It is not summer yet, but I got a bit of a start on my official summer fun activities this weekend, so I thought I’d go ahead and post.
Longtime readers know that I’ve posted a Summer Fun List for a great many years. For instance, here is 2024, and here is 2016. If anyone is curious you can Google all the ones in between! The idea is to know what will make the next few months feel special and memorable. Even if, as adults, we tend to still be working, summer feels a little different and the summer fun list tries to capture that.
On Saturday night, my husband and I went to see George Strait at Lincoln Financial Field (aka Eagles Stadium). “Go to a live concert” has been on my list for several years running, and I’ve gone to some pretty exciting ones over the last few years (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Taylor Swift 2x, Billy Joel, Olivia Rodrigo). About two weeks ago, we were talking about who we might see, and my husband was like “I’d like to see George Strait,” and we did some quick Googling, and found out that, lo and behold, he was actually opening his tour in Philadelphia in very short order. Good thing we looked. So we went, and the music was excellent — including his opening act, Chris Stapleton. I was not really familiar with Stapleton’s music but there were a lot of good songs, so I’ll have to check him out. The weather was quite nice and we were in a section with very calm chill people so we were able to sit for much of the show which, as a middle-aged person, I appreciate.
This was also a milestone in the “fun” category in that we left the little two kids with the older three kids for what was kind of a long night (6 p.m. to almost midnight). They got the 5-year-old to bed so it all worked out.
Anyway, here’s what’s on the list for this summer:
Go to a live concert. Done! Though I’m not opposed to going to another if something looks appealing.
Go to a Phillies game. This will be the third leg of my Philadelphia sports trio. We made it to the Sixers and the Eagles already.
Celebrate the almost 18-year-old’s birthday. My husband and I are taking him into NYC for a nice dinner, so that will be an adventure.
Go on the choir tour. My eldest and I will spend approximately 11 days on the road with our church choir. My last major choir tour experience was going to Brazil with my college choir in early 2001. While I suspect this will be a slightly different vibe (I am not anticipating getting into a cab at 5 a.m. after leaving some club) I do think it will be fun.
Host. I know we’re hosting the choir picnic in early June but I have a few tentative other plans, to be firmed up over the next few months.
Go bike riding. I’m not sure if all seven of us will do a ride (ever again? sniff!) but the 5-year-old can definitely ride his own bike, so we could do a short ride with him, or put him on the tag-along for a longer one. This means the Burley is officially retired after 14 years of service. I also want to go on several bike rides on my own, which is pretty straightforward as I can just put down the middle row of seats in my car and put the bike in the trunk (transporting multiple bikes involves the rack, which is more complicated).
Write something creative. I had put on my goal list for the year to write a novel draft in between Big Time and Golden Hours. I hope to do something bigger and creative but not entirely sure yet. I am still writing a sonnet a week, so at least there’s that. But maybe the novel will happen.
Add to my miniature collection. I want to go shopping somewhere. And maybe the shipment from Australia will show up! I got a note from Australia Post that the package was actually in Los Angeles, so this is very exciting.
Swim solo. I take the kids in the pool a lot. The other night the 5-year-old kept putting water from the hot tub in his mouth and spitting it out, even though I kept telling him to stop it. Taking small children in the pool is just never relaxing. But I work for myself, from home, and I can take a mid-day break and go in the pool if I’d like.
Go to a beer garden. It’s just fun to have a pint outside on a summer evening. I want to go outside in general in the evenings, and see the fireflies and the moon and all that.
Do all the beach things. We’re going to the same beach house on the Jersey shore for two weeks in August again. So we’ll do all the usual things there: the ice cream parlor, Cousin’s Maine Lobster, going out for brunch, exploring the town, running on the boardwalk, etc. Summer definitely would not feel the same without this.
Launch the oldest! We’re going to a school orientation together in July, and then he’ll likely head out at the end of August/beginning of September. I want to enjoy these last few months and also think about anything he should be learning during this time.
Given that I’ve been making this list for so many years, it’s interesting to see changes. For instance, there are things that have migrated off the list. I’m not sure anyone wants to go fruit-picking with me anymore. In past years I’ve put strawberry picking, peach picking, and apple picking on my summer fun lists. I’d be happy to do those things but I’m not going to push it, and I’m probably not going to go on my own.
I am also not going to officially list Mommy Days. I’m traveling with kid #1 (twice) and my husband is likely traveling with kid #2. Kid #3 and I seem to go shopping together, so maybe we’ll do that and go out for lunch. Kid #5 gets a lot of attention by virtue of being littler than everyone else. So really it’s only kid #4 who might need some time…We shall see.
I also have a list of summer to-dos. These are not “fun” so they will not go on the summer fun list, but they still need to happen. We need to renew kid #2 and kid #4s passports (they’re on a cycle together). I’m hoping that kid #1 can get a Real ID drivers license. The junior (under 18) license is not a Real ID one, and he doesn’t have to renew until he’s 21, but I’m not so sure about him traveling around with his passport for flying to/from home. So here’s hoping that will be a simple process once he turns 18.
What’s on your list? Are you feeling the summer vibe yet?
