDeleteWell, I moved away, but then moved back home 15 years ago to raise my son in a great town, near family. After a year, we bought our home - a 40-year old one, but it had a REAL swimming pool!!!! Alan was just six years old at the time. We could not WAIT till everyone left that first day so that we could slip into the pool! We felt like royalty!
Now he is 21 and in college, but we will be enjoying the pool next week when he comes home for a couple of weeks. Putting the chicken on the grill, jumping in the pool for five minutes. Climbing out to check on the chicken. Jumping back in for more horseplay. Climbing out to turn over the chicken. Jumping back in. Climbing out, drying off, running inside for drinkgs. Checking the chicken. Jumping back in. Oh, I cannot WAIT!!!
Deb
www.scrapbookczar.blogspot.com
WE spend much of our summer sitting at baseball fields, we have 4 boys and at one time they all played baseball and we would spend every night of the week watching one of their games. Things have slowed down now only 2 play and the oldest one coaches so we are still spending lots of time around the fields. Our favorite thing to do between Baseball and Football seasons is to escape to our cabin in the Eastern TN mountains and spend our days with just the bare necessities, hiking the mountains and enjoying God's beauty.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things to love about summer! Fun camps for the kids, planting our veggies and eating tomatoes right off the bushes, trips to the beach and celebrating our nation's birthday by watching a small town parade in the morning and the fireworks at night. We've bought our own fireworks for the last few years and set them off in front of our house (it is still legal where we live!). Seeing the kids with sparklers have brought back some great childhood memories.
ReplyDeleteSwimming in the creek. There are no lakes in our area of Northern Alberta so creeks it is. My kids LOVE to play in the water and I love anything that keeps them busy. We also spend alot of time taking walks on our property and playing hide-and-seek in our fields.
ReplyDeleteBy far having a fire and roasting hot dogs and marshmellows- the longer days- and of course I love it when the "lightning bugs" (as we called them growing up) are out. Ahh summer!
ReplyDeleteOur family loves to fly fish and camp as much as we can in the summer. In fact, we are teaching our daughter to fly fish and last weekend, she caught her first fish on a fly rod! It was the largest fish caught that day - hooray for her! And the new paper pack Back Country, is the best paper for me to make my summer memories last forever.
ReplyDeleteJust having a more relaxed schedule is what I enjoy. I seem to catch up on scrapbooking, card making, etc. because I don't have carpools to drive, homework to help with, bedtimes to enforce.
ReplyDeleteBBQ's, swimming, just fun times with my family is worth everything to me.
My husband and I love nothing more than to take off early from work and hit the mountains to go camping, hiking, caving, fishing. We love the great outdoors. Utah is so beautiful and have beautiful Mountains in every which way you drive. Our new favorite treat while camping is Cookie n Cream S-Mores. Instead of a chocolate bar try it with a Hershey's Cookies n cream bar. You'll die by how dang tasty it is!
ReplyDeleteWalks around the lake near us (5 miles round trip), gardening, grilling, and motorcycle rides with my hubby with a stop at the DQ.
ReplyDeleteSince leaving in Colorado Springs, our summers are all about hiking, and finding new places to go and explore. We love being outdoors, and the kiddies like to find new treasure!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a boat and there is nothing like the wind in your hair as you are zooming across the lake. Then we throw anchor and enjoy jumping off the boat and swimming for the rest of the afternoon.
ReplyDeleteWe love spending our summer vacation camping and 4-wheelin' in Northern Wisconsin (we are from Minnesota).
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I love to camp in the summer and fall. Our granddaughter is now 4 years old and went camping with us for the first time in May. What a lot of fun the three, er four (add our sweet basset hound)of us had on that weekend!
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy taking my three grandchildren to the local snowie shaved ice stand for a cool treat after we go to the pool.
While we love camping and playing outside with the kids I think one of our favorite things is raiding my husband's grandparents garden. My kids love picking the veggies and berries with their great-grandpa. My 4 yr old lives for grandpa's corn on the cob cooked on the grill. Love summer!!
ReplyDeleteOur kids love the pool, beach, plygrounds, and parks. We like to have cook outs and break out the wtaer slide as well. It is super hot and humid here in Okinawa and water activities are the a great way to beat the heat.
ReplyDeleteWork in the garden!
ReplyDeleteWe camp, catch up on reading and scrapbooking, hang out together a lot since the kids are all off school and head to the pool a lot. Summer always goes by way too fast!
