Our Big Summer Of Fun

18 summers. I will never forget these words from the 2011 Disney Social Media conference. 

“Our job as parents is to create memories. You can only do that by being together. You only have 18 summers with your kids. Make memories. Life is short,” Amy Foster, Director of Disney Destinations and Consumer Insight.

It became my rallying cry. My constant reminder to make the most of every day — especially summers — with my daughters. I must enjoy every moment because childhood doesn’t last forever.

A slight panic set in the other day when I realized that we now officially have more summer behind us than we do ahead of us. Where did summer go, and what happened to all of those things I planned to do?

But then I sat down to write this post about our summer as part of the Playtex Mom Trust I made a list. I began to write down what we have done this summer. The list grew and grew, and as the list grew I realized that this summer I have done my job. We have created lots of memories in the past few months — lots. 

Even though summer started in May, our big fun started in April. In just a few short months we have done all of the following:

• We flew cross-country to take the girls to Disneyland for the first time
• My girls were flower girls in my cousin’s wedding
• We took our first road trip to Gulf County, Florida
• We had a last-day-of-school pool party (after a bus stop ambush)
• We took our second road trip to Savannah, Georgia for another wedding
• We went to Cocoa Beach on Florida’s Space Coast
• We went to the zoo, and fed the giraffes
• We went to the Magic Kingdom with friends — twice
• We had a playdate at the park with lots of friends
• We had a staycation at Bonnet Creek and visited Hollywood Studios
• We went to St. Petersburg Beach with the whole family for the 4th of July
• We had a summer pool party
• K rode in a race car
• We went back to Hollywood Studios for Frozen Summer
• My oldest went to four day camps
• My littlest is trying to potty train
• We baked star cookies
• We made lots of crafts
• And many more memories like movies, playdates, the ice cream truck and more…

Whew! So what’s left in these last few weeks of summer?

We have been invited to two birthday parties, cousins from both sides of the family are coming for visits, we have family pictures scheduled, there are still crafts to be made and I would like to visit Weeki Wachee Springs to see the mermaids before summer ends. Not to mention that there is lots of exciting back-to-school shopping to be done and meet the teacher events for BOTH of my daughters. 

That’s right, next month I am sending my baby to preschool! (Hold me!) 

Somehow when I think about this summer it feels like it rushed by and we didn’t get a chance to do anything. But the reality is that it rushed by because we were busy doing so much! 

18 summers, and this year we’ve done a good job.