![\"Some](\"http:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/dscn27122.jpg\" "\\"Family")
This summer sure has made me feel like a little kid.\u00a0 First of all, it took forever<\/em> to get here.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the end of school we were waiting for, instead we had to bide our time and wonder just when Mother Nature would start to cooperate and stop raining on us all!\u00a0 Until that occurred, it just didn\u2019t seem like summer, no matter what<\/em> the calendar said!<\/p>\n Now that we are experiencing glorious New England summer days, I find myself thinking about \u2018summer things.\u2019\u00a0 I\u2019m fortunate to live in an area where kayaking, swimming, hiking, biking, campfires and dinner straight from the garden are the \u2018norm\u2019 this time of year.<\/p>\n On a recent trip to visit a friend (who lives in a more urban area) I passed by a drive-in movie – – in progress!\u00a0 (Haven\u2019t seen one of those in awhile.)\u00a0 And if that wasn\u2019t enough, during my visit we bought ice cream from a \u2018ding-a-ling\u2019 truck, splashed in a kiddie pool and heard an outdoor concert.<\/p>\n Summer\u2019s longer daylight hours can be a great incentive to \u201clighten up\u201d on your family’s schedule a bit and try some new things.\u00a0 Or maybe return to some things you \u2018used to\u2019 do. \u00a0Re-connect.\u00a0 Change your perspective.<\/p>\n Late afternoon and early evening, after the heat of the day, is a great time to take an extra-long walk or bike ride.\u00a0 You may go as far and fast as you can for exercise \u2013 or take a more social route, stopping and chatting with neighbors along the way.<\/p>\n Camping is another great choice \u2013 even if it means making a tent out of the kitchen table and a bed sheet!\u00a0 (It still allows kids an opportunity to read by flashlight when they\u2019re supposed to be sleeping!)<\/p>\n You could invent a summer holiday, develop a \u2018tour\u2019 of your town or surrounding area, read bedtime stories under the stars\u2026..<\/p>\n Tell us, please, how is your family spending these lovely \u2018extra\u2019 daylight hours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This summer sure has made me feel like a little kid.\u00a0 First of all, it took forever to get here.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the end of school we were waiting for, instead we had to bide our time and wonder just when Mother Nature would start to cooperate and stop raining on us all!\u00a0 Until that occurred, it just didn\u2019t seem like summer, no matter what the calendar said! Now that we are experiencing glorious New England summer days, I find myself thinking about \u2018summer things.\u2019\u00a0 I\u2019m fortunate to live in an area where kayaking, swimming, hiking, biking, campfires and dinner straight from the garden are the \u2018norm\u2019 this time of year. On a recent trip to visit a friend (who lives in a more urban area) I passed by a drive-in movie – – in progress!\u00a0 (Haven\u2019t seen one of those in awhile.)\u00a0 And if that wasn\u2019t enough, during my visit we bought ice cream from a \u2018ding-a-ling\u2019 truck, splashed in a kiddie pool and heard an outdoor concert. Summer\u2019s longer daylight hours can be a great incentive to \u201clighten up\u201d on your family’s schedule a bit and try some new things.\u00a0 Or maybe return to some things you \u2018used to\u2019 do. \u00a0Re-connect.\u00a0 Change your perspective. Late afternoon and early evening, after the heat of the day, is a great time to take an extra-long walk or bike ride.\u00a0 You may go as far and fast as you can for exercise \u2013 or take a more social route, stopping and chatting with neighbors along the way. Camping is another great choice \u2013 even if it means making a tent out of the kitchen table and a bed sheet!\u00a0 (It still allows kids an opportunity to read by flashlight when they\u2019re supposed to be sleeping!) You could invent a summer holiday, develop a \u2018tour\u2019 of your town or surrounding area, read bedtime stories under the stars\u2026.. Tell us, please, how is your family spending these lovely \u2018extra\u2019 daylight hours?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,5],"tags":[153,377,453,465],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-four-foundations","category-parenting","tag-family-life","tag-parenting","tag-role-model","tag-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andreapatten.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}