18 veranos para vivir en familia • Fanny At Home

Hello friends! It’s been a while since I post here in the English section of the blog… I realised I haven’t translated this post from last year, so I thought it was a good time to do it.

I know some of my English speaking people are already in Back to School mood (and some of your kids are already back to classrooms already!), so you might think Summer has ended, but believe me, you still have one month of Summer! Here in Spain I don’t have to make that disclaimer, but I thought you might need to read this… So here’s my post from last year… Enjoy!!

I have always been very protective of our family time for rest. Especially since becoming a family of 4, I have always looked for ways to fill our «soul suitcase» with memories and good stories, either if we travel or we stay home. So, from those first summers discovering water on swimming pool, 10cm deep…

(«I didn’t like summer until I discovered this». I posted on Facebook on August 4th, 2010)

…till climbing on a forest in Germany 10 meters high, we’ve gone through driving for 3 days to a house in the Netherlands, beach days in Lisbon, a cabin on Lake Winnebago, picnics on a park in Helsinki, «staycation» in our community swimming pool in Lugo, the Way of Saint James, family Camp in England and camping on Cies Island and visits to Stuttgart museums. And Porto, of course (in the summer, in the winter, in spring and in the fall! Porto deserves the Vivaldi Prize, it’s good in the 4 seasons!)

I don’t regret any of these adventures, and I don’t think I ever will. Every single one has marked us in one way or the other. Some of them (most of them!) were possible because our work took us there (Lake Winnebago, Helsinki or Stuttgart, and even Lugo!) and we stayed for a few days before or after the work commitments (or we stayed for years!) but in all of them there was intentionality to spend a special time as a family, to strengthen our bonds, to get to know each other better, to experience God in nature, in rest, in beauty and in relationship with one another.

A couple years ago, someone told me about the concept of 18 summers. She said that assuming that everything is going to be fine and we’ll have health, we only have 18 summers to spend with our children, to share with them, to build memories that will be part of their whole lives. 18 summers…. That’s all we have. And I say summer because it’s the season where we mostly associate with rest, free time, vacation, adventures or fun.. It could be any other season! 18 springs, 18 falls, whatever you identify as a concentrated time to enjoy without schedules and obligations… A time to share quiet moments and build memories..

Since I learned about that concept, I can’t stop thinking about ways to make the most of the summer season, knowing that time flies and that things will not always be the way they are right now. If my maths are right -and if God gives me life and health- I have 9 more summers to enjoy my kids. The more I think about it, the more my heart squeezes. But I can choose to face the next summers with melancholy or nostalgia, or be proactive, trying to make the most of each year, leaving footprints and memories that will stay in their souls forever. I have been very intentional about doing that in the last few years. I began writing a Summer Manifesto in 2014 (I even made a scrapbook album afterwards) and that became an anual tradition. A ritual. I did it with very few intentions like in 2015, or with many like in 2016, 2017 y 2018 (sorry I haven’t translated those link posts yet, but you get an idea).

Of course that 18 summers don’t mean leaving your wallet on expensive experiences or financially impossible travel. That’s not the idea. If you can afford to travel, great! If you can’t there are other things you can do as a family, without spending all your money or spending very little.

The idea of 18 summers has more to do with TIME, with CONNECTION, with REST and with NURTURING your relationship with yourself, with God, with his Creation and with your FAMILY… Especially with your own children, because -believe it or not- they will not always want to go on vacation with their parents! In other words, the idea of 18 summers has to do with the fact that what is happening now with your children and summer, will not always be like this. And maybe you might want -or need- to do a sort of «ritual of passage» when that moment comes…

That day will come. Meanwhile, what we can do? Two years ago I made a post with a few mix of ideas for a summer at home.
Today I’d like to share some other ideas you can do to make the most of your summer with your kids:

IDEAS WITH NO MONEY:
* Write your own Summer manifesto.
* Go for an evening walk each day or a couple times a week.
* A family selfie at the beginning and the end of summer (or once a week, once a month)
* Go see the starts at night
* Go birdwatching
* Go berry picking
* Interview your kids and document it on your blog or scrapbook album
* Camping on the backyard or balcony
* Watch the sunset at the beach
* Go to the library and pick a summer book to readaloud every morning or at bedtime
* Enjoy ordinary things together (breakfast for example!)
* Go see fireworks
* Do a scavenger hunt
* Make a fort in the dining room
* or a picnic in the living room
* Invent a new tradition

IDEAS with A LITTLE MONEY
* A mini album with your kid’s 10 favourite things
* Play Pictionary (or scrabble, or monopoly!)
* Paint / decorate rocks or seashells.
* Visit a museum
* Buy a classic book and readaloud a chapter every day or suscribe to programs like Audible and listen to an audiobook together.
* Picnic in the backyard (or balcony)
* Paint with watercolours
* Movie night at home with homemade popcorn
* Make s’mores
* Go to the towns fair or market
* Buy disposable cameras and make a photo contest
* Cook together (or let the kids prepare dinner for you!)
* Go harvesting pears, plums or other fruits.
* Make jam and give some to neighbours
* Volunteer together to a place/cause dear to your heart
* Do a craft together
* Stay home and «travel» to a different country each week of summer (through music, food, history, literature and art!)
* Make a barbecue in the garden
* Rent bikes or horses and go for a ride.
* Go to a sky park or rock climbing wall (or similar)

IDEAS with some MONEY
* Make a trip to a new place
* Go camping
* Go to a family camp

As you see, the ideas with no money or with little money are more than the ones that require a lot of spending. Because spending money not always guarantees connection, intimacy and bonding.

And one last thought: please move to the other side of the camera and make sure you are on the pictures as much as possible!

I wish you a happy summer, enjoying connection with the most important people in your life!

xoxo,

Fanny