Summer.

A time of rest and relaxation.

Well, that’s the theory. At our house, summer is blazing by fast and furiously. But there are a few things we do that are traditions for us.

The first is pick blueberries. This is something we started our first summer in Lafayette. The ironic thing is that I hated blueberries as a kid. I remember picking lots of them in Georgia, and being the only person in my family not eating them. Now I LOVE them. And I love the way that our family spends at least two mornings a summer picking blueberries. There’s something calming and peaceful about spending a morning in the sunshine picking bucketfuls of the blue goodness. I love that my kids get reminded where food comes from — not the grocery store.

It also teaches them patience when one or two are ready to be done and the rest of us are still filling our buckets.

The other thing we love to do is relax by the pool. Our neighborhood has a community pool that when the weather cooperates is a wonderful place to escape for a couple hours. We love to take friends with us or just relax as a family.

This month has been a bit cool. The high yesterday was around 68 — perfect for blueberry picking, not so great for the pool. But one consistent factor is that we like to spend our summer activities with friends.

It’s a chance to reconnect with people that the business of the school year can make it difficult to spend time with. Connecting with people is my favorite part.  I value friendship, so making the time to spend time together is important to me…and to my kiddos.

What do you do in the summer? Do you have traditions that make the time meaningful? Things that let your kids say remember when we did this last year and the year before that?