ReplyDeleteThis summer, my family and I just started geocaching. It's a new thing for us and we are having fun. My kids like to call it "going on a treasure hunt". Little boxes are hidden all over the world for you to find with a GPS, sign the log and sometimes trade an item from within it!
ReplyDeleteWe usually go camping every summer at least once. Ride ATV's and fishing. Other than that we just try to stay out of the heat.
ReplyDeleteWe try to do it all. Swimming, 4-wheeling, tubing, BBQing, softball. We living in Michigan so we have to enjoy the summer while we can,,,,,,,you know, it might not be here tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteAh...catching fireflies, camping, enjoying the evenings swinging. Plus nothing beats homemade icecream and a BBQ!
ReplyDeleteWe watch the Cubs!--the Chicago Cubs and the Iowa Cubs. This could be the year...or maybe next year. We also try to get to at least one Jimmy Buffett concert each year.
ReplyDeleteOur family spends our summer vacationing! anywhere and everywhere we love to travel! other than that... hanging in the pool is just so awesome and relaxing.
ReplyDeleteJust about every weekend we BBQ. Most weekends there are people over at our house to join in the festivities. We also like to go to the zoo a lot. It is one of our favorite places to hang-out. We have an annual pass and we definitely get our monies worth out of it.
ReplyDeleteIn Astoria, It really isn't warm until August so we have a short "summer". But getting a break from the rain and being out on the days that are sunny are such a joy! Today we are having a balmy 70 degree day, I sat on my porch, in the sun. Now how much fun is that! I just sat!
ReplyDeleteLiving in Southern California, we get a lot of sunshine and opportunities to go to the beach throughout the year. But when it is actually summer, my hubby and I absolutely love taking small roadtrips through the back roads of the Santa Monica or Santa Barbara Mountains, then visiting the beach or taking a hike. We are always lucky to find some new & beautiful photo and hiking spots. There is just something extra special about the summer sunshine that makes it all that much more breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteWe live on a lake in the beautiful Northeast Georgia mountains, so swimming and jetskiing are what we love to do in the summer. We just got back from a camping trip in a our 5th wheel camper. We enjoy camping year-round, but there's nothing like summer!
ReplyDeleteSummer means welcoming Eastern visitors to our Land of Enchantment New Mexico! We have the grandkids, nieces, and friends who come to visit, looking forward to BBQs and picnics. We take our wonderful guests over forest service backroads into the Sacramento mountains in our Jeep, and enjoy the sunshine, quiet, and beauty . . . and all those photos become scrapbooks during the quiet indoor winter days.
ReplyDeleteMy family tries to spend as much time on daytrips and picnics as possible. Its great just to load the kids up in the car and head off. Sometimes the best days are the ones that have no agenda or gameplan.
ReplyDeleteSummer for me means dripping ice cream cones in my little girls hands, jumping into the sprinklers in the backyard, building sand-castle cities with everything we can find on the beach, indulging in sinfully sweet, juicy watermelon....and spending quiet summer evenings on the porch reading my latest CTMH Idea Book (after the kidlets go to bed!). Summer rocks!
ReplyDeleteIn my eyes we have the perfect location for a home. Across the street is a lake, down the street one way is state land, down the street the other way is a beach that we go to every day in the summer. My and my 3 kids get up in the morning, I take care of business...Close To My Heart and housework...we either eat lunch or pack a lunch and head down to the beach! We have a wagon packed with beach toys that we take with us. It's such a wonderful way to spend the afternoons. I often sit on the beach looking out at the water and think how lucky we are.
ReplyDeleteSummer for me means family vacations. My parents took my brother and I on a vacation every summer. I have so many memories of our vacations. Now we try to take vacations with our girls too. They are visiting Texas now and I plan on playing scrapbook catch-up until they return.
ReplyDeleteEvery other year my husband's family has a reunion. The one in 2007 was at Zion's Nat'l Park and there were 110 in attendance. This year it is in Nauvoo, IL and we are very excited since it will only be a 5 hour trip for us instead of 20. It is great to be able to see family you usually only get to see every 2 years. We have a great ime just getting caught up on our busy lives and meeting all the new little ones.
ReplyDeleteSummer for me has always been synonymous with "Grandma's Camp." It's a place on a little lake in the Adirondack Mountains of NY and it's my home away from home. It seems that the older I get the more obligations I have that keeps me away, but I can't help but make it a point to retreat to the calm and tranquility of my paradise among the pines as often as I get the chance. Roasting smores, jumping into the lake, and playing board games with my sisters, will always be cherished memories and summer time favorites.
