(Picture taken last summer atop Porter Mountain in the Adirondacks.  Just looking at it takes me back there!)

SUMMER!  If asked to choose a favorite season, I’m hard-pressed to decide between summer and fall.  (That’s true for most people, I’d wager.)  While I love many, many things about fall, a really good summer takes on an almost magical quality that can’t be replicated in any other season.  You know what I mean – that deep happiness that comes with long days of sunshine, dips in a cool lake or pool, evenings spent sitting out on the deck watching the fireflies light up the yard like tiny fairy lanterns, epic road trips, songs around a campfire… all the summer essentials.  I live for summer.  I wait for it all year.  And whenever it arrives I resolve to make the most of it.  Some years I do, and some years I don’t.  But I always, always try to come out of summer with a treasure trove of warm, happy memories that I can call upon to sustain me throughout the long, dark winter months ahead.  Summer is my happy place.

Here’s how I hope to make this summer the best yet:

• Keep enjoying my maternity leave and bonding time with Nugget.  I’m lucky that my employer offers a generous maternity leave policy and that I can afford to take advantage of it.  Nugget is our last baby, so I am really cherishing this time with him.
• Take a family vacation to the beach!  It has been almost FOUR YEARS since our last vacation.  We’re way overdue.  And this trip is extra-special: we’re joining my parents and my brother and sister-in-law in the Outer Banks, North Carolina, to celebrate my parents’ fortieth wedding anniversary.  The reason for the trip, in and of itself, is special, and so is the destination – we’re going back to the same beach, even the same rental house, that we visited almost every year when my brother and I were growing up.  We have so many memories of this particular beach, and I know my brother is as excited to show this special place to his wife as I am to see my kids (well, realistically, Peanut) playing in the same sands I played in as a kid.
• Hike to the Eternal Flame.  Closer to home, this is the “quintessential Buffalo hike” and we haven’t done it yet, which seems nuts considering how much we love hiking.  Since part of the hike goes through a stream bed, I think we may leave the kids with the grandparents and make this an adults-only outing.  Maybe for our anniversary?  Speaking of which…
• Celebrate TEN YEARS of marriage!  I can’t believe hubby and I have been married for almost a decade.  We were practically babies when we tied the knot!  He’s my partner and my best friend and I couldn’t have chosen anyone better as my teammate for life.  We’re trying to come up with some extra-special way to celebrate this milestone.  Can’t wait.
• Continue our monthly hiking project and take our summer stroll through Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve.  We are having so much fun with both of these resolutions, and I’m so glad that we made a family priority to get out and explore our natural environment.
• Invest in the East Aurora Cooperative Market.  I’ve had the brochure for member-investors in the planned East Aurora Coop on my desk for who knows how long.  It’s time to take the plunge and help the market get off the ground.
• Do some small home projects.  Our house has potential but it’s very dated.  I’ve been doing little things here and there – replacing outlet and switch plates, painting the fireplace, installing new handles on the family room built-ins, etc. – and I want to keep up that momentum.  Should be easy; the more I do, the more I see that needs to get done.
• Re-read Jane of Lantern Hill.  One of my favorite L.M. Montgomery books, and it’s been ages since I last read it.  Jane’s escape from Toronto and summers of fun and freedom with “Dad” on P.E.I. make for the perfect July and August reading.  Oh, and while we’re on the topic of reading…
• Participate in #BlumeAlong in June and July, and finally join in the Austen in August fun!  I’ve signed on for both reading events – #BlumeAlong, hosted by Kerry of Entomology of a Bookworm, in which we’ll read Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret and Summer Sisters, and Roofbeam Reader’s annual Austen in August.  I’m planning to read Jane’s juvenilia Love and Freindship (how much do you love that Jane misspelled “friendship”?) and either or both of Jane Austen’s England and Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things, as well as re-reading one of the main novels, probably Pride and Prejudice.  So much good reading community to look forward to!
• Start our playroom re-do.  After almost a year in this house, I finally have a vision for the playroom, and I’m really excited about bringing it to fruition.  I don’t know if this is our forever house, but we’re here now and I’m psyched to give the kids a really special place in which to play, learn and do art projects.

That looks like a good start on summer!  Hope I get to all of these plans.  I think it’ll be a pretty darn good summer either way… especially that long-overdue vacation.  What are you planning for the summer?