Summer Nights These Days
(Author’s note: I wrote this before my Covid symptoms and testing. Summer nights in quarantine look very different right now…)
With summer here, our days have become even less structured than they were during virtual homeschooling earlier this spring. We have tried to keep the kids fairly routine by using a daily schedule, but we are pretty lax on that.
My favorite part of day, though, are summer nights. Chris is done working, the kids are winding down, the temperature cools down to the 80’s, and the afternoon thunderstorms have usually cleared out some of the humidity.
Usually, I start cooking dinner around 6:00. That’s also when I have the kids feed the dogs. We grill a lot during the summer, so those are all cues for Chris to fire up the grill.
While he cooks, I prep the side dishes inside. I love summer meals. Lots of fresh produce, lots of light foods. Usually, we have a grilled meat of some kind and then any combination of salad, corn on the cob, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet potatoes, watermelon, green beans, lima beans, black eyed peas, field peas, and anything else that happens to look fresh and in season at the grocery store that week. Normally, I don’t get much of those things because of keto, but my go-to summer meal is whatever grilled meat the family is having and then sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with LOTS of salt and pepper. So good and fresh!
Once my sides are prepped, I usually head outside to hang with Chris while he grills. We catch up on our days or I read or piddle in the yard. Sometimes the kids join us outside and either hang with us or jump in the pool for a while.
Dinner is ready around 6:30 or 7:00 and we usually eat at the kitchen table together. Sometimes, we eat downstairs if the kids have talked us into a movie night. (PRO TIP: If you start the movie while you eat dinner, bedtime is sooner! Whoop whoop!).
After dinner, Chris clears the table and counters while I do the dishes and the kids head off to take showers (or get back in the pool, depending on how they are feeling and what time we finish dinner). By the time the kitchen is cleaned up and dinner leftovers are put away, it’s usually around 7:30 or 8:00 and somehow, we all find our way down to the family room.
We have been playing a LOT of board and card games this summer after dinner. You can read about our favorite games here. We also watch movies, but Chris and I are just about burned out of family movies lately, so we’ve been vetoing that quite a bit. If we don’t play a game or watch a movie together, then the kids are usually playing together upstairs in their rooms after dinner since they can’t have screens. Chris and I sometimes take a walk after dinner or we go back outside to the deck and hang out for a while, listening to music and playing on our phones or chatting.
Around 8:30, we send the kids to take showers, if they haven’t already. Sometimes, this means they just wash up in the outdoor shower, if they’ve been in the pool. Chris and I usually head inside at this point because the sunsets and the bugs get really bad outside.
At 9:00, we tuck the kiddos in bed and they can read until as late as they want. Gracie doesn’t usually last too long, but Bean will stay up until 10:30 or 11:00 reading sometimes. Once they are in bed, Chris and I head to the family room to watch a movie or a TV show. Usually, I play on my phone or watch YouTube videos while Chris watches TV. Sometimes I crochet (I’m working on baby blankets right now) or work or blog or read.
A few nights a week, I go to bed when the kids go to bed. I don’t actually go to sleep, but I head to my room for some quiet alone time. I shower and wash my face and play with lotion and face products. Then, I get in bed and read usually. Sometimes, I watch YouTube or a movie on my phone. It’s just nice to be by myself for a while and I find that I sleep better because I can take a sleeping pill. If I stay up too late with Chris, who doesn’t come to bed until around 11:00, it’s too late for my sleeping pill and I don’t usually sleep well.
With nights like that, who doesn’t love a summer night?!
