It's that time again...Together on Tuesdays, hosted by These Grace Filled Days and This Simple Home. It's just a simple way for ladies to get together and have a little chat.  :)  I hope you'll link up and visit some others today, too.

Today we are talking about summer.  We would love to hear about your summer plans, summer traditions, or summer activities!  Have you gone anywhere or have plans to?  What does your family love to do every summer?  Maybe you stay close to home but get creative with providing summer activities.  (Outnumbered Mom has some simple summer activities posted each week that have me thinking on what to do next.)  Some families create a summer "bucket" list.  Feel free to link up to a former post or create a new one to share about your summer fun!

To be quite honest, I never really understood why some families felt so busy during the summers.  For me, it was a time of relaxing with less to do.  Boy, things have changed!

Our June and July have been incredibly busy.

It began with four generations of my husband's family, age 7 months through 89 years, visiting Corolla, North Carolina.  (We all live in PA or VA, so it was a bit of a hike to get there, but not too bad.) We spent a week at the beach!
Last week, my family spent at a family camp at Pinebrook.  The focus is faith and family in a community of people from our own church as well as other churches.  It is also a great week to let my children be more independent, especially Big Sis (age 5).  She enjoyed going off with the big girls and eating with older kids in the dining hall.  Her training wheels even came off at camp!  This was our fourth year going.  Typically it is our only vacation, but we couldn't pass up the family trip to NC.  I think the kids get to play in the rain every year, too!
I try to spend some time with our families every summer, too.  It's not that I enjoy being away from my husband, but with us living about five hours from our family, I attempt to be purposeful in staying near to them for a bit every summer.  We already had a quick weekend visit for a wedding, but next week the children and I will be staying for an extended visit since we already needed to be there for the two weekends at the end of the month.  Our families live in rural northeastern Pennsylvania.  As you can see, it's rather lovely there.  Pictured below is the farmhouse of Derek's grandparents.  We stay with them when we visit.
We also enjoy VBS in the summer.  This was our first year of swim lessons, and I have to say, I was really pleased with how both Big Sister and Brother (age 3) did.  This was also our first year of tee ball for Big Sister.  I have to say that I am really looking forward to lazy days around our kiddie pool in August!  We have nothing on the calendar!  It will be great!

How do you spend your summers?  We'd love to hear!  Link up or even just leave a comment.

Next week tell us about your family (in your home or beyond).

~ Annette {This Simple Mom}