Though the calendar says we still have one month of summer left, the beginning of the school year brings us a different feeling. With both of my kids in school, we officially say goodbye to our days of summer fun and begin our school year routine. We were very lucky to have had a lot of family summer fun this year, mixed with some quality relaxing and pure hanging out, which the kids enjoyed before entering 2nd and 7th grade at school. Here’s a bit of what we did this summer!
Looking Back at Our Family Summer Fun
Visited Abuela’s House
Though my mami lives only 2 hours away and we see her quite often, the summer allows us to have extended visits. Visiting Abuela’s house is something my kids look forward to each summer and ask about as the school year ends. With a more relaxed summer schedule, they enjoy being able to go out with her to various places and truly taking advantage of our longer visits!
Lots of Disney Fun
Many locals might stay away from Walt Disney World during the busy summer months, but as Disney annual pass holders, we took advantage of our passes and visited the most magical place on Earth a few times this summer! We were able to visit each of the four Disney World parks, braving the Florida summer sun to enjoy lots of Disney family fun! To top it off, we were also invited to celebrate the opening of Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios through a media event. Read our tips for visiting Toy Story Land!
Played Local Tourists
Central Florida has so much to see and do between the Gulf and Atlantic coasts that it’s nice to get out and explore a bit of the local fun and attractions. We searched for seashells on the East at Cocoa Beach – a new beach for our kids – and enjoyed a family beach day on the Gulf coast. While the beach is amazing and one of our favorite summer activities, we also took the kids to Medieval Times, another first for our youngest and (unbeknownst to me) my husband as well!
Read, Read, Read
If you can believe it, in addition to hanging out at home and exploring our local attractions, my kids did a lot of summer reading. A LOT! My baby boy entered 2nd grade having read over 75 books and nearly 27 hours this summer! My girl achieved over 25 hours of reading herself and read not only her 2 required books for 7th grade, but 11 novels in total!
Family Cruising
Our biggest adventure this summer was a family cruise to the Caribbean! It was our first family cruise and the first time the kids traveled out of the country (except for Puerto Rico, which is not exactly out of the country). Our cruise took us to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and to Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. We had a lot of fun as a family, ate WAY too much food, and created special family memories to wrap up a summer of family fun.
I hope my babies continue to enjoy each of their summers and that we always make the most of our summer fun as a family. While I know not all summers will be full of trips and grand adventures, all I want is for them to have family summer fun memories to take with them into future years.
What family fun did you enjoy this summer?
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
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