A Very Low-Key Summer Checklist

What is on your summer checklist? I work full time, but we love lazy summer weekends with nothing on the schedule except to go swimming and enjoying meals together. Here are 10 low-key things we are hoping to do this summer…

Swim. Enjoy the pool. Jump in the pool and don’t care about what you look like because no one else does. Go to the beach or lake and be the first one to jump in and make fun memories together.

Try a new-to-you ice cream flavor. We recently have discovered two new ice cream places near us, and we all love going for an ice cream run in the evenings and trying new flavors!

Do Fireworks. We all recently took a short trip to Pennsylvania to get some child-friendly fireworks for the Fourth of July! We even found a place that welcomed our little Victory, too! It should be a lot of fun!

Give your child disposable camera. I remember these from my childhood. What a fun way to introduce kids to photography; and it is magical to get the film developed together to see what your child created on their own!

Play games. We like to play goldfish and memory games together, along with hide and seek, which Alex loves!

One night, throw bedtime to the wolves and let your child stay up as late as he/she can. Since summer is officially here, we have been more relaxed with bedtime. The sun, after all, is out until nearly 9:00 p.m. here! Alex loves stretching out her bedtime routine. And, I love holding her and cuddling with her, as one day she will be too big to sit in my lap. Each night we look at her baby videos, as she is in love with looking at her younger self!

Read a great book. Time always feels so fleeting, but I am going to try to read an entire book this summer. I am sure most nights, I will fall asleep while reading.

Leave your phone at home. Sometimes it is really nice to leave you phone at home so you are not tempted to check email, etc., and you can therefore be really present with your people.

Make cookies. Alex loves to bake with Doug. They recently made strawberry crepes and chocolate chip waffles together for breakfast over Father’s Day weekend. We always love making these go-to cookies together!

Stay inside and do not feel bad about it. We have been trying to have more down time on the weekends so everyone gets a chance to really rest without rushing around to one place or another.