I could be partial because I am a summer baby! Gemini baby with the Air as my element all day long; but Summer has this trifecta thing going on; you see it has the Weather, Food and the Vacations. Let’s start with the vacations. It’s pretty cool because the kiddos are out of school so there’s more family time right from the start.

You are lucky if you are still at that golden age where the kids love family together time.

That starts to morph towards the tween years and go full “but do I have to “ in the teenage years. Summertime then becomes an absolute Games of Thrones if you ask me; with nothing but plots and schemes to get the summer everyone has in mind for their perfect vacation. But, let me get back to that good old sweet pre-teen , you are still the Super Star in their eyes summer time.

I just finalized our Summer vacation timeline with Uni’s mother and now with dates locked in, I am creating the Blueprint. It has a lot of bells and whistles with places to go , the hubby work schedule and our dates but I enjoy planning it. I am a huge fan of road trips. I know planes are easier but in my decades of way too much flying and a lot of driving- I have come to appreciate the road trips.

I mean a long road trip , if we are going to do it , I say let’s fully commit.

My normal go to trip is from Virginia to Texas. I will let you take a moment to slide over to google and type that in to see what I mean when I say long. I will give you another hint. My husband and I frequent Connecticut from Virginia on short notice, like it’s a drive to the grocery store. So yeah, I love a road trip. With kids I do find you have to make it kid friendly. This means a longer trip time, more stops, a detour here and there and just a good old fun time. We have family members spread out so this Summer is all about decisions, decisions and decisions.

This will be our very first official family summer vacation since the wedding this past August. At first I thought no difference, I mean we have been our own little trifecta close to 5 years already; but I am finding myself making it a semi- big deal. Like I am looking on Esty now for family branded tee shirts.

You know to let the whole world know that we are official a family.

So yeah, semi-big deal. Summer vacation for our home do come with some obstacles; mainly two big ones.

Our Bullmastiffs Rocky and Sauda will need a dog-sitter. Now Rocky; my big old handsome sweet dog son; has not only traveled with me but it is easy breezy finding people to watch him. Sauda; my beautiful full of character and “personality” dog daughter; well not so much. She doesn’t like certain things you know; like other people; which makes it a tad hard to find a sitter. But I am up for the challenge and will definitely let you know as things come together. Come along the journey with us!

The Food is my second favorite element of Summer.

I wonder

Am I the only one who automatically go into baking mode when the weather warms up?

I think it’s because of all the outdoors activities and the Fairs and Amusement Parks, those Boardwalks ridiculously amazing scents that just tickles your nose and tap on your stomach like ” just a few fries or maybe a funnel cake, we can share” . Then there’s the cook outs. I am a pescatarian but I still grill for the family because hey I wasn’t always a pescatarian. I love grilling salmon, shrimp, vegetables and elote corn. Oh My! Elote corn. Let’s take one moment to say a prayer of thanks for maiz elote! OK we can move on. I love summer food because just like traveling it gives me plenty of time to share and bake with the kids.

If you was walking outside by yourself, in an open space like a beach or field and could close your eyes and whatever dessert you wanted at that moment could appear. What would it be?

For myself it would be fresh out of the oven bread pudding or maybe a peach cobbler . Between you and I though, if it is just me, maybe I would try to make a deal for half bread pudding and half peach cobbler. Just the food connection with Summer overall is a special partnership I have witness with so many families. I have done this thing that I have just discovered has become a tradition. Who would had known. I didn’t even try. For years my very young, beautiful and smart cousin and I, after she is out of school a few days, get in the car and search for a random Cafe. We get to one stop and choose left or right until we end up somewhere with a Cafe.

I will admit there has been a few times where there was two or three in the same area, and we would drive to each place; park outside and evaluate which one we thought would give us our best experience. You see we have this review system in place for the cafes and we take it very serious . It’s like our opinion could shut down a business or bless them with huge success. That’s what we go with!

Well the other day , in the kitchen with my aunt and cousin, we were just talking about the summer and things, and my teenage cousin who is- well a teenager almost grown up- just casually mentions to her mom “yeah but not until Terry and I do out cafe thing”. At that very moment I felt like I could just lean back and a bed of clouds was going to carry me into a sci-fi galaxy of purple dragons and bread puddings and peach cobblers galore. Such a little casual insert and I was like ; to myself; “YES , a W for the team”. Of course seconds later she went back to being a teenager, you know ” Earth doesn’t matter, just the Iphone, Snap-chat, and anyone else who isn’t in the home” focus. I told myself “ got to blog this so it can stay forever in my memory. Now I am looking forward to creating a “thing” with Uni for the summer. So exciting.

Then there is the Summer Weather. I mean it just brings everything together. It is something magical about a perfect breeze. It is noticeable right? You could be standing outside talking and that one breeze glides in and it feels like it stays on your face for minutes. It is so perfect that you will pause what you are saying to embrace it.

I even caught Sauda in a “moment”.

That perfect breeze is my number one favorite thing about Summer.

Of course the heat, can get just plain rude and gangster if you ask me. I learned a long time ago Texas heat and Virginia hear are two different beasts. They move different. Their hotness is way different. Now I think we all know when the heat is absurd you counteract it with either the Beach or the Trees; to balance it out. The dogs loves the after sunset air; Sauda could sit out in the back deck for hours; she has this look of complete Zen; that is until she sees another living creature.

There you have it why I love the fact that Summer is coming, so much more pleasing than Winter is Coming , because when Winter has Came it will let you down tremendously, with no apologies. Speaking of winter , have you ever been so nervous about an epic Winter that you have been told is coming your way. The worst ever, the biggest ever, and the whole “prepare prepare prepare” and then you wait anxiously , then get prepared and wait with a sense of “I am ready what ever may come” and then Winter Comes and it is a rain shower. No Snow. No Ice. Heck not even an extreme opposite like Fire. Nope just some rain. So now that I have ending this blog with my subtle Game of Thrones ending dislike I will say… Yay, I am so excited that Summer is Coming. What are your favorite Summer things?