Summer always sneaks up on me. This year especially because the weather has been so cool and nice and then BAM, feels like an oven and everything is brown again. Yep, sure enough the calendar says June. How did this happen?
This time, I am going to sit down with my planner and pencil in summery things because before I know it, summer will be over and the kids will be reminding us that we didn’t do much in the way of fun. The other day I saw some bloggers talking about summer and their summers differed so much that I thought I’d ask the question:
What does summer mean to you?
In my head, this is what it means to me:
- Several trips to the beach
- Evening BBQs with fresh seafood, steak and lots of watermelon!
- Summery drinks (Pimm’s Cup, Arnold Palmers, Mint Juleps)
- After dinner runs to the ice cream shop
- Lots and lots of reading
- Summer movie blockbusters on the big screen
- Sitting outside in the shade just to take in the view
- Shortish road trips to undiscovered beach towns
- Eating a tuna salad sandwich while watching the waves roll in
- The smell of sunscreen mixed with an ocean breeze
- The Otter Pup, happy for all the extra sunny spots to check out
- Visiting air-conditioned museums when it’s blazing hot outside
- Concerts at the park
Summer, in general, means a more carefree attitude. It should with school being out and all but since I work for a year-round university, we don’t have much of a break so I have to try harder to get those “feels” in there.
When I picked up my daughter from her last day of school yesterday, she literally did a dance down the sidewalk and I SO remember how the last day of school felt. Such promise of things to come. This year, I plan to make more of the above happen.
Now it’s your turn. What does summer mean to you? What are your must-have summer foods or drinks and tell me what you love to do during these hot summer months.
Book Chatter 
On the East Coast it’s all about shedding! Shedding layers of clothes and shedding thick duvets for fluffy chenille bedspreads! It’s about planting and deck sitting and meeting up with my brother and sister at her lake house! It’s steamy humidity, too, but that’s just a given. For us it’s less travel because we prefer avoiding summer crowds. But it’s concerts, too, and lots of great food and books!
We don’t do the shedding thing here so much. My daughter has been wearing shorts since November.
Now the lake house, that sounds super fun! You need to take photos of the house when you visit to share with us.
Now that my son is grown, summer isn’t all that different from the rest of the year. Carl and I were just checking the calendar to see when we could slip away for a few days and there aren’t many days available already.
Don’t you hate that? I have little things scheduled here and there which may affect some of what I want to do but I am going to make a real effort to pencil it all in so it’s schedule, at least somewhat.
Living in S. FL it is too hot for words during the summer. And it also means we are in hurricane season until the end of November. So, rain is inevitable. Yeah, the weather is a mixed bag. However, summer is about rest and relaxation. It means more books, yummy foods, a sense of freedom, days where you can just chill out, bad reality TV (which I LOVE), and trying to have as much fun as you can.
Ha! Bad reality TV is the best, isn’t it?
That weather of yours sounds horrible. Ours is miserable in that it will be blazing hot, everything will die and then there will be nothing but brush fires to worry about. We had quite a few fires here this past weekend and with the drought and our lack of water, fighting them is a challenge. No humidity at all, which is nice for living but not great for the dry brush.
There is a sense of freedom when summer comes around but it’s fleeting for me because of work. I really have to try to make it “summer” or it slips by me.
We still aren’t done with school, but after this week, we are free. Summer here means lots of trips to the pool, walks outside, staying up late, reading great books, grilling for supper, fresh fruit, playing golf, flip flops, sleeping in….I need to have my girls write down their bucket lists so we know what we want to get accomplished this summer.
I like the bucket list idea but what I’d get from my tween is a list a mile long including big trips to Paris and Costa Rica.
Fruit is so good in the summer. Flip flops, a must.
Summer means trying to avoid the heat and trading in my work boots for my sandals.
Work generally slows down during the summer, although last summer it wasn’t terribly different than the rest of the year–so who knows what will happen this summer season.
I imagine it will feel different next year with my daughter on a regular school calendar. We’re already planning the transition for her this summer from her current school/daycare to the daycare program at the elementary school she’ll be attending. It’s definitely a summer for transition for us on the home front.
I remember the daycare transition year for my kids, too. It went well but yes, from here on out your summer plans will include summer day camp registration right around March!
Last summer, my summer kind of came and went without any fanfare whatsoever. I want to just make it more fun this year. No big trips planned but there’s lots of stuff we can do on the weekend to mix it up a bit. I just need to be really firm about it this year.
I will try to go to as many movies as I can and go to visit my mom this year in Louisiana.
Ah! Movies and a visit to mom… nice! I hope some good movies come out this summer. I haven’t seen too much hype about any one movie as of yet.
