On Monday we talked about items to check off our bucket list THIS summer, but today I’d like to talk about things to do summer after summer. Stuff to look forward to all year; like a yearly road trip to camp in a state park with your cousins or an annual backyard barbecue held for the whole neighborhood. Do you have any summertime traditions like this?

Growing up, my family would pack up the mini-van each summer and head north to Lake Michigan. We’d rent a cottage within walking distance from the shore and head to the beach each day with an armload of sand toys, books, and floating rafts. I’ll always remember eating packed PB&J’s (with the added crunch of specks of sand) and plums from the Farmer’s Market. Maybe indulging in a few kolaches as a treat, made locally in a Swedish bakery. I would finish book after book, lounging sun-kissed and sprawling on the beach-themed furniture, trading dog-eared paperbacks at a used book store for new-to-me stories. Frequent evening trips to the ice cream parlor were a non-negotiable.

Now that I’m getting married in just a few weeks, I’ve been thinking about how meaningful these types of traditions are. I’m eager to lean in to the rituals of my new, soon-to-be-official, tiny family.

The last two summers, Chet and I celebrated his birthday with a trip to the aquarium. (We walked across a rope bridge above a shark tank right after we got engaged!) And I love imagining what it will look like if this ritual carries on into the expanse of our years. Who knows if it will, but I can see our future selves fawning over sweet turtles and fish so colorful it’s hard to believe they’re real. And that’s pretty cool.

But the possibility of traditions not yet thought of is pretty cool, too.

What summertime traditions do you hold dear? I’m oh, so curious…and who knows? Maybe we’ll get some ideas!