10 On The 10th: All About Summer

I don't always join up with Leslie's "10 On The 10th" but I'm so ready for summer and I thought it would be a fun thing to blog about today. This past week we've had a heat wave with highs in the 30s (almost 90F) and lows in the high teens/low 20s (mid-60sF) so our weather is definitely giving us summer vibes.

Also, I know many people reading this are likely from the States and school has been out (or will be out shortly) for awhile already. Here in Ontario, the last day of school is June 28th so we've still got a couple of weeks to go. Additionally, I work in the school system as a substitute secretary/librarian and I've been working at a school since the end of April. I found out yesterday that I will be done as of the middle of next week so I'll have a bit of time to get some things done while the kids are finishing up school. So yes, we're definitely in "it's almost summer" mode over here.

1) What will make summer successful for you this year?

Summer will be successful for me this year if the kids can do some of the things they love to do in the summer -- swimming at the pool with their friends, playing baseball (for Sam), and getting to see their friends in person more. We've been under a stay at home order since April 3 and haven't really seen anyone. We miss our friends.

 

I will also call the summer successful if we can eat lots of popsicles and ice cream!

2) “500 Days of Summer,” “School’s Out for Summer,” somersault, “The Boys of Summer,” “Summertime Blues,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” dog days of summer, “Endless Summer,” “Summertime and the Living is Easy”…which of these phrases resonates most with you and your plans for the summer of ’21 and why?

I'm really hoping it's "Summertime and the Living is Easy" or "Midsummer Night's Dream" with a really fun, magical, and easy summer, but honestly I'm worried it's going to be "Summertime Blues," dog days of summer, or somersault if our Covid numbers go up and we are under restrictions again. It's possible we won't be able to see friends in person or may even go under lockdown again and I really don't want that to happen. (Please note: As of right now it doesn't look like we're going to be under lockdown again but our news is full of the new Covid variant and a potential fourth wave so it's all a little unnerving and unclear...)

 

3) What do you look forward to doing this summer that you couldn’t do last summer because of C-O-V-I-D? What plans did you have last summer that had to be postponed, altered or canceled all together?

I'm really hoping we get long days at the pool swimming with friends. While our pool did open last summer, we could only spend about two hours there a week and we had to be socially distanced. I'd love if the kids could spend a few hours a day swimming with their friends as well as taking swimming and tennis lessons.

We didn't have a lot of plans for last summer -- Sam was supposed to go away to an international camp for 11 year olds for a month but that ship has sailed and he won't get that experience :( In February 2020, we had just booked a big family vacation for this summer but sadly it had to be postponed (although we knew that might be the case fairly early on) so really, Covid is still messing with Summer 2021 here in Canada.

4) Name something you will track this summer. Steps, calories, Weight Watcher points, money spent, books read, miles traveled, workout sessions, laps swam, miles run, gatherings with friends.  How will you track it?

I will probably continue to track my steps for my latest fitness challenge and all the books I read through my semi-monthly blog posts. Maybe I'll track all the fun we (hopefully!) have through a summer series of blog posts like I've done in the past. For a few years I wrote about what we had been up to for each week of the summer so maybe I'll do that again. We shall see...

5) Is there something new you look forward to trying this season? New recipe, new ‘do, new restaurant, new vacation spot?

We had a beach day this past Saturday and have decided to hit more beaches for day trips this summer. We have a long list of beaches we want to visit so we might have to take a beach day trip every other week!!! Whooooo hooo!!! We live within a few hours of three of the Great Lakes (Ontario, Huron, and Erie) so we have a lot of choices.

This past weekend at Port Stanley on Lake Erie.

6) Share something you do on repeat every summer. Why is this activity on repeat?  Were you able to do that familiar activity last year during the pandemic?

For the past eight years we've belonged to a neighbourhood pool (which is actually not in our neighbourhood!) and the kids have taken swimming and tennis lessons at the pool. They've also participated in Vacation Bible School through our church almost every summer. Last year the kids got one set of swimming lessons in but it was only for a week, and they didn't play tennis. We did have a scaled down VBS which was lovely, and that is what we'll have again this year. I'm really hopeful that swimming and tennis will be back to normal though. I love our pool days -- the kids have lessons in the mornings, we eat lunch (sometimes provided by the pool and sometimes we pack our own) and then the kids swim in the afternoons. I read by the pool and it's so glorious.

7) Who will you connect with or reconnect with this summer?

Hopefully EVERYONE!!! I can't wait to get together with friends again!!! I miss seeing my friends in person!!! And my parents -- we miss my parents and are really hopeful we'll be able to go visit them.

8) This season how will you manage screen time for yourself and your family?

Can I just take all the screens away for the whole summer?!?!? Seriously though -- while the kids have had a lot of screen time this year, it's almost all been very purposeful -- school, seeing friends, attending church or synagogue, participating in dance -- I'm hopeful they'll be able to use screen time solely for downtime and relaxation this summer and everything else can happen off screens. We shall see...

9) What project are you hoping to tackle this summer?  Something around the house?  A craft?  A gardening or outdoor activity?

This is a little different but my friend Bekah wrote an excellent blog post series called "The Things We Wish We Knew" about how to prepare for dying. (You can read the first post in the series here.)  It's not as grim as it sounds and so many of her blog posts made so much sense. I am hopeful that I will be able to spend some time this summer gathering a binder with all of our information so that if anything happens, we have all the information in one spot.

10) How do you want to feel at the end of the summer?

I want to feel like we were able to have some fun, shake off some of our Covid depression, and reconnect with good friends. If we've been able to do all that and feel ready for another year of school and work, I will be thrilled!

Go check out Leslie's blog to read other bloggers take on these summer questions.