A Summer Sur-THRIVE-al Guide || Part 2

What do we actually do with our days?

May 22, 2025

If you’re just tuning in, last week I published part one of what I’m calling A Summer Sur-THRIVE-al Guide. Read that first for a taste of where we’re headed in part two, especially since that one starts with a bit more of the “why-to” than today’s “how-to.”

We’ve got our three words.

We’ve looked at the big picture.

We’ve hung up the calendars.

But now… what do we actually do this summer?

Embrace what’s yours.

Let me say it right now: we aren’t about outsourcing our summers, here.

It’s our lives and our families, and the more we look to other voices to tell us how to live, the more we lose the inner wisdom we can gain by paying attention to what is ours and ours alone. We can’t live others’ lives, and the harder we try, the more discontented we become with our own. The more our seasons shrink to fit some standard that was never ours to measure against.

You will do summer differently than I will and also your next door neighbor and the girl on your feed who’s got it all figured out (but actually probably doesn’t). It’s easy to think maybe this one thing you don’t know yet will simply solve it all.

What I hope to offer us here, instead of links to products and places, fix-its and hacks to turn your summer into a formula… are instead practices that can be applied across the context of you, your location, and your life.

Get your rear in gear.

I treat Back-to-Summer a little like Back-to-School by taking inventory. This, I do with the two main things our days are made of: what we eat and what we do (and the assorted accessories — including food — which comprise these). The hope here is to not find myself finally making sense of things in July, just when it’s about time to go back to school. Because I’ve done that before and it’s not my favorite.

In our “everyone’s home for three meals a day” season (for some, that’s the norm… I remember!), meal planning and snack tray lunches/dinners come in clutch. We’re at the Mom’s job is dinner stage, where everyone can usually sort out breakfast and lunch for themselves, but I still need to make sure the food’s there. And when we’re on the go or spending lunch or dinner at the pool or park — I need a moveable feast — which requires totes, coolers, ice packs, and plenty of storage containers and the ideas to fit inside them. 1

When it comes to activities, I try to think through previous summers and what our rhythms have been. Books, ball games, bike rides, water activities, making music, creating art; these are the building blocks of our days and taking stock at the start of summer on what we have or need in order do those things means we are much more likely to… do them.

Empty out backpacks or school bins at home. Pump up bike tires and balls. Check that everyone’s helmets fit. Restock sunscreen and bug spray. Get the water activity bin down. Try on bathing suits and update accordingly. Fill the freezer with popsicles. Get or pull out the summer workbooks and flashcards. Toss worn out or empty art supplies and make sure what’s left is easily accessible. Make a car tote/bag with extra hats, sunscreen, bug spray, and towels. Create the fun summer playlist that only gets old by the end of it. Here’s ours if you’d like to take a peek:

We read a lot in the summer courtesy of both our local and home libraries, but one of our favorite first-week-of-summer traditions is to spend a little time going through and collecting books we’re ready to part with. Then, we head to the best (and biggest) used bookstore in town and pick out all our summer books to buy with the added challenge of only using the store credit we earn from selling the books we brought. Our local libraries and Barnes & Noble both host summer reading challenges which are certainly motivators, often gifting books as prizes. These are some of the main ways we keep our home library stocked with plenty of both beloved and to-be-read books in the summer.

Find your family’s places.

Some summer days we love staying in pjs all day and eating easy meals while doing nothing at all but lazing about, reading, maybe watching a movie, or playing a few rounds of Mario Kart together.

But sometimes, you just need out, you know?

So on my summer Note I keep a location based list of places to go. We’re not picky about the places and always add more. We may never visit even a quarter of them in one summer, but here’s where we’re repeating the adage from my last post: it’s good to have options.

These places start in our neighborhood and circle out, names of playgrounds, parks, splash pads, libraries, anywhere we might be able to venture to when the villagers get restless and we all need a change of scenery or pace. We prioritize free, but if it works for you to budget for memberships to the trampoline park, by all means, do!

I denote (using emojis, so millennial of me) which locations are indoors, outdoors, involve water, and are maybe a little more physically involved (hiking, for instance), so that we know whether what we’re getting ourselves into matches our current energy level or the amount of time we have. I also keep our neighborhood pool, county splash pad, and library hours and schedules on here as well!

At the start of each summer I run through the list with the kids and ask them what we’re missing, what needs to go, and it’s so fun to hear their input. They’re already planning small town antique shop scavenger hunts and open window drives on the historic parkway near our home. Bring on the ideas!

Be okay with boredom (and mess).

If I’m honest, the big reason why summers got better is because I stopped trying to keep everything tidy and together all of the time. Sure, I have breaking points where I want nothing more than a few hours of quiet and a clean house. During the summer, though, even when chores are kept up — it’s not the default (okay, it never really is ) and embracing it more than simply tolerating or resisting it has changed a lot for me.

As the kids age, their responsibilities around the house increase and the last two years have run pretty well on chore charts. I don’t require them to be done before any activities except anything screen-related, and even that, we do our best to keep to a minimum.

I don’t love the clutter or the conflict or the whining or the hard parts that come with everyone at home a lot of the time, and sometimes, wide open space to fill after weeks and weeks of structure is disorienting. It could be easy to default to the easy stuff that ends up keeping the house quieter and cleaner — but I love what comes just beyond the boredom. “I can’t wait to see what you do about it!” has become my go-to response to "I’m borrrrreeeddd,” and most of the time, it pays off.

Independence and outdoor play, though lovely, come with their own mess and require systems to keep only the children dirty and/or wet and not also the house. I keep a laundry basket by the back door (I’m going for function here… not aesthetics) where anything wet or dirt-ridden can go until I’m ready to get it in the wash or under the outdoor faucet to rinse off. A basket in the back of the car also works well for these purposes, speaking from experience! The goal, then, becomes simplifying the cleanup of messes rather than preventing them altogether.

How appropriate to finish this poolside, my boys tossing diving rings and torpedoes into the water while I dodge errant splashes and sit in the sun. We’re waiting my oldest to finish the third of her four final exams before we pick her up for the day, continuing to inch into summer’s adventures which kick off with birthdays for both my youngest and me.

I treasure these days, even the exhausting ones that used to swallow me whole. There were many summers I burnt out quickly, trying to do too much with too few resources — particularly of the inside variety. I got through them, sure. That’s certainly one way to survive the summer.

But what we’re aiming for now, is thriving: bearing fruit that bursts with the goodness only this season can provide.

Hopefully some of this helps, and if you’re so inclined, please share what works for you to make the most of summer: