So what have you been doing?

I kind of miss the summers of my childhood. The kind of day that ends when you fall into bed in a muddy, dirty heap. With fresh bruises, scrapes and adventures. In almost every place we lived there seemed to be a never ending supply of free form adventure. Sometimes it was sneaking into the very prized vineyards of a famous winemaker and stealing precious wine grapes, which were always too sour to enjoy anyway. Or maybe it was biking down to the town pool to spend hours in the sun and pennies on a wax paper bag of banana lollies. I northern California I would ride my bike to the Rexall Drug on main street to plan out which Hello Kitty trinket I could buy next, or ride up into the foothills to swim in the creek that passed between the old Catholic Cemetery and the expensive vineyards full of tiny grapes. In Australia I would ride out to the fire line and stare at the vastness, or to the ocean to swim inside the shark nets( people inside, great whites outside). Sometimes we would just hike around in the bush and look for spiny lizards, or visit the local camels. In Hawaii I would sit for hours on the pier overlooking the U.S.S. Arizona memorial and wonder what it was really like under there in the ruined graveyard ship. Or I would sneak onto the airstrip and watch the plans from just under where they landed. Summer seemed to go on forever. and then near the end of August it would seem like FOREVER. Bored of the summer fun and too hot I would start to wish for school. My family never had the funds for big vacations and by the end of August I was tired of the neighborhood kids, tired of the pool, tired of my bike, tired of everything.

I wonder what summer feels like for kids in our city now? We rarely have more than a few days of true summer weather at a time. Most of the pools are indoors (what?) and no way would I send a six year old out on his bike for hours all alone. So I guess to circumvent the inevitable boredom and the comparisons to my rosy coloured summer fun glasses. We plan. Yes, planning does take some of the fun out of it but I like to think we are still getting in bits of free roaming summer, with a few more structured options too.

So far this summer there has been:

Marching off to the ferry without Mama, or Dada.
Geoduck poking.
Train Spotting ( those are 737 fuselages heading for the southern Boeing plant).
Crafting ( checkout that recycled/upcycled banner).
Hijacking a beach naturalist.
Watching sailboats with an old friend.
Beachcombing.
Beaching with a few hundred of our closest friends...
Sunset picnics.
Colonial Dancing ( he made the cravat himself!)
Tidepooling ( that's a giant purple sea star and a kelp meadow.)
Sculpture peeping. Hey get out of my eye!
Wading with friends of the canine sort,
and conquering ones fears.






Here's to more summer weather and more dirty fun. But hopefully fewer dramatic bruises.