We are into our second full week of summer now (I count “summer” as starting when school ends, not June 21st) and I have some reflections! Some of these things seem very obvious, but are hitting me in a different way than I expected.
1. It’s hot.
Oh, really? (you might be thinking.) You’ve lived in Florida for 25 years and never noticed that summers are hot? Well, yes I have. Our summer weather is typically in the low 90s every day, which, with the humidity, puts the “real feel” in the 100s. (Last summer was extra-special, as it was even hotter than that- we set some records!) In other words, it’s super unpleasant to be outside.
I accept that, and we understand that running MUST occur early in the morning if you don’t want to have a heatstroke. I think it’s hitting me extra hard this summer though, because next week my sister and her husband are coming to visit and we’re trying to figure out WHAT we’re going to do while they’re here.
The beach would be an obvious choice, but honestly, it’s so hot I don’t even want to go to the beach (we might go in the evening, but that’s the only time I want to be there.) I’ve tried googling “indoor activities in South Florida” and I get suggestions for things like trampoline parks and ice skating rinks. Let’s just say that’s not exactly what I’m looking for.
There are some art museums, and we will probably visit those. But I don’t want to go to a museum EVERY day- that would be kind of strange. This isn’t a trip to Paris. So… I’m struggling with this a little. (Any suggestions???)
2. Everyone is home.
Yes, this is what I wanted and looked forward to- my son is home!!! ALSO, my husband is a teacher so that means he’s home now as well. Ahem. The house is….a little crowded.
I had to move my “home gym” (aka dumbbells and yoga mat) out of my son’s room, into our bedroom. That’s fine- I do that every time he’s home. The problem is, working out in the bedroom isn’t always feasible.
It was especially challenging last week, because my husband and son had just returned from California on a red-eye flight, and their sleep schedule was MESSED UP. I never really knew when people were going to be asleep or awake, and there were mornings where my husband was still sleeping while I wanted to use my weights.
I moved everything to the living room, but then the cats wanted to get in on the action. Try doing lunges while holding dumbbells overhead, WHILE A CAT ATTACKS YOUR LEGS. At one point I lurched in a weird way to avoid stepping on the cat, and felt a jolt of pain in my knee (Bad Muffin!!! Very bad girl!) Well… this gives me extra motivation to GO TO THE GYM for my workouts.
3. Sleeping later is overrated.
Remember how happy I was NOT to have to get up at 5:30? Guess who didn’t get that memo- THE CATS. For the first week of summer they woke me up at 5:30, meowing loudly and excitedly for breakfast. It was rough.
It has gotten better- the cats slowly adjusted. But now I’m just “feeling the summer vibes” and staying up too late reading. I can’t sleep THAT late, because I do still have to work (darn!) and, as I mentioned before, running must occur early in the morning. What I really need to do is pretend it’s not summer and just go to bed early- but so far I’m not doing a good job of that.
Don’t get me wrong- I really am enjoying the more relaxed feel these days. But I’m realizing summer success doesn’t just happen- I may have to work at it a little.
How is your summer going? Any challenges so far?
31 Responses
Yup, it’s hot here too and the early morning are the only time I can reasonably work out outdoors. I struggle with the heat. But I also want to sleep in a little on the weekends at least. It’s a tough life LOL at least I don’t have cats who don’t get the memo. Can’t you just ALWAYS feed them later so that they’re used to a later schedule?
You must be so happy to have everyone at home but I understand that it throws off your usual rhythm. Mmh, indoor activities with your sister and BIL… museums sound great but I get that you can’t do that every day. Are they people that have to be entertained or can you maybe also just hang out at home some of the time? An indoor mall might be another idea.
My sister would be totally fine hanging out at our house or going to a mall. The problem is, my BIL would rather do something more… interesting. I can’t really blame him.
Your comments about working out around cats reminds me of when I workout with Taco around! He could be upstairs with dad but sometimes being by me is just irresistible and he is all up in my space and I am like come on man, give me 40 minutes of peace!
