Now that we have had a heat dome intense summer and temps that reached to 100 degrees, I’m ready to go back to spring and 75 degrees and nothing more.
This would be my go-to outfit for summer… both from SmartGlamour
Think of summer from your inner child perspective as described in this article: https://forge.medium.com/reliving-the-joy-of-childhood-summer-6491163dddc2
Summer Bucket List
Go to the beach, walk on the sand, collect shells
Make and fly airplanes; folded paper, balsa wood, remote control, drones
Take afternoon naps, on the beach, in your yard, at the park, in a hammock, on a glider or porch swing
Go to an Amusement Park and ride the Ferris wheel and rollercoaster
https://www.wildwaves.com/attractions-enchanted-village.php
Have an appetizer party (Buffalo wings, stuffed mushrooms, popcorn, ice-cold green grapes, mixed nuts), play music and dance, provide board games, and end the evening with a movie under the stars
Create artwork on sidewalks with colored chalk
Do artwork; drawing, sketching, painting, collage, abstract acrylics, sculpture, pottery
Make banana splits but customize to your own tastes. Mine would be vanilla and chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce, hot fudge sauce, and marshmallow cream.
Host a Barbecue Party
Play Badminton
Walk Around Barefoot… paint your toenails pink!!
Go to a Baseball Game (Seattle has the Mariners, and we went to plenty of those, but we also loved going to the smaller, more intimate Everett AquaSox games)… make your own CrackerJacks
Caramel Corn
3 qts popped popcorn
3 cups unsalted mixed nuts (or peanuts)
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup Karo light or dark corn syrup
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
Spray a large shallow roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray. Combine popcorn and nuts in a pan; place in a 250° oven while preparing syrup.
In a heavy 2-quart saucepan, combine brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, and salt. Over medium heat, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and baking soda. Pour over warm popcorn mixture, stirring to coat thoroughly.
Bake at 250° for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Cool, break apart. Place in an air-tight container to store.
Stock up on summer beverages; lemonade, iced tea, sangria, root beer floats, Perrier
Bike Ride
BirdWatch. Get a birding guide and binoculars
Start your own blog
Blow Bubbles
Homemade Bubbles1/4 cup liquid dishwashing detergent
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp. sugarPut the dishwashing detergent in the water. Carefully stir in sugar, trying to
avoid suds. Take a regular drinking straw and cut it into 4 pieces. Then dip into the
solution and blow your bubbles. Tie a rope loop up to a foot in diameter on the end of a stick and make a gallon of bubbles. Dip the rope in the bubbles and run with them. This will give you giant bubbles.
Read books set in the summertime. A few that I liked include: I loved “The Silver Boat” by Luanne Rice…. . Also Safe Harbor; “These Is My Words” by Nancy E Turner, “Charlotte’s Web” and “Baby Island”… two of my favorites. Also “Little Women”, “Eight Cousins”, and “Little House on the Prairie”, “Midsummer’s Night Dream”, “Summer” by Edith Wharton
Have a bucket brigade relay race
http://www.mudpiegames.com/relay-races-better-bucket-brigades/
Rent a canoe, kayak, or rowboat, and go boating
Set up a table and two rocking chairs on a porch or sundeck and play
Scrabble, Checkers or a Card Game, dominoes, backgammon
Visit a botanical garden.
Camping in the backyard or a local campsite.
Play Catch, or Pickle, or Horse, or clap catch
https://www.fatherly.com/play/throwing-and-catching-games-kids/
Play Charades or Pictionary
Play childhood games; hide and seek, tag, kick the can, red rover
Make cobbler using fresh peaches
Coloring books with crayons, colored pencils, markers, watercolors, gel pens
Rent a Mustang Convertible (or a Tbird) and cruise around town.
Google fun, unusual and unique recipes and try cooking them to see how they turn out. It could be bread, something from Ina Garten, Rachel Ray, or Julia Child.
Start a Craft Project. When I think of summer, I think of making mosaics since it was something we did as kids. Watercolors are perfect for painting outside, or get an easel and acrylic paints and painting Plein air. Cross stitch needlework is ideal for doing outside as well as crochet. I’m crocheting a yarn octopus for my new great-grandson.
https://www.crochet365knittoo.com/crochet-octopus-preemies/
Play Croquet
Make Daisy chains. Make a flower head wreath (I made one using silk flowers), especially using wild daisies.
Go to a Drive-In Movie
Play Four Square
https://www.amazon.com/Sportime-Playground-Ball-Inches-Red/dp/B003V18RNC/
Feed ducks and waterfowl, but don’t feed them bread. Use frozen peas, grapes, rice, birdseed, lettuce
https://www.thespruce.com/what-to-feed-ducks-386584
Visit your local Farmer’s Market, purchase produce, and make a fresh tossed salad. Buy fresh mushrooms for stuffed mushrooms and elephant garlic to roast and spread on toast.
