"Summertime, and the living is..."

The next line in that song is "easy".  Summertime is not easy, my friends.  We have many wonderful memories made each summer, but I spend literally months planning so those magical moments can happen.

(It's funny that I'm thinking about summer while we're coming off of a "polar vortex" and having wind chills of -36 degrees F.)

We are blessed to have family that live in places that are full of fun adventures, and blessed to be able to travel adventurous pathways to get there.  But all of that travel takes time and money, which means I start planning in January at the latest for the coming summer.

This next summer we have the following adventures coming up:

20th High School Reunion (NJ)

Scout Camp (OH)

Nerd Camp (OH)

MS Camp (OH)

Youth Conference (IL)

Wedding (NJ)

Family Reunion (WY)

Possible other family Reunion (GA?)

Cousins and Kids Camping Trip (UT, but it's just over the border so we pretend it's still in WY)

Ballroom Dance Camp (UT)

Some of those things happen on top of each other and will necessitate plane trips from regional airports in order to hopefully get to the next thing in time.

And I've only listed the things that require some level of travel.  There are other things that will happen locally.  (Dance Recitals, plays, concerts, possibly high school summer gym, etc.)  But this is why in the summer, for the time that we are home, we try to spend our time either working or playing.  We have projects that have to happen around the house and yard and if we don't get them done in the few weeks we're home, they don't get done at all. 

But the other times, we just relax and and enjoy and soak up the pretty green all around us.  The all too rare Ohio sun shares it's rays so sparingly, we have to enjoy while we can, and there is much time spent at our neighborhood pool, swimming and catching bugs and playing/chatting with friends.

And then when we arrive at our destinations, and are able to spend a few days with our family and dear friends in the beauty and sunshine of their various locales, it is worth all the hours of planning.  Most of my children have really happy, wonderful, memories of our summers.  Even the parts that I'm grouchy for. ;)  They're still having fun and enjoying one another's company and making happy memories.

Lilyanna and Caleb watching the seagulls on the beach in Santa Cruz this past summer.  They loved this trip to the beach and have been talking about it ever since.