Paul finishes school this week so we are not in summer mode yet. He goes to full time call starting the following Thursday so summer kind of feels like any other part of the year here except we can be outside so much which makes a huge difference. But I can see how summer seems like a wonderful time in theory but the reality is you can’t sleep in and still get your runs in and you’ve got people around that throws off your schedule!!
Yes- I mean I love the summer vibes, but I’m also pretty happy every year when school starts again in August!
Sigh, as you just pointed out summer is when everyone else gets to sleep in and take it easy…oh well.
It took Doggo a while to get used to Hubs’s HIIT workouts in the living room. She still doesn’t like it when I do pushups.
When the whole family went to FL for a week last year, we did a mix of beach days and “suck it up and pretend it’s not 90” days to go sightseeing.
Ha, that’s what we did last time. We did a walking tour around Miami and kind of pretended we weren’t dying. Maybe we could have ONE DAY like that again!
This week feels like summer here, and I am here for it! Of course, it’s not in the 100s, but instead in the 20s C (I guess that’s 80s?). I love summer. I am a summer kind of gal. But as I said, this is Canadian summer so…
Also my husband is retired and my kids work strange shifts so all the days are sort of interchangeable. I am really enjoying our first summer in this house – last summer was such a gong show, honestly, it is just nice to enjoy this beautiful place.
Yes, I would be happy with 80s and a beautiful location like you have! But then I have to remind myself- some people wish they could live by the ocean (LIKE I DO) I should probably embrace it more and stop complaining.
I thought about this a lot when we spent a few months in Naples, Florida. The heat made me to an indoor-person, even more than a cold winter would do.
We would do our early morning run, and for the rest of the day, we would hop between the air-conditioned apartment, the air-conditioned car and the air-conditioned grocery stores. I hated it – it felt so artificial and I felt out of touch with nature.
How about a sunset boat ride for your sister? Or do you have any zoos, aquariums or gardens that you could visit?
Yes- I feel like that too in the summer, like we never go outside and I hate it. I think one of the museums we’re considering has an outdoor garden area- that might be nice (because we could also escape into the AC.)
I am very glad we don’t have the humidity to contend with here in Arizona! That just sounds miserable. But yep, it’s still very hot here — in the 100s every day and it’s even gotten close to 110! And we will have mostly 100+ degree days through early October ugh, but I’m hopeful we’ll actually get some rain this summer because we really need it.
I’m sure it’s nice for you to have everyone home but probably challenging because they’re all off work or school while you still have to stick to a schedule for work, plus get up early for runs!
My summer challenge is with the A/C at work. It’s a 100+ year old building so the equipment isn’t great and where my office is it gets particularly hot. Last summer we had some days where we were told to work from home because the A/C wasn’t working at all so I’m hoping for that to happen again because it’s been uncomfortably warm!
I’m pretty sure I know what your weather feels like. When I was in Waco with my son last August, it was around 110 every day- not as humid as Florida, but that heat!!! It just blasted you every time you stepped outside.
Ha- maybe the AC at work will totally die and you can spend the summer working from home!
We are still in the last few days of school plus my kids are young enough to require lots of supervision. I’m looking forward to a slower pace in summer soon.
If your family is up for it maybe an indoor active activity like bowling or a rock climbing gym. We went axe throwing once which was fun.
Hi Sak- thanks for commenting! Bowling would probably be as adventurous as we get, and even that could be a stretch for some of us.
When my kids were young, I did NOT have a relaxed vibe in summer- summers were harder than the school year. But, it gets easier the older they get.
Enjoy your sister visit! We’ll have a house guest at the end of the month, and I’m worrying/wondering how to entertain them as well…
I don’t know them well enough to intuit if they’d enjoy gardens or museums and then the weather is a bit of a gamble too.
The funny thing is, when I go to visit my sister she always stressed about what we’re going to do and I always tell her I don’t care if we do anything! I’m happy just to be there and see her. So maybe we shouldn’t worry about this too much.
It almost doesn’t feel like summer where I live. The kids don’t finish school until the last Friday in June and…THEN it feels like summer. We’ve had some hot days, but the evenings are still quite cool. I think I would melt under the Florida heat!
