10 Things to Do on the Longest Days of the Summer

We’re heading into the for-real official, according to the sun, first day of summer marked by the longest day of the year.  According to the weather folks, the days around June 21 will also be relatively long, too. And hot.  So what to do with all these extra hours of sunlight?  A few ideas.

Cook early.  Don’t spend the mid-day in the kitchen.  Plan an easy meal that you can prep and cook early.  Pull out the crock-pot in the morning, try my Asian chicken.  I also like pasta salads for this reason - they’re easy and versatile.  You can change up the ingredients, but also tweak it a little bit for the picky eaters in the house.  

My basic recipe for pasta salad

• Cooked, cooled pasta – I prefer short pastas like rotini or bow-tie, but spaghetti and angel hair work well, too
• Cherry tomatoes
• Green veggie – spinach and asparagus work well
• Crumbled/shredded cheese – mozzarella and feta are tasty choices
• Italian/Caesar salad dressing – this is a cheat to save figuring out extra seasoning
• Protein options (great use of leftovers): chopped chicken, cold salmon, tuna
• Toss it all in a bowl. Chill.
• Pour a glass of sangria.  Lunch and/or dinner is ready. Ta da!

Cook late. Wait til the sun’s gone done a little bit and toss a few burgers or fish on the grill.  Throw some veggies and corn on the cob on there, too. And then finish it off with dessert, like our Campfire Banana S’mores.

Take an early evening walk. Alone, with the family or just the dog, depending on what kind of day you’ve had.  When the sun starts it’s descent, enjoy the little bit of warmth left and the quiet of the settling day.

Catch fireflies. This, and catching crayfish during the day time, were two of me and my brother’s favorite summertime activities.  Watching the little bugs light up never seemed to get old. Be sure to punch holes in the top of whatever container your kids are catching them in, and of course, some grass for them to live off of (I don’t really know that that’s what fireflies eat.)  And then, before going in for the evening be sure to let them all go.

Eat ice cream.  In a cone.  The more fresh from the cow, the better. Or at least, not from a box and big name. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a pint of Ben & Jerry’s somewhere in the freezer, but there’s nothing like fresh-made, from somebody’s personal recipe ice cream. Better yet, make some of your own. I’ve got my ice cream maker in the freezer now.

Enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables.  Stop by a farm stand or farmer’s market.  Or take a basket to a pick-your-own farm for whatever’s in season now. Eat your berries and veggies as is or bake them into a pie or coffee cake or something delicious.  And you’d be surprised what your kids can learn. I’m almost embarrassed to admit one of my kids was perplexed by the fuzzy skin and big pit in the middle of a peach we bought at a road-side fruit stand.

Drink cold, sweet tea.  One of the things I love about living below the Mason-Dixon line is I never had to preface “tea” with “sweet.”  What other way would you drink cold tea?  It’s the simplest thing and I make it by the gallon (which, lasts maybe two days)

• Tea bags: I like Luzianne for iced tea and experiment with some of the flavored teas for a different flavor.  2 or 3 large tea bags per kettle of water (Luzianne tea bags are larger, made for pitchers of tea; use about 4-6 regular size tea bags)
• Pour almost boiling water over tea bags in a plastic pitcher (not glass!)
• Let tea bags seep about 10 minutes
• Add sugar (to taste, I use a lot) while the water is still hot *this is key!
• Add ice, if needed, to fill the pitcher.
• Pour over ice. Enjoy.

Enjoy discounted movies and bowling.  Maybe the heat is too much, after all, so head indoors for a few hours.  We don't go to the movies a lot because, well, because there's six of us.  Same for bowling.  But in the summer, some theaters offer discount movies and it's a great chance to catch up on movies.  Regal Cinemas offer $1 fun kid movies.  A number of bowling alleys, like AMF Bowling, offer either free or discounted games, but you do have to signup for the passes or card.  These are also great rainy summer day activities, too.

Hydrate. In as many ways as possible. Be sure to drink enough water on hot days. But also cool off in the watering hole of your choice – swim at the local community pool, jump in a nearby lake, run through your lawn sprinkler, or dip your feet in the baby pool still sitting in the garage.

