It’s Labor Day weekend — here’s how I did on the Summer Fun List

Back in May I posted my Summer Fun List — things I wanted to do to make the season memorable. It’s Labor Day weekend and the kids are back to school on Tuesday, so it’s time for an update.

This has been an amazing summer. My phrase for the year has been “best year yet” and in many ways I feel like this summer lived up to that. One way I can tell is how long summer has felt, and not in a please-get-these-kids-back-to-school way. I was thinking back to various milestones like picking my 11-year-old up from camp. That was a month ago but it feels like a lifetime ago. Going to Slovenia felt like it happened in a different year or something!

Here’s how I did on my list, with some bonus items included.

Go strawberry picking. I did this on Memorial Day so it was done when I posted. And now I managed to go apple picking too. That’s on my fall fun list (to be published soon over at Vanderhacks) but Honeycrisps are my favorite apple, and they’re an early September fruit, so hey. I might go again later in the month. We’ve been eating tomatoes and peppers from our own garden. We even managed to grow sweet corn, but then didn’t cook it properly. I ate a few homegrown strawberries. Some watermelons and pumpkins will be ready for harvesting shortly.

Smell the honeysuckle. I did, though probably not as much as I could have. June feels like a lifetime ago. We didn’t do a whole lot of playing out by the honeysuckle at night because the kids elected to go in the pool instead (see below).

Bike. I did several bike rides solo, though none as a family. It’s pretty easy to load my bike in my car by putting the back seat down, so I would drive to a nearby trail, bike 8-9 miles, then come back. I plan to keep doing that this fall. I had a fun time running on that trail and then getting a beer at the local brewery with Jane.

Do hot tub + pool TOAD time. We spent a lot of time in the pool and hot tub this summer, usually in the evening after dinner. The pool was functional the whole summer (this has not always been the case), so that helped! My little guy learned to swim over the course of the summer, which makes being in the pool a lot more fun for the supervising adult. When I took the little boys in the other day they talked about how sad it was that we were soon going to have to close the pool. A real sign summer is over!

Go see the Phillies play. I went twice — once as a family for my husband’s birthday, and then once with my husband’s workplace. Then, as a bonus pro sports event, I got to go see a FIFA game! The France vs. Paraguay game on July 4th was brutally hot but it was so fun to watch.

Host the church choir party. We ordered fried chicken as usual, grilled hot dogs, and enjoyed lovely weather. It’s become a well-oiled machine at this point!

Do a Father’s Day brunch at Talula’s. This is another one that feels like a lifetime ago. I made a reservation for 7 for Sunday brunch and it was great. Everyone had something they could eat. Eating out is so much more fun in the big kid era. Bonus: I also got to eat at Friday Saturday Sunday, one of Philly’s Michelin-starred restaurants, as a birthday celebration for my 19-year-old. I love that I have children who want to go to Michelin-starred restaurants.

Drink my coffee outside in the mornings. I was pretty consistent with this. A great many mornings I would go sit on the porch and get at least a few minutes of breeze and birds as I woke up, including this morning after sleeping outside, but more on that in a minute.

Host SHU plus observe July 4th/250th. Well, these got separated. We saw fireworks for the 4th (and did a lot of sparklers and noise makers in the yard), and also celebrated with my friend Joy and her family with festive drinks and pool time. My husband and I went to the FIFA game on July 4th which featured lots of pyrotechnics and flags and the like. I think hearing Idina Menzel sing the national anthem counts as a good celebration for America’s 250th. As Best of Both Worlds listeners know, Sarah was not able to come visit on July 4th as her husband had recently broken his leg. But she did make it up last weekend, so we still got to hang out. I’m sorry that her father’s recovery from his hip fracture has been so hard, but her desire to come see him frequently has a real upside for me since they live nearby — It’s possible we might even get another weekend together this fall.

Go see Sarah McLachlan in concert. I saw her perform at the Mann Center and she was amazing. Then I saw Melissa Etheridge at Longwood and she was amazing too! My 16-year-old son accompanied me to both of these concerts and he has been getting a real education in 90s girl rock.

Go to the Philadelphia Zoo Ale Fest. Nope. This was the only real fail on the list. The event got postponed, alas, and we couldn’t go to the new night. My husband and I wound up going out to dinner at a nearby restaurant instead. We did make it to an evening event at the zoo earlier in the summer celebrating the new Bear Country exhibit.

Enjoy our beach traditions. Absolutely. We had another two great weeks at the beach, going to all our old haunts and trying some new ones (especially now that we are in our Dining Out Era). I played pinball, ran on the boardwalk, watched the waves, and ate ice cream. I have already signed on for two weeks next summer.

Two very cool international trips. In June I flew to Venice and then traveled on to Ljubljana in Slovenia. My friend Jane and I explored the town and the nearby countryside, including Lake Bled and various picturesque spots in the Alps. Then I stayed overnight in Venice one night and I am absolutely enchanted with the city. I just wandered through the alleys and ate gelato and fresh tomatoes and drank white wine. I will go back — and since there’s a direct flight from PHL it’s funny to think that I could get on a plane any given night and wake up there! (I mean not really, but the flights do go daily).

Then in August I went to Sydney, Australia to give a speech at a conference there. It was a lot of flying but Sydney is just the most gorgeous, sparkling city. I enjoyed running around Darling Harbour, visiting various museums and the zoo/aquarium and trying little restaurants. And drinking VB for old times’ sake.

Bonus memories: I also took a 2-night trip to Boston with my 19-year-old. He has now transferred to Vanderbilt, so I won’t be up in the Fenway area nearly as often but I liked getting to know the neighborhood over six visits over the last two years. I worked on the hotel roof deck with a view of Fenway and I ran across the Charles. I went to a Mastermind in Miami for two nights and enjoyed getting to know several writers/content creators in person. I visited New York City for work and ran in Central Park and walked up the High Line. My whole family went to my niece’s wedding in July. It was very well organized and festive and we managed to fit a trip to NYC and the American Museum of Natural History into that weekend too. I think watching my 6-year-old dance his heart out at the wedding will be a core memory. And I might even put the Hot Wheels Monster Truck Rally on my list of bonus adventures! It was memorable for sure.

Camp. I put a question mark by this last item on the list but my little boys had wanted to camp in the yard. So, since I had the little boys solo this past weekend, I decided to go for it. We pitched the tent in the grass, enjoyed a fire in the fire pit with s’mores, then zipped ourselves into our sleeping bags. I did not sleep well. I think I got about 5 hours, interrupted a lot. But the kids really liked it, so I got some serious cool mom points and with a little coffee and a nap today I’m feeling better. It was quite lovely to wake up in the cool morning in the tent. It was hot at night but the temperature dropped. Fall is coming for sure. As we drove up to the apple orchard today there were leaves twirling over the road. It’s been a long summer, and a good summer and I can’t wait to see what adventures are next.

Photo: We also visited the cutting flower garden at the apple orchard today. I now know that a mason jar full of flowers will fit in a carseat cupholder.