I hope you have a wonderful time with your sister and inside things can be just as fun as outside. I think you’ll just enjoy having her close and getting to do things together.
The LAST Friday in June? That sounds so late to me! I know they start much later than our kids too. You really are on a different schedule- it must be weird reading about all these people talking about “summer” already.
Ugh, as your neighbor I 100% get the feeling of “hey, let’s do recreation!” in June and then being super disappointed that it’s absolutely inhospitable outside.
I like the art museum idea. Maybe a specific shopping trip (bookstore)? A movie? A fancy meal cooked together (could involve a trip to grocery store to get ingredients and then a leisurely pre session)? Get on a plane together to Vancouver or Maine? LOL. But yeah. It’s tough here!!!!
also: Japanese gardens in Boca have at least some shade ? And could be a relatively short outing followed by lunch somewhere air conditioned!
Hahahaha. Vancouver sounds pretty good! I like a trip to a bookstore. At least one museum will happen, and we’ll definitely cook a couple meals. After all this, it probably won’t be so hard to find things to do after all.
Ooh, happy to give suggestions for indoor places: escape rooms, axe throwing, bowling, a cat cafe, maybe a place where you could make your own candles, a day pass to a resort where you could use the pool, a cute indie bookstore, independent coffeeshop… some ideas for ya! You could also look on groupon for passes for night cruises, dolphin cruises, etc.
It has definitely gotten to the “if I’m going to be outside, I need to be in a body of water” weather. It’s too hot to just be outside otherwise. I went for a walk yesterday at 7am and was sweating so much by the end of it! Ugh.
Oddly, you’re the second person to suggest axe throwing!!! i’m not too sure about that, but i like the idea of a cat cafe (must look to see if we have one here?) and the indie bookstore (ditto.) We could put together a fun day using your suggestions.
I laughed out loud about Muffin!! We have two cats and they also drive me CRAZY at times, at least they’ve learnt not to meow for food until we are already up.
Our summers are like that too (though right we are now in our beautiful, sunny winter- beach anyone?!!). What about a nice restaurant for a long lunch one day? A visit to an indoor aquarium? That’s all I’ve got haha.
A nice restaurant for lunch sounds good- we could pair that with a museum trip. And… yes. Cats are great MOST OF THE TIME, and then the other times they try to ruin my life.
Honestly, and I don’t mean to brag, but it’s been a cool summer here. We have yet to turn on our AC and I’ve been complaining for the last two days that it’s too cold. I’m going to have to WEAR A JACKET on my evening walk with the dog tonight. I know I’ll be regretting typing these words in a couple/few weeks when it is blazing hot, but it’s cool here. And I’m sort of grumpy because I’m ready to feel warmth seeping in my bones.
I used to exercise exclusively downstairs with the cat and dog. They both were always so interested and I thought it was fun when they wanted to “help.” I can see how it could be annoying/dangerous, though. LOL. Oh, cats. Little jerks we love.
Engie, you just described every June I can remember from when I lived in the Midwest. WHEN will it get hot??? I hope the whole summer isn’t going to be like this! Ha ha… and then you’re sweltering. It’s like, we had no rain for about three months here, and we kept hoping and wishing it would rain- then today we got dumped on with so much rain, there was a flood warning. So- be careful what you wish for.
So far it’s cool here. 70s at most. For boating I prefer hotter and don’t like cold water.
For running it’s good. Except for for the rain.
What to do when it’s too hot. The gym, movies, boat ride, museum. Not a fan of shopping.
Ha, I’ll tell them we’re all off to the gym! I would like that, not so sure my sister and BIL would though.
Hahaha not laughing at you, but I totally get this!!! I can just so relate to the feelings of being excited for something to happen/summer and then being like… oh wait. lol! The bedroom situation and all the people in the house also reminds me of this whole year practically while we’ve had my parents at my house so often for that big remodel job my dad was doing for us. Like, such a good thing! But also, so annoying!!!
Our cat is the same way!!!! She sounds like a hungry ghoul, no joke. New Jersey is holding at the 80s mark. Please no warmer than that. But I know that’s not possible. NJ can be crazy hot, and humid, too.