Lay in the grass and watch the sky.  That’s all.

Happy summer!

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Stuff to Do During the Lazy Days of Summer

Each summer I imagine all the things we can do now that we don’t have to compete with homework and after-school responsibilities and I try to cram all the stuff we don’t get around to from September to June into the two and a half remaining months of the year.  Despite not getting anywhere near through the list last year, this year will be no different.  I still imagine a photo gallery wall going up our staircase and cleaning up my garden into a beautiful, functional outdoor office.

Here’s a few other items on my summer to-do list (with input from my kids)

• Find all the terrapins at the University of Maryland College Park campus and get ice cream from the dairy
• Catch a few movies – we’ve already started with opening day viewings of Fault in our Stars and How to Train a Dragon.
• Find more fresh-made ice cream spots near us.  Or during our travels. We stopped at a road-side stand o Route 50 (Maryland) for scoops of Princess pink and Cookies & Cream.
• Plan our roadtrip for the summer (we’re thinking about heading north)
• Read a lot
• Pack up for a local daytrip or some hometown touristing.

So far, we've had a good start.  Unlike our normal routine - we actually cancelled a few weekend plans and rearranged our schedule to get away to the beach for the weekend.  We had a nice small town visit to Berlin, Maryland - America's Coolest Small Town - located just before you get to Ocean City, Maryland. We walked through town (it’s something quaint about a town that’s still sleepy and quiet on a Sunday morning), ate cupcakes in the sweets shop, played with toys in an antique toy shop, and bought a few skeins of yarn at the small-town requisite yarn shop.

We've started off with a small departure from our normal hustle and bustle days.  Looking forward to another beautiful summer.

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Currently...Counting Down 'Til Summer

Only 4 more days of rustling folks awake early in the morning, trying to get lunches packed, cajoling folks to drink a glass of milk before running out the door, rushing people out of the door, and then breathing a deep sigh once they've all made it to the big yellow school bus and finishing my half-cold cup of coffee.  Then wait 6 hours to begin the afternoon routine.

Not to say things get drastically calmer in the summer. No, the routine just changes.  Rustle up a couple swimmers, remind everyone to get some math exercises and reading done, cajole folks away from their little teeny screens to enjoy the big yellow sun outside, cheer at summer league basketball games, eat ice cream and Rita's. Repeat the next day.

The "deadline" of the last day of school is finally looming over me and I figure I need to spend the next few days preparing for summer.  Maybe these are some of the things you need to get done, too.

Write Thank You notes to my children's teachers. I have to deal with four of them each day; I empathize with the teachers who spend their days with my 4 and 29 others. A note is the least I could do; especially since I haven't figured out yet if sending teachers a bottle of wine is appropriate.

Re-set-up my home office space. My computer crashed, my schedule has been crazy hectic, etc. etc. and my work-at-home-space is not as organized as it should be. I need to take a day and put everything back where it belongs, wrap up a couple projects, and prepare my retreat for when the kids are here all day long.  If you work at home, in a professional sense or as mom-in-chief, it's helpful to have a clear, designated workspace to stay organized. It might be a corner desk in the living room, a rolling file cart in the dining room, or a separate room altogether - find somewhere that works for you.

Get the pool passes.  What's summer without the pool passes?

Buy a stack of math workbooks and clear our library fines.  Math skills are the set that seems to slip in the summer, at least in my house. Right now, the girls can graph multi-variable equations, without a little math maintenance over the summer, they'll barely remember how to turn on their calculator. So for them, I like to have workbooks at the next level (the one they are going into) so they can get a look ahead. And now that my son is going into middle school, we'll start on a little bit of pre-Algebra over the summer. Especially since with this new Common Core, I'm not exactly sure what he knows.  For my youngest, we'll keep up with the Kumon workbooks and drill those basic facts - gotta know your times tables!  If you can't find any to purchase, ask your school teachers for handouts or website references.

Enjoy the last few days of an empty house and finishing my cold coffee in relative quiet.  We all love our kids, no doubt, but gotta admit, there is a balancing calmness to have a few hours of not refereeing, feeding, and chaffeuring.


What's on your last days of school to-do list?

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