Oh What Do You Do In the Summer Time?

I have had the opportunity of thinking about summer this week, partly because it is our "pond" of the week and partly because it is 100 degrees by 8:00 a.m. so there is no escaping the fact that summer has arrived. I have pondered a great deal about the celebration of the summer season which brings many things to mind: watermelon, lemonade, swimming, kids saying "mom, I'm bored," riding bikes, family vacations, going to the beach. There are so many things to do in the summer time that are so exciting and looked forward to all year long. However, I have realized one thing during this pond.... I am getting OLD! Yes, I know, I am only 24 years old, but that can be the only explanation as the why I love to be home. Don't get me wrong, I love vacations just as much as the next guy but I also love to come home from them as well. I love my own bed, my own sheets, my own food, my own crazy routines, my own smells, my own home. I remember as a child we were not a big traveling family which was mostly because I was the first of the 4 and therefore lived in the "poor" years if you will. However, I always knew that family vacation time was important to my parents. So, out of pure creativity and resourcefulness my mom created the "city vacation." I must admit that I was a little hesitant about the idea when it was first introduced but in the end couldn't wait for the next year to come so we could do it again. Each child had a $100 dollar budget and a whole day to plan actives that the whole family had to participate in. Upon hearing that we got a $100 dollars our imaginations started to run wild with thoughts of hot air balloons and water parks which were quickly deflated and turned toward fishing and the Nickel arcade but still just as exciting to a 10-year-old mind. We spent the whole week exploring the city we lived in and discovering things we didn't even know existed. As we grew older our city vacations were replaced with trips to Orlando, Florida and Duck, North Carolina which were still exciting but could never be as enchanting as our "city vacations" were to our young minds. Now that I am in the "young family" stage I look forward to the days that I can take my children out to explore our city and then come home to our own beds.
However, summer is not just about vacations. As I have thought about this season and loathed the merciless heat I have decided to make the most of it. We have found ourselves at the pool countless times and have made many stops at the ice cream shop. However, I think that my very favorite thing about summer is the fruit. I cannot help but smile when berries finally come in season and a tear comes to my eye when the fruit prices begin to go up and the taste begins to go down. I have always loved fruit and I do not think I have met a fruit that I didn't like but I think that fruit has brought on a whole new meaning of summer in my old age. It brings me so much joy to fill my fridge with watermelon, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and bananas. I love to feed them to Cade and I love to eat the fresh juicy berries for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I know that it is strange considering all the great things there are about the summer but I have found that it is the fruit that makes the heat worth it.