Our Family's Great American Summer 2025

This summer was a beautiful blur of simple joys and small, perfect adventures, all centered around spending time with my children. We didn’t need elaborate international trips or crowded resorts; our happiness was found in the places we could get to with a full tank of gas and an even fuller picnic basket. It was a season dedicated to witnessing the world through their eyes, and what a magnificent season it was!


Our summer itinerary was a perfect mix of wild wonder and easy leisure. The zoo was an absolute highlight, transforming a simple Saturday into a safari. We spent hours tracking sleepy big cats and laughing at the antics of the monkeys, whose boundless energy mirrored that of my own kids. It’s an immediate lesson in scale and diversity for them, and a great reminder for me of the vastness of the natural world.

The call of the water was equally strong. Our trips to the beach were restorative, filled with the specific, rhythmic sounds of summer: the crash of waves, the screech of gulls, and the delighted squeals as icy water hit warm toes. These days were the essence of summer, sticky with sand and sunscreen, and ending only when the combination of sand and exhaustion won out.


While the beach offered epic scenery, the playground provided the essential daily rhythm of childhood. There's a particular, comforting chaos to a busy playground: the clanging of the swings, the shouts from the top of the slide, and the serious negotiations over who gets the blue bucket. It’s their village, a testing ground for gravity, speed, and social skills. I found myself simply enjoying the simple spectacle, watching them master a new height or conquer a challenging climbing wall.

We balanced that organized chaos with the untamed silence of the woods. Our hikes were less about reaching a destination and more about exploration. The children became naturalists and explorers, carefully lifting stones to discover hidden creatures, identifying strange fungi, and building rudimentary forts out of fallen branches. These quiet treks offered a beautiful counterpoint to our busier outings, teaching patience and providing a valuable appreciation for the slow, quiet processes of nature.

We injected some high-octane excitement into the season with a day at the amusement park. The air hummed with the electric energy of cotton candy and centrifugal force. From the cautious anticipation of the first slow climb up the Ferris wheel to the wind-in-your-hair delirium of the spinning rides, the amusement park was pure sensory overload—a perfect jolt of shared exhilaration that left us all happily worn out.

The park’s dizzying pace was beautifully contrasted by the serene calm of our trip to Hocking Hills, Ohio. This was our escape to a secluded cabin, trading city noise for the quiet murmur of the forest. We explored the unique, rugged beauty of the region, hiking through deep gorges and discovering magnificent waterfalls. It was an exercise in unplugging, where the kids learned to value the quiet patience of nature over the instant gratification of a screen.

This summer was a powerful reminder that the best memories are often built in these disparate spaces—at the top of a roller coaster, along a forest trail in Ohio, or simply at the edge of a sandbox. I’m already looking forward to next year's round of sun-drenched, local adventures.

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