Geocaching
Create a family crest and make a family flag with the crest printed on it
Go fishing
Fly a kite
Build a fort
Attend a food festival and indulge
Visit a lavender farm and learn how to make lavender bottles
Learn a foreign language. I am learning French on Duolingo. They even teach Klingon.
https://www.duolingo.com/
Make and buy Christmas gifts and hide until December
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Make fried green tomatoes, served with cold Southern Fried Chicken, Macaroni Salad, Deviled Eggs, sliced watermelon, fresh fruit or a fruit salad, and ice cream for dessert.
Grandma’s Fried Chicken and Cream Gravy
One whole white onion
Chicken pieces (I usually use thighs, wings, and legs)
Flour
Milk
Olive oil
cube butter
salt and pepper
Paprika, sage, and turmeric
Put enough olive oil in a cast-iron skillet until the bottom is covered, add a cube of butter, and melt into the oil.
Slice onion and cook in the oil until translucent and slightly crisp. Remove from oil and keep warm in a 300-degree oven.
Put about a cup of flour in a bowl and add the salt, pepper, and spices.
Put about 1/2 cup of milk in another bowl.
Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, then into the flour mixture, and then put into the hot oil/butter. Don’t crowd the chicken pieces… Let cook on one side until crispy and brown, and then turn. Cook the same on the other side.
Put a cookie cooling rack on a cookie sheet with a ledge (or a cake roll pan) and remove each piece of chicken from the oil and onto the sheet/rack. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve cold.
Mom’s Macaroni Salad
2 cups of salad macaroni cooked for about 10 minutes until translucent
1/2 cup (or more) chopped green olives
1/2 cup (or more) chopped black olives
1/2 cup (or more) chopped white onion
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 cup of shredded or chopped cheese
dressing
1 cup of mayo
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
Cook macaroni; drain and rinse in cold water.
Mix dressing; add the sugar to mayo and mix well; add vinegar and whisk until blended.
Add dressing to macaroni
Fold in olives, onion, and celery and mix well
Add the cheese
Chill for several hours and add salt and pepper to taste
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Frisbees! Even more fun with a dog to chase and retrieve the disk
Go horseback riding
Make homemade ice cream
Put up a hummingbird feeder
Gather three other people and have your own version of “Chopped”
Ice Cream Cones, make your own at home, or hit Baskin Robbins or Dairy Queen.
Play croquet, badminton, hopscotch, volleyball, jacks, marbles
Put together a jigsaw puzzle as a family
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DC1PNGB
https://www.amazon.com/Double-Sided-Jigsaw-Puzzle-Pieces/dp/B0893DBGT2
https://www.wentworthpuzzles.com/us/wooden-jigsaw-puzzles/oops-festival
Start a journal or diary, in a blank book or online
https://www.livejournal.com/
https://evernote.com/
http://hahaint.com/mywdays/
Learn to knit
Buy a large lego kit that the whole family puts together.
https://www.discovergeek.com/biggest-lego-sets/
Light up the summer nights with white Christmas lights, fairy lights, bistro lights, and battery-operated candles
Get Mehendi designs painted on your feet. Add toe rings and an ankle bracelet with bells attached. Don’t forget to paint your toenails. Wear sandals or go barefoot.
Trace your genealogy and make family history books
https://www.familytreemagazine.com/storytelling/open-book-creating-family-history-books/
https://www.lulu.com/
https://www.shutterfly.com/
https://www.snapfish.com/
Use magnetic poetry words to write poems
Go to a movie
http://www.rosetheatre.com/
Have a movie film festival at home
movies about summer: “Summer Magic”, “Ride the Wild Surf”, “Endless Summer”, Beach Party”, “Blue Lagoon”, “Dirty Dancing”, “Indian Summer”, “Summer Stock”, “The Parent Trap”, “Pollyanna”, “Blue Hawaii”.
Ride a Merry-Go-Round
Play Miniature Golf
Visit Local Museums
Take a trip to the ocean. Be sure you buy some saltwater taffy. Have seafood for dinner (my favorite is fish and chips), walk on the beach, fly a kite, build a sandcastle, indulge in an ice cream sundae, rent a surrey pedal bike, go surfing
https://tourismoceanshores.com/
Fish and Chips!! It reminds me of the fish and chips my mom use to make and watching how much work that was; I now order them when I go out to eat. Some of the best (other than my mom’s) were the ones when we got to Canada (Vancouver and Victoria). But if you want to make your own, try this: https://tornadoughalli.com/fish-and-chip/
Go to an Outdoor Concert, at sunset, and under the stars
https://www.sequimwa.gov/512/Summer-Music-Events
Meditate while sitting in your front or back yard, at a park, or the beach
Movie Night Outside Under the Stars. Hand a sheet up or rent an inflatable screen and projector, provide blankets, pillow, and refreshments
Go on a photo walk. Visit a nearby town or a part of your own town and take pictures of the things you see. Print them out and make a summer memories scrapbook.
