While summer doesn’t officially end until Sept 21 or so (I think), the kids are back in school, the nights are definitely cooler, and I think it’s time to declare the summer season over.
Back in May I posted my Summer Fun List — a list of the things I wanted to do to make summer feel like summer for me.
We managed to do the vast majority of them, plus some non-list fun stuff too. Alas, I didn’t end as strongly as I might have, but I was mostly successful with the list. The final report:
Go strawberry picking. We did! I didn’t do a whole lot of trail running, which I also mentioned in this entry, but I did some. We just capped the summer with apple picking, which was also fun.
Go to member night at the zoo. Done – it was nice to see the animals in slightly cooler temperatures, though it wasn’t that much different from a normal zoo trip.
Go to a beer garden. My husband and I did a date night during our week at the beach at the Asbury beer garden, and we also went (with the kids) to the Longwood Gardens one during the fireworks and fountain show on September 1.
Eat at Aquavit and French Laundry. We made it to both. Aquavit was a double date in June with my brother and his girlfriend. We ate at French Laundry to celebrate our 15th anniversary during our week in California right before Labor Day. Both were excellent!
Eat ice cream at Days in Ocean Grove. We hit this one…a lot. I think we ate there 6 out of 7 nights during our week-long beach rental in July! Chocolate peanut butter remains a favorite.
Go on a longish bike ride. I didn’t wind up doing this solo but we did do one (or two? I’m forgetting) family bike ride in Valley Forge. At least this time the little guy did not paw a bat hanging on a tree on the trail, necessitating an ER visit for rabies shots (that happened last October…)
Swim solo. I did go in our backyard pool by myself a few times. My most fun swimming experiences this summer were with groups — swimming with the dolphins in the Bahamas, and with the stingrays on Castaway Cay.
Do Mommy Days with the kids. I did solo days with all four of them. I visited the American Girl Cafe in NYC with my daughter, hit up Dave & Busters with my 9-year-old, went to Sesame Place with my 4-year-old, and to Hersheypark with my 12-year-old.
Go to a Phillies game. My husband got (nice!) tickets through work, so we went in July with the two older boys. It was a perfect night for watching baseball, except for the Phillies losing quite badly.
Listen to music outdoors. Well…we did go to the Longwood fireworks and fountain show over Labor Day weekend, which featured songs from movies. But I think this entry meant going to an outdoor concert. We got (fairly cheap) grandstand tickets to see Brad Paisley at the York fair this past Friday. My husband is a big fan. But given how restless the 4-year-old had been during the previous weekend’s late night concert, and given how tired I was by the end of the past week, I elected to stay home with him. My daughter hemmed and hawed, and then decided to stay home too. Probably just as well, as the boys didn’t get back until 1 a.m., and were a bit whiny about having to stand, though they did get to go on some fair rides too. (My husband was happy to see the concert.)
Hike in Yosemite. We definitely did this! The kids managed a 3-4 mile hike each day, and generally a shorter one as well. I was quite impressed. For anyone else traveling to Yosemite with kids, I recommend the loop by the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove, the Vernal Falls hike, the Tenaya Lake hike, Pothole Dome, and Taft point.
Edit my novel…and keep all other professional expectations low. Well, I did keep my professional expectations low (working all of 7 days in August will do that). However, I did wind up giving 6 speeches requiring travel in June. I continued to produce an every-weekday-morning podcast, and did a few other projects. But not the novel. What can I say? Oh well.
Here’s hoping your summer fun list was a success!
Photo: Snapped during an early morning run. I did a lot of those this summer.
Great work, Laura! I loved reading this list! Motivated to do one for fall or next year! PS – you are such an upholder, I knew you would check off the list!