Honestly, summer is no different to me compared to winter or Fall or Spring, except that it is usually brutally hot and we can go places in warm clothes. Basically, I mean, there is nothing other than the weather that separates the seasons for me. No one close to me is in school though I expect that once Shreya starts going to school, summer will start meaning something to me. I wanted summer to be a special reading season but it’s not like I get extra (or less) free time that I need to have any special plan. It’s just like you said – because I work at a non-school corporate company, it’s really no different so I have to try hard to make summer mean anything at all, if I want it to.
Beyond the sweat and extreme heat that can be expected in DC, I love having gatherings on weekends with grilled food — doesn’t matter what to me — corn on the cob, pool time, and just reading. My daughter and I love the free concert series they have at the local art center, and we’re planning a few trips to the waterpark and maybe the beach. We don’t go to the beach often because the bay bridge is a hassle sometimes, but we like to be on the ocean. Some summers we go tent camping, but I think this will more likely get pushed into the fall this year. We’re in need of a bigger tent for us, the kiddo, and the big dog.
Yes. I am looking forward to concerts in the park and outdoor movie nights. I forgot to mention outdoor movie nights. They tend to be loud and you really can’t watch the movie too well but I like the idea of them. I really liked it when they had them at the lake by us but they stopped it when the water level dropped so low due to the drought.
It’s hard here with the heat and little kids. I took Cara for a walk this morning and it was already 85 at 10 in the morning. She took about 20 minutes of it before she was done. LOL!
But generally speaking, summer means swimming, camping and vacation trips, watermelon, peaches that drip all down your arms, and trying to find that cool spot in the bed! And oh man– I do remember how exciting that last day of school felt when I was a kid!
I hope our peaches are good this year. Last year they were not good. Nor were the melons.
I do not like the heat at all. We are supposed to hit 110 this weekend after 75 degree temps this past week and I am not looking forward to it.
Ever since I left school, summer’s had a bit of a negative connotation for me. Vacations are nice, but I mostly don’t take my big trips in the summer, and no good TV and no Supreme Court and it’s a million degrees outside — I love the other seasons better! Summer’s okay but I am always desperately awaiting the fall.
For seasons, I love fall too. I don’t love how busy I am at that time though. It’s been really weird in California. Our fall wasn’t fall like at all and winter came and went. It didn’t even get cold and we didn’t get any of the rain that was predicted. Which makes this summer HORRIBLY dry, dead and brown. I DREAD 4th of July weekend because these dimwits will be setting off fireworks in all this dry brush.
Food on the grill.
Wings, but of course.
Reading.
Air conditioning.
Fans.
Mowing the lawn.
Not much mowing going on here since everything is half dead. It’s been 75 here. So nice but this weekend it’s supposed to hit 110. That is not pleasant.
Sunscreen. Sweat. Mosquitoes. Air conditioning. Reading. Burgers and brats on the grill every chance possible. Ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream. Wistfully looking out the window and wishing I didn’t have to work. Longer evenings. Kids bickering. Kids complaining they are bored. Weeds. Gardening. Motorcycle rides. Sprinklers.
What do I want it to mean? Beach. Waves. Reading. Sun. Sleep. No work.
Beach. Grilled … everything. Watermelon. Sweating. Ice-cream. I live on lemonades (all kinds, though basil and rosemary are my top faves), grilled veggies, and salads, both veggies and fruit. Mostly, summer is when I can spend more time with my son 🙂 What an awesome idea for a post!
Oh my gosh that lemonade!! I forgot to make it last year. I must this year. I have loads of rosemary in my yard. SALADS. I adore salads but I also love dressing so sometimes my salad is like 1800 calories but yummy. I saw a “salad” in a magazine that involved a slice of watermelon, sprinkled with feta and mint and then drizzled with balsamic vinegar and honey. Doesn’t that sound good?
Oh how I wish my summer meant beaches! It does mean soaking up all the sun I can get, long evenings on the patio, lots of salads, lots of grilling, homemade ice cream, produce stands and farmer’s markets, caprese salads, shandys, lighter wines, gin and tonics. And more reading because the patio makes such a great place to read!
I can read on the patio but not all summer long. It gets way too hot!
Farmer’s Markets… we don’t have them around here regularly. Well, not that close to us anyway.
I like your list Ti. I think you nailed what summer means. It’s my favorite time of year! In Canada — summer is hugely different than all the other cold & icy months. It means long days of light from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. It means not wearing so many clothes! Gardening in shorts! Playing tennis outdoors & bike riding! Tomato plants. It means having dinners at 8 p.m. and being more casual. It means barbecues and movies. And not slipping on ice!
I forgot about tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes are so good.