Happy summer, my friends!  I hope you all had a fabulous Fourth of July.  It’s my favorite holiday and I always try to make the most of it.  This year, summer seems to have snuck up on me – I’ve been in go-mode for months now, and I’m ready for a bit of breathing room, so hopefully that’s coming.  Every year, I go crazy making a wish list of all the things I want to see and do and eat in the hot months, and while I never get to it all, it’s fun just to dream.  If this summer is anything like the winter and spring have been, it’ll be way too busy – but I’m determined to squeeze some fun in.

• Family vacation season!  Spend a week on Lake Placid – hiking, kayaking, and swimming from sun-up to sun-down.
• Related: climb another high peak (or two).
• Read The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.
• Fill up on sweet summer greens and juicy stone fruits from the farmers’ market.
• Start running again!
• Pick blueberries at Butler’s Orchard and bake something yummy with Peanut.
• Hike Big Meadows at Shenandoah National Park.
• I don’t know if this’ll happen, but I want it to, so I’m putting it on the list: spend a weekend with Rebecca on Virginia Beach.
• Get my bike tires pumped up, figure out how to hitch up the kids’ trailer, and start taking some family bike rides on the Mount Vernon Trail.
• Kayak Fletcher’s Cove as much as possible, and check out the Ballpark Boathouse too.

There – ten things.  There are so many more that I want to add to the list – like a Nats game, camping, learning guitar, baking a s’mores tart, going to the splash pad or pool every weekend… but I’m trying to keep this at least decently achievable.  I know I’ll do one or two – the family vacation is booked, and I should be able to muster up the reading.  Wish me luck, sunshine, and some work-free weekends, my friends!