ReplyDeleteOur favorite thing to do in the summer is swimming. We love to be in water whenever we can. My girls also love to go to the local library and check out fun books to read. That makes me proud! We love the heat! :) Have a wonderful summer!
ReplyDeleteCan't really name one specific thing since our summer activities vary quite a bit as the kids get older and participate in different activities. When my son was a bit younger and playing on a baseball team, we spent lots of hours at the ball park! His younger sister would play in the dirt with the other siblings and her small little toy ponies. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jeanette, we enjoy our summers here in Hot AZ by sleeping in, BBQ's, swimming, loving the fact school is out,just all around relaxation, and usually an end of summer vacation. Thanks for sharing your life with us.
ReplyDeleteSummer is a great time for camping at our house, especially when you live in hot climate and can travel a couple hours and be in beautiful pine trees and cooler weather. My husband and I love to take the travel trailer and go to a favorite spot in Williams, Arizona call "Dogtown" camp ground. We are in the pine trees and close to a lake. While my husband is taking a nap under a pine tree in the afternoon, I am scrapbooking or making cards at the picnic table or inside the trailer, at the table with the windows cranked wide open and the cool breeze blowing through. What a life!
ReplyDeleteSummertime--July--is vacation time for us. We live in Louisiana where the temp has been 100 degrees. We can't wait to go North--all the way to Washington where we hope to be cooler. My daughters, grandaughter and my parents live up there and I look forward to seeing them soon. Thanks for sharing your summer fun with us.
ReplyDeleteLinda
There is no doubt about it prairie walks! I love to take walks in the prairie with my daugther and husband. The best part is that my daugther has to stop and smell each flower just to make sure that they are still pretty she says. And of course our little tradition of an ice cream cone after each walk does wonders!
ReplyDeleteHey Jeanette! I'm with you on the 4 wheeln'! There's nothing like it! Growing up, we had the summer tradition of going to northern Michigan to a Mennonite Church camp. We made so many life long friends. We went the same week every year, so we saw the same people from all over. I have such great memories of walking in the streams, swimming in the lake (no matter how cold Lake Michigan was!), going to bible studies, making a fire out on the beach and enjoying our friends and family. I've been going since I was 2 years old. I may not be able to go every year, but I go when I can. I see the joy in my Grandmas and parents eyes as my brothers and I pass the tradition on to our children. It's been such a blessing in our lives. It's appropriately called Little Eden. It's definitely our beautiful Garden of Eden! Thanks for the chance to share our memories!
ReplyDeleteEvery two years, we have a weeklong family reunion with my mother's family. We take turns hosting in a town near where we live. This year was family reunion time! We traveled to Monterey, CA to have fun, fun, fun! We met with family from all over the country. Our children can't wait for this trip and begin talking about it a year in advance. This reunion allows our children to enjoy family they many never have known otherwise. The sights are always awesome, the playtime engaging, but our family time is the most precious. We carry home memories to last another two years! These trips outshine laying around the pool, going to the zoo and local attractions! We love it!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I love to go to Spanish Ont. and go 4 Wheelin it is like paradise to see the wild life, lakes, and waterfalls.
ReplyDeleteJoy McCalvin
My husband and I have a 27ft. travel trailer, so we can't wait for summer to come so we can pack up and hit the road. We take take our family with us some times so they can enjoy camping and just get out and enjoy the great outdoors.
ReplyDeleteAudrey Goos
We can't wait for summer to come, that means getting away from the city and head to the state park to go camping and boating. When we are out at the lake, our kids and grandkids come out for the day. We also have friends who come out and spend the day with us.
ReplyDeleteWe love to travel, at least once a year we take a trip. Over July 4th this year, we are taking my mother-in-law, our daughter and her new baby, 2 other grandchildren, and us are headed to SD in our motor home. This will be the first time we'll be able to take our oldest grandson on a trip with us. We are so looking forward to this trip.
I love summers! My kids are 9 & 11 and I just love having them home with me! We spend our summers at the pool,having BBQ's with Friends and Family & Summertime is when my husband takes vacation days and we take day trips to all the fun sights of Arizona. We moved here a year ago and so exploring Arizona with the family is so much fun! Another thing we love to do - is Friday Craft day - many kids from my neighborhood gather for Fun Kid Crafts - I love inspiring the kids to be crafty too!
