How to Enjoy Summer (Tips from The Deliberate Mom)

Today, I'm so pleased to introduce you to Jennifer from The Deliberate Mom, a woman who possesses a truly lovely and gracious spirit.  We joke that we're across-the-border sisters: her from Canada, me from Pennsylvania.  We share many things in common: our faith, parenting daughters, the habit of taking photos of the small moments in life, and a penchant for Jillian Michaels' DVDs.

Best yet, we've forged a friendship that might have started with a few blogging questions, but has since deepened to explore those nitty-gritty life questions where we pray for and encourage one another regularly, something for which I'm deeply grateful.

Without further ado, let me share Jennifer's thoughts about how she plans to enjoy her summer.

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Thanks so much to Robin for sharing her beautiful corner of the internet with me today. It's an honour to be here.

Well, summer is almost upon us. Can you feel it?! I'm so excited for summer this year! Perhaps it's because I haven't had a summer for the past three years. Last summer I was in trauma therapy, the summer before that I was returning to work after a year-long maternity leave, and the summer before that... well, I had a baby!

So are you ready for this? Here's how I plan on enjoying my summer....

1) Eat watermelon. You heard me, summer is the season of watermelon. I plan on eating lots of it (even some with a dash of salt on it... trust me, it's delightful).

2) Go for picnics. Summer is all about the picnics. Sandwiches, granola bars, and juice boxes. It's simple, easy, and kids love picnics!

3) Play some classic summer games. I want this summer to be about hopscotch, marbles, skipping, kick the can, and capture the flag. Seriously, I want my kids to learn these games and the only way they'll learn them is if I teach them.

4) Blow bubbles. One can never have enough bubble blowing in their life. This year, I want to blow lots of bubbles. I'm even thinking I want to get one of those gigantic bubble wands and blow some colossal (big enough to capture a toddler) bubbles!

5) Do some cloud watching. Summer is the perfect time to lay on the grass and to enjoy the sweet simplicity of looking for shapes in the clouds overhead.

6) Eat simple meals. Cooking in the summer is the WORST. This year, I'm planning a menu of simple, oven-free foods. Salad anyone?!

7) Get a close shave (or wax) on my legs. Yup, that's on my list of how to do summer right. This prickly pear has got to do something about these legs that grow dark, course hairs. Tips anyone?!

8) Read a good piece of fiction. I read a lot... a lot of non-fiction. This year I want to crack open a great new novel. Any recommendations? I don't want trashy but I do want an easy read.

9) Go berry picking. I haven't gone berry picking since I was a little girl. My grandma used to arrange annual berry picking trips for the family. I would like to bring that tradition to life once again.

10) Go on a playground "crawl." You've probably heard of a pub crawl... well this summer I want to do a park crawl. I want to see how many parks I can take my girls to over the summer months. I plan on charting them on a map and getting my girls to rank them.

So that's it! Throw in a bit of homemade sangria and it should be pretty close to perfection! What would you recommend to make the best of summer?