Kids may be home from school, but summer schedules often fill up quickly with sports, activities, vacations, and endless commitments. We look forward to summer for so many reasons, yet somehow the calendar fills up fast and the season seems to fly by before we know it.
So how do we make the most of the free time we do have with family and friends?
In my household, we start by filling in the sports schedule and then try to protect a few open weekends for family time. This year feels especially meaningful as our oldest heads off to college in Duluth this fall. We asked her to choose one special family weekend before she leaves, and her pick was a Minnesota State Park camper cabin—what our family affectionately calls a “tiny cabin.” We’re looking forward to campfires, cooking over an open flame, hiking, and reconnecting in nature. Let’s just hope it works as well with teenagers as it did when they were little!
As we talked about this at Magnolia, we realized so many of our favorite traditions revolve around simply being outdoors, often right in our own backyards. Since summer free time can be limited, creating spaces to gather and connect at home becomes even more important.
- Katie loves spending time with her niece and nephew planting flowers, growing strawberries and camping out in the backyard.
- Tom and his family connect by working in their vegetable garden, watching the landscape change throughout the season, watching hummingbirds and activities like Ninja Line & Bucket Golf.
- Jerrod and his family enjoy time in his backyard with campfires, axe throwing and darts.
- My family connects by playing with our dogs in the backyard (lots of frisbee and ball), playing Cross Net & Kubb, and the occasional outdoor movie night.
As always, we’re here to help create the yard spaces to make memories!
Any content, resident submissions, guest columns, advertisements, and advertorials are not necessarily endorsed by or represent the views of Best Version Media LLC (BVM) or any municipality, homeowners associations, businesses, or organizations that this publication serves. BVM is not responsible for the reliability, suitability, or timeliness of any content submitted, inclusive of materials generated or composed through artificial intelligence (AI). All content submitted is done so at the sole discretion of the submitting party.