Use a paper parasol to protect yourself from the hot sun
Have a Picnic in a Park
Plant a vegetable garden, a flower garden, an herb garden, a butterfly garden, and/or a moon garden. In your herb garden, include Mugwort, Vervain, Chamomile, Lavender, Wild Thyme, Rosemary, Sage
Make homemade aromatherapy playdough
https://lindseyelmore.com/essential-oil-play-dough/?q=/essential-oil-play-dough/
Create a summer music playlist**
Hang up a porch swing. Listen to music, relax and snooze while resting in the swing.
Pick fresh flowers for your house.
Have a Pool Party
Slip n’ Slide
https://howdoesshe.com/5-summer-relay-games-for-family-reunions/
https://firstwefeast.com/drink/slip-and-flip-is-the-latest-greatest-drinking-game/
Stock up on Popsicles, Magnum ice cream bars, ice cream sandwiches, Nutty Buddies, orange pushups, creamsicles, like we use to get from the ice cream truck that drove down our street every day when I was a kid.
https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20030628&slug=icecream280
Set up a potting station and repot all of your plants and create a container garden
Try cloud scrying.
Make puppets and a puppet theater and produce your own shows.
Do a photo challenge
Refrigerate your favorite body spray, or make your own by adding a few drops of your favorite essential oil to a spritzer of water. Spray the cool mist on your face, the back of your neck, and the soles of your feet.
Relax and Read… hit the library, bookstore, download books on your kindle. Don’t forget the iced tea or lemonade.
Rock painting.. paint pictures, names, inspirational words. Put into a bowl or basket on your coffee table
Roller skate, rollerblade, and skateboarding
Create outdoor rooms
Make root beer floats
Make a summer memories scrapbook, use daily word prompts found online
Run through the sprinkler with your kids.
Do a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt
https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/scavenger-hunt-36937721
Sew something; a pillow, a quilt, a sundress
Enjoy a snowcone
Stargaze on a cloudless night
Pick fresh strawberries at a Berry Farm, make jam and strawberry shortcake
Set up an outside shower
Summer Meat and Cheese Board, also known as a Charcuterie Board, is excellent on hot summer nights when it’s too toasty to cook, use items like assorted cheeses, strawberries, green grapes, watermelon fingers, Rainier cherries, raspberries and blackberries, peeled baby carrots and cherry tomatoes, stuffed green olives, pickled onions, thin-sliced salami, prosciutto, ham chunks, cashews, pecans, assorted breads and crackers, chocolate stars candies
https://www.lemonsforlulu.com/summer-charcuterie-board-ideas/
Sunbathe just enough to absorb Vitamin D but not enough to burn and get skin cancer
Grow sunflowers
Ride the Great Wheel in Seattle. You can even order dinner to enjoy on the ride.
https://seattlegreatwheel.com/
Indulge in a glamorous pair of sunglasses. Add a sundress, sandals, and a straw hat.
Watch a sunrise or a sunset. Bring a thermos of coffee or a bottle of wine. Maybe some bread and cheese.
Make sun tea.
Go surfing
Go swimming. Make sure the children in your family all know how to swim; if not, sign them up for lessons
Host an outdoor tea party
Play tennis
Thrift shop. Find old clothes that you turn into something new, as well as hats, collectibles and sell some on eBay.
Make a video and post it to YouTube
Call a friend or neighbor and ask if you may visit them. Take flowers and a hostess gift
Volunteer at an animal shelter, food bank, deliver meals on wheels, or soup kitchen
Wash, polish, clean and detail your car
Watch YouTube videos, comedy shows, music, how-to’s, educational. If you have a smart TV, you watch them on your big screen.
Water Balloon Fight
Have a water fight with wet sponges, or squirt guns, or super soakers
Go to a water park
https://www.wildwaves.com/attractions-wild-waves.php
https://www.greatwolf.com/grand-mound/waterpark-attractions/indoor-water-park
https://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/
Have a Weenie Roast Over a Campfire (sticks, hot dogs, buns, condiments, pasta salad, watermelon, marshmallows to toast, graham crackers, and Hershey chocolate bars)
Write letters to family members, friends, former teachers
Write Short stories and/or make homemade books, or have them printed on Amazon or Lulu or Shutterfly. I published two books on Lulu.
https://www.shutterfly.com/
https://www.snapfish.com/
https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202172740
https://www.lulu.com/
Go to the Zoo or Wildlife Animal Park
https://olygamefarm.com/
https://www.nwtrek.org/
https://www.zoo.org/
Starfish Story*
moondancepages.com 