ReplyDeletewww.peekatmypaper.blogspot.com
Thank you so much for sharing and giving us more insights into your life. I love hearing about all of it.
ReplyDeleteSummertime...where to start. We have so many interests, it is hard to keep up with us (I wish the work week was shorter and the weekends were longer!) Anyway, we love to ride our motorcycles (yes, I have my own and love it), tractor pulling, camping, oh my gosh, the list could go on forever, but I will stop here. Just spending time with my family really is what it is all about!
My favorite thing to do in the summer is to return to Virginia Beach where I liver for almost 18yrs. I see old friends, visit my favorite restaurants and sit on the beach and commune with the Atlantic. While time marches on I find it much the same each visit.
ReplyDeleteI love the family reunions that we go to in the summer. I love my vegetable gardens scattered throughout the yard and the fresh produce that we eat, bottle, and share. And I love that baseball season might end soon...it has been fun, but having 6-8 games per week for my sons is...well, lets just say it is time to move on to football. One last summer time love... attending our CTMH event! Can't wait!
ReplyDeleteI love the summer because I don't have to worry about waking my kids up early to make it to school on time. They get to sleep in and are happier and I get to sleep in and am happier.
ReplyDeleteWe love city-fest hopping in Utah-- rodeos, fireworks, great food and local talent. It is a great way to get to know the place where you live!
ReplyDeleteThe Beach! We live less than an hour from the beaches along Lake Michigan and love to spend our time there, walking the beach, swimming and soaking up the sun!
ReplyDeleteThe 4th of July is our most favorite time in the summer. We always buy everyone in the family an Old Navy flag t-shirt for the celebration. We like to spend the day with lots of family. We enjoy card games, smoked BBQ ribs, and of course homemade ice cream.
ReplyDeleteWe love summer! Every Summer we have a few things we always do - a 5K "CAT" walk on the 4th of July, as many beach day trips as we can fit in, and a trip to the state fair at the end of the summer. We eat these humongous ice cold pickles at the state fair and get our family photo taken in a teensy tiny photo booth. We also take apicture of our boys in the same spot at the fair every year so we can see how we've grown!
ReplyDeleteWe love summertime so we can plant a veggie garden and grow our own veggies. We enjoy veggie packets on the grill loaded with our own home grown veggies, which is delicious over angel hair pasta with shredded cheese. Of course, don't forget to throw some pepperoni slices in the packet for seasoning :-)
ReplyDeleteWe look forward to home grown veggies all year long and absolutely love growing our own and reaping the benefits of them!
Have a great day!
Kristie
We enjoy getting together w/ friends and family for cook-outs and letting the kids play together. They always like to see who can catch the most fireflies.
ReplyDeleteGina Stockfisch
We like to do a lot of swimming. It always helps you cool down on hot summer days. This weekend we got back from our first family camping trip, and we had a blast. This may become our new favorite summer activity.
ReplyDeleteWe visit Avila Valley Barn in San Luis Obispo, Calif. They have so much to do, hay rides, pick your own fruits, veggie (kids love this), feed the animals and pet them. while the kids are eating homemade candy apples, us adults are eating corn on cobs..we take lots pictures so we can scrapbook pages from this place.also,cannot pass up their cobblers. then from there over the hill is Pismo Beach. It is a 7 hour drive but it is well worth it. We do this at least 3x a year since pumpkins time is our favorite.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I would travel with my grandparents to Sabinal, Texas to visit my aunt/uncle & cousins. We'd always plan a day trip or two to the Frio River (20 miles from them). Several of us would be dropped off at the river bridge crossing with our tubes and start floating down to Camp Riverview. Soooo much fun. That was 20 plus years ago. Well, I FINALLY got my hubby & son up there this past week. They had a BLAST! They LOVED the river -- so clear & cool -- some spots cooler than others because of the cold springs; they LOVED the rope swings hanging from the towering cypress trees all along the bank. I had forgotten how much I missed it...all those wonderful memories of past with my grandparents came rushing back...and made me smile and reflect. I'm happy to say that we are going back next year...to continue a tradition that was in hiatus for me.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, our family loves to do a lot of things in the summertime. My husband is HUGE on 4-wheeling but we usually do that when the weather is cooler (in Vegas). In the summer we spend a few weekends at the lake and a week at Lake Powell. We go camping as often as possible and swimming wherever possible. He grew up on the swimming and four-wheeling and I grew up on camping all the time. With both of our childhood traditions we have a lot of preparation to do when the summer hits. haha So much to do and so little time to do it in.
