Summer To-Do List – California Edition

Neither of my kids really have a summer vacation at this point. Wade starts kindergarten this fall, so next year we’ll have an actual break for the season. Now, the boys are on the same schedule as the rest of the year – two full days of preschool a week.

BUT, just like anywhere else, there are so many fun things to do during the summer months around here, I thought it would be a good idea to come up with a summer to-do list. Some are stretch goals, some we would be doing anyway. Hopefully it will keep us on track, and we won’t head into the fall wishing we had made better use of the warm weather.

Keeping my fingers crossed we can check all these off the list!

Lake Tahoe

This one’s already checked off the list – I’m writing this post from Lake Tahoe! A friend hosts a 4th of July get together at his cabin every summer, so we’ve spent the past couple days chilling in the hot tub, looking at mountains, and spending time on the lake. It’s glorious.

In fact, this was the view from my run in Squaw Valley yesterday. I might never go back home…

Explore Outer Sunset neighborhood

I try to make it up to San Francisco once a month. We usually do something the whole family can enjoy, like hanging out on the beaches along the Presidio. Sometimes I like to go by myself or meet up with a friend and enjoy the good food and shopping the city offers. Outer Sunset is on my list, so hopefully I can drag a friend up there sometime soon!

Swimming Holes

Hither and Thither is my favorite blog to find inspiration for easily accessible family adventures in our part of California. She’s posted a couple of posts about swimming holes along the Central California rivers that make me want to throw the kids in the car and spend the day climbing rocks and floating down the lazy currents. This post looks amazing, but is probably too far for a day trip (it’s about three hours from us.) Supposedly there are some great swimming holes around Sacramento, so I need to do some more research.

Aquarium with just Eli

Eli LOVES sea creatures, like he may just grow up to be a marine biologist. He knows the names of more whales than I knew even existed. We do have a membership to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and go regularly. But, Wade and Eli like to see different things. While Wade is on an adventure with Seth to Ohio in a couple weeks, I thought it would be fun to take just Eli to the aquarium and let him look for as long as he wants at whatever he wants. I’m hoping he wants to hang out in the Open Sea Exhibit for a while – that’s my favorite.

Arroyo Seco – REVENGE

For Memorial Day Weekend, we went camping a couple hours south of us at Arroyo Seco, in the Los Padres National Forest. Along with Seth’s cousin and his girlfriend, I attempted to hike up the Arroyo Seco Canyon and float back down. However, the water level was super high, making the current too strong and the water too cold to make it up river. We’re planning to get our revenge on the canyon in late August, hoping the water level has decreased, making the trek much easier. Even the short distance we did make it in was incredible, so I’m excited to see what the rest of the canyon looks like.

Make date nights a habit

Seth and I do a good job of making it possible for the other to take time for ourselves to explore the things we’re interested in and spend time with friends. We’re not so good at making time to spend together, just the two of us. We just get lazy when it comes time to find a babysitter. There are a lot of things we would like to do together, so we need to make this a priority. With all the al fresco dining options close by, there’s no better time than the summer to make date nights a habit!

Beach time

This one’s pretty easy. We can head out in the morning, spend a couple hours on the beach and be back home before nap time. We also miss the beach traffic if we head out to the coast early. I’m planning to hit up the Santa Cruz Beaches and some of our favorites a little further north, like San Gregorio State Beach.

Go NORTH to explore – Russian River, Sonoma coast, Oregon coast?

Most of our adventures have taken us south (like Big Sur) or east (like Lake Tahoe.) There are so many beautiful things to see north of us, so I’d like to get up there for a long weekend sometime this summer. Maybe the Russian River area, the Sonoma Coast, or even up to the Oregon coast (that last option is definitely a stretch goal!)

I think theses adventures are doable!

How about you? What adventures do you have planned for the summer months?