Carpool Goddess

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Hot Fun In The Summertime

I have such warm wonderful memories of my summers as a child: Pool parties, BBQ’s, long lazy days and nights, sleeping late, sleepovers in the middle of the week, no homework, my birthdays.

As a kid I wished it were summer all year round. Sometimes I still do, so it’s important to me that my kids have a happy and relaxed summer too.

Here’s how we like to have fun:

Long lazy days – Some of the best days when my kids were little were when they spent hours running around the house or backyard without a plan or care in the world. Finding things to play with (anything not nailed down), dressing up (usually capes), being creative (sidewalk chalk), and of course, getting wet. We’re a family of fish and love to play in the water. Any water. Be it the pool, the sea, sprinklers, water balloons or the hose. Wet is good. Now that my kids are older they still love to have friends come over for impromptu pool parties.

Long lazy nights – Oh the joy of being able to stay up late and sleep in if we want to because there isn’t school the next day. Movie nights, sleepovers (during the week, woohoo!), after dinner ice cream runs, night swimming, no homework…it doesn’t get better than this.

Golden oldies that ooze “summer fun” – Music can bring the sweetest memories. When one of these songs come on the radio, we (I) crank it up and sing with it: School’s Out For Summer, Hot Fun In The Summer Time, Saturdays In The Park, and anything by the Beach Boys. I can almost smell the Coppertone.

Going barefoot and sometimes naked – Ahh…no better feeling than walking barefoot in the grass. And when the kids were very little, sometimes they wore nothing but their smiles and sunscreen.

Eating al fresco – If it were up to me, every meal would be outside. So if we’re not eating at home, which is often because no one likes my cooking,  we choose restaurants with a beautiful patio.

Ditch the car – Even though sometimes it can get hot and sticky, we love to take advantage of our beautiful days and balmy nights and unhurried schedule, so we try as often as possible to walk into town for lunch or dinner. The city feels so different on foot.

Traveling – Having alone time with my family, without distractions from work, school or friends is heavenly and creates the most wonderful bonding time. Sometimes the only way to achieve this is to leave town. We’ve had plenty of adventures and even some vacations that resembled a National Lampoon Vacation, but they were always fun. Which reminds me of one summer when my parents thought it would be “fun” to drive across country in a motor home (you heard me right), with three kids and our dog. The only one who had fun, and by fun I mean slept comfortably or ate well, was the dog.

What do you do to have fun in the summertime?

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Filed Under: Parenting Tagged With: Beach Boys, summer, summer fun

Comments

  1. dumb mom says

    May 29, 2012 at 1:18 am

    My idea of summer fun is sitting at the lake under an umbrella while The Dudes play with other children and only come see me for the occasional snack. It’s my happy place really.

    Reply
  2. Stesha says

    May 29, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    We wake, eat breakfast, wash up, and then go outside all day. We play with the waterhouse, sit in the kiddie pool, pick berries, draw with our sidewalk chalk, eat ice cream cones. Each day varies but we’re summer bums who love to have fun!

    Hugs and Mocha,
    Stesha

    Reply
  3. Donna Tetreault says

    May 29, 2012 at 6:43 pm

    I am so into this!!! After this long Memorial Day weekend, I can do this all summer long! Great post!

    Reply
  4. Missy says

    May 29, 2012 at 11:19 pm

    What wonderful memories you have! And it sounds like your kids will have them too. We love to swim too. I guess we are also a family of fishes. My daughter could stay in the pool all day long. Literally!

    Reply
  5. Sarah Maizes says

    May 30, 2012 at 12:33 am

    I am ALL about long lazy nights! Accompanied by Sangria of course….

    Reply
  6. Christina Simon says

    May 30, 2012 at 1:26 am

    I’m not even sure we’re going anyplace this summer! Our own pool is so fun! Great piece!

    Reply
  7. Carpool Goddess says

    May 30, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    Thanks for the comments! Happy Summer!

    Reply
  8. Matt Steiner says

    May 30, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    This post definitely got me in the summer mood. Especially the bit about night swims and ice cream runs (which have now become ‘froyo’ runs for my family). Your post also proves that the simple pleasures of summer never leave you. I still fondly remember the smell of the sunscreen canisters outside of my summer camp’s swimming pool. Ah, to be a kid again. 🙂

    Reply
  9. Lisha - The Lucky Mo says

    May 30, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    My favorite thing about summer: being able to indulge in things we don’t have time to do during school. Like trips to Krispy Kreme for no reason, snowballs, staying up late on weeknights, and letting the kids sleep downstairs!

    Reply
  10. BH Mom says

    May 31, 2012 at 12:29 am

    One kid is out of school and the other still has 3 1/2 weeks left. We are chomping at the bit to get into the full-on summer mode. Long, lazy days are the BEST. So are those family vacations, CG!

    Reply
  11. Carpool Goddess says

    June 1, 2012 at 12:24 am

    Froyo, Krispy Creme, don’t even get me started! A Sprinkles Ice Cream store just opened up. I’m in trouble now 😉

    Reply

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