ReplyDeleteJanette,
ReplyDeleteWe spend a lot of time outside in the summer. We love eating on the deck, breakfast lunch and dinner. We have woods next to our house and even though we live in the city, it feels like we are far away from it when we sit there with a little fire in the chiminea.
I also love to walk the golf course with my husband and help hunt for errant balls! I love walking the dog, too. Just being outside is the best.
We spend a couple of weeks going back home and visiting my friends a family back in Mississippi. I think it is extremely important for my girls to know where their roots are and get to know our family better. Once we are back in AZ, we spend a lot of time at the pool or playing games indoors.
ReplyDeleteSummer to us is getting outside and enjoying our yard(we live in WI cold, cold, cold)we love to tend to the perennial garden and bushes and grass.The most important thing is people stop by to talk and visit. We have gliders and swings tucked in all over to sit down and enjoy the views or sit and relax.We also love to get a daily walk in to visit neighbors and keep fit.
ReplyDeleteFor my husband and I summer is about golf! We put a golf net in the backyard for practice. We love spending time together perfecting our golf skills and playing on various courses in our area. Later this summer we'll be travelling from KS back to WI for my family's 21st Annual Golf Tournament!
ReplyDeleteG--good times
O-outside fun
L-loving family tradition
F-family & friends
fireworks are my favorite part of summer. but i go up to my daughtere in laws lake cabin and play in the water at least once a season, that is always so fun. but i am mainly a reader, nothing better than a good book and warm summer breeze to realize how good the Lord is. if you finished "pillars of the earth. you may want to read. Randow acts of heroic love. Danny schiemerman.
ReplyDeleteSummer means biking, walking, golfing (for me) and sitting around a fire talking and roasting marshmallows. We love our times as a family around the fire and often friends stop by and join us. The more the merrier as far as we're concerned! We also love picnics and warm summer breezes...and let me tell you, since we moved to Minnesota, we appreciate summer more than ever before!
ReplyDeleteSummertime for us is all about the outdoors. Soaking up the warmth of a Pacific Northwest day. Either in the pool, at the beach, on a hiking trail, camping, BBQing or visiting with friends. Summertime is meant to be outside!
ReplyDeleteMy kids love water, so summer is all about blowing bubbles and water guns at our house. It makes the summer days just a bit cooler and a lot more fun.
ReplyDeleteWe love our family vacation. My husband and three boys (2 teens/1 tween) take off in our fifth wheel for 2-3 weeks. We've taken trips to most of the best places in the US and Canada and we're not done, yet.
ReplyDeleteIt is so nice to just unplug the TV, phone and internet.
We get to really reconnect with our kids and to show them the world around us.
Summer is about slowing down, enjoying long dazy days, playing at the beach and BBQ's with friends
ReplyDeleteWe love being outside, whether it is taking walks, enjoying the park, laughing at the kids playing in the water and sandbox. Summers have so many fun memories!
ReplyDeleteWe enjoy camping, grilling out, and biking on the local bike trails along the lake.
ReplyDeleteWe are an outdoorsy family and love anything outside. My son is 2 and we love swimming and playing in the sprinkler. We are also big 4 wheeler people and love to ride, but prefer the trails in cool Colorado to the 100 degree Texas heat.
ReplyDeleteWe love to swim! We head to the pool at least 3 to 4 times a week and just hang out at the pool all day. Relaxing and SO fun! Thanks for the fun give-away. :)
ReplyDeleteDana K.
For our family, summer usually starts off with a 4th of July reunion with my father, sister, two brothers, and assorted nieces and nephews. It's a big noisy mess, but fun! We live all over the country, so it's great to be able to get together.
ReplyDeleteSummer is family time--whether we are BBQing or sitting beside my cousin's pool it is all about family! Homemade ice cream and fireworks are part of our July 4th tradition although this year we are celebrating my niece's 25th birthday after having open heart surgery in April! Many things to be thankful but mostly family time together!
ReplyDeleteOne thing I love to do in the summer is to have outdoor music parties-we potluck it-bring our instruments and play music til we drop!
ReplyDeleteSummer is a great time to spend with family and friends doing the things we all love, bar-b-que, eating, playing games, riding motorcycles and traveling to different places and taking lots of pictures to scrap.
ReplyDelete