Photo Credit: Mike Bitzenhofer via flickr
“Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons.” ~Author Unknown
Summer vacation has officially started for our family. School is out. There have already been a few dips in our neighbor’s pool (thanks, neighbors!!). We are heading up to Wisconsin later this week for a couple of days on Lake Michigan. We are in full planning mode for our road trip to Pennsylvania at the end of the summer. And (miracle of all miracles!) the vegetables I planted are actually thriving.
Stasha at The Good Life gave us the topic of “10 Summer Memories” this week. Many of my most treasured childhood memories are those from the summer so coming up with the list was pretty easy. Few things represent such unfettered innocence and carefree pleasure as summertime as a child. And now, as a parent, I have the opportunity to relive the summer days of old while seeking out ways to provide lasting memories for my own children.
Perhaps Sam Keen said it best: “Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.”
Favorite Childhood Summer Memories
Photo Credit: ewan traveler via flickr
- Swimming at the community outdoor pool after dinner when the air was still sweetly warm and the sun was dipping down below the horizon.
- Picking strawberries and eating more fresh off the vine than I put into the basket.
- Trips to the touristy outdoor waterpark.
- Boat rides with my grandpa, whether an exhilarating race on the speed boat or a leisurely jaunt on the pontoon boat.
- Annual family vacations to California each August when we would drive up the coast from L.A. to San Francisco.
- Running through the tall corn stalks of my parents’ vegetable patch.
Me, enjoying summer.
- Sleeping backwards in my bed so that my head was closest to the window, willing myself to breath slowly and trying to forget how wickedly hot it was (my parents didn’t install central air conditioning until after I left for college).
- Running through the sprinkler.
- Dining al fresco.
- Each and every one of my birthdays.
What are your favorite childhood summer memories?
I am Christine - pragmatic believer, faithful optimist, and hopeful romantic. Join me as I seek Grace in the everyday chaos and madness. 
{ 21 comments… read them below or add one }
There really isn’t anything as great as eating dinner outside! How adorable were you in that bikini & pigtails?
Ha! Thanks. I still just love eating outside. One of my favorite things.
mmmmmm…. picking strawberries! Makes my mouth water!
Nice post!
I haven’t been in ages, but I think I need to research places in my area to take my kids too. It was such fun. And what a great way to learn about where our food comes from. Sometimes I think my kids just think it miraculously shows up in the grocery store.
I hear ya about the hot summer nights without ac. Great memories you have!
My sister and I had the nighttime cooldown down to a science – what pjs to wear, how to position ourselves, how to best open the window. Funny to hear that someone else went through the same thing.
Birthday sister – you nailed it! Birthdays were really the only fun “outing” my family did. Thank goodness I was born in the summer.
Hmmmmm…those strawberries are making my mouth water. I remember strawberry picking too and going to the community pool too! I like your idea of sleeping backwards…what a rebel.
Oh yes, my sister and I had the sleeping in the heat thing down to a science.
I LOVE that your favorite memories include your birthdays. I hope my kids remember their birthdays as being some of their favorite memories too.
Wonderful summer memories
I still do love my birthdays!
These are lovely! Reading all the listicles it dawned on me we are creating these for our kids right now!! I am a bit nervous!! Maybe we should get ACon
Good point! In fact, we’ve been eating outside already and tomorrow we’re headed to the beach. Hope they are good memories for them!
I love the picture of you when you were little, so sweet! These are such great memories and I really love the quote you included – “Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” I want that on a wall in my house somewhere – haha! Great list
Thanks. That is a great quote, isn’t it? I struggle with slowing down so I could use permission to be a little lazy now and then.
i loved days at the pool…summer seemed so endless as kids didn’t it?
It sure did. It helped that there days when I literally lived in my swimsuit.
Lovely memories. I love the picture of you when you were little.
Thanks!
Food tastes better when eating outside for some reason.
Yes, it definitely does.
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