It was oddly 90 here yesterday so I am feeling the summer vibe! It will cool back down to the 60s next week so I’m enjoying this mini summer while it lasts. We’ve sketched out when we’ll be up at my parents lake home (once/month June-August; the August trip is for a week and then the boys stay up there for another week since we have a childcare gap). We are also renting a cabin at a state park for 2 nights in June so we can try out “camping” (very much camping adjacent since we’ll have a cabin but it’s a nice way to dip our toe into camping) and I’m taking the 4yo on a mom/Will trip to Chicago in late June to do some sightseeing and see some family in the area.
Another thing I want to do is check out a bunch of local libraries. Our library system has library passport books with all of the libraries in our county. They stamped it when you visit a branch so the boys will get a kick out of it, I think, and it will add some novelty to our weekend routine.
@Lisa – sounds like a good list! The 5-year-old went camping with the sitter of ours who also has a 5-year-old (because she is braver than me…) and he liked it but then asked when we could go camping. So we shall see! Maybe I’ll ease into it with camping in the yard. The 15-year-old is a boy scout so he’s done a fair amount. I think it’s been six years for me since I’ve seen the inside of a tent… (so this did not go on the summer fun list…)
I love your lists!
Mine includes: 1) grill a whole fish again 2) take picnic dinner to neighborhood park 3) take kids to some kind of amusement park 4) pick berries 5) go to some kind of botanical garden
@Sarah K – a whole fish! Like head and everything?? I love it as a very specific and probably doable summer fun item 🙂
That concert sounds really fun! Big Chris Stapleton fan here … I think he’s more like able the more you listen … he sings a lot with his wife which is so endearing.
@Anne – yes! Morgane Stapleton was on stage pretty much the whole time, and I believe she does a lot of songwriting?
A few years ago I listened to a lot of Chris Stapleton. He fell off my radar, so thanks for putting him back on it again.
No huge goals for the summer. I’d like to visit more local beaches this year. We were very busy last summer and didn’t have a single beach day (in Canada; we went to plenty in Portugal, but I’d like to prioritize some time at local spots this year). The kids have camp, we’ll go visit my parents at their little retirement spot on a lake.
It has not felt much like summer yet. We’ve had some warm sunny days, but interspersed with rain and chilly temps, so it still feels very much like spring.
@Elisabeth – hopefully summer is coming soon! And prioritizing local beaches sounds good. The upside of going to our usual place is I don’t worry about building in beach trips to the rest of the summer. We’ll know we’ll get our fix during the weeks at the shore, and in fact will likely be tired of the beach by the end…
We booked our June beach vacation in the fall (in the same place we’ve gone several years running) and it’s nice to know we’ll kick off summer with a trip that at this point requires very little planning. I also just booked a getaway for Labor Day weekend, so we have our summer endcaps in place.
I find a Summer “Fun” List stressful (as opposed to a Holiday Fun List, which I love), but last summer the kids and I did an Ice Cream Quest. This was mostly an excuse to try lots of different ice cream shops, ice cream trucks, etc. – but calling it a quest made it feel exciting and we’ll probably do it again this year, and I may add a Summer Bookstore Quest just for myself. Calling it a Quest makes it feel like an exciting goal to keep in mind when planning rather than an obligation that I will fulfill or fail
I always love to see your summer fun lists-and it looks like they will evolve with one in college! If we are counting May as summer-ish……..
1. Pick strawberries. I am 50-50 on this, since it is a short season and we will be away visiting family for part of it. But our local strawberry place (Johnson’s farm in Medford, NJ) is literally around the corner, so we could do this as a “mini-adventure” one day. We also have 2 earth boxes on our deck with strawberry plants, so I guess I could count them. I should be able to walk out and snag some for my morning yogurt in another week or so.
2. Go to a Broadway show. My daughter is in from out of town this week, so we are going to see “Smash” with my sister and niece.
3. Knock another baseball stadium off of our list in a quest to get to all 30 stadiums. We drove out to Cincinnati in April for #21 and will see the Seattle Mariners in June for #22.
4. Visit Maui/Portland Oregon. We have never been to Maui, so that will be our big trip for the summer. Hitting Seattle on the way to Maui and will hit the Portland suburbs (where my daughter lives with her boyfriend) on the way back. Alaska Airlines is great-we have a companion pass that we are using for this trip, and after the !@&#$ situation that has developed at Newark Airport, they cheerfully allowed us to redo our trip to fly back and forth from Philadelphia with no issue.
5. Try to find an outdoor summer concert.
6. Visit my sister at her NC beach house for Memorial Day weekend. We missed going last year, so I am happy to be restarting our annual tradition.
7. Host close friends/daily Wordle buddies from Massachusetts at our house in July. The female half of the couple and I have been friends since freshman year in college (a LONG time ago). We’ve been alternating annual summer visits at our respective homes for years.
8. Visit a local distillery, a new to us beer place and at least 2 restaurants that are on the South Jersey Food Scene (Facebook group) Burlington County Hidden Gems list.
9. Do our annual “gorge on Springer’s ice cream and then watch fireworks on the beach” Stone Harbor visit (and at least 3 other beach visits with my husband). Other local ice cream will be consumed as well…..
10. Do an early season visit to Harvey Cedars (Long Beach Island, NJ) by myself. I have been doing this for a few years. There is something really soothing about going to the beach with a good book and packed lunch in hand and enjoying the beach on a pre-season day when it is EMPTY!
11. Continue my recently initiated streak of walking outside daily (rain or shine). I can thank Elisabeth above (and her blog) for inspiring me to start that habit.