Why I Love Summer

I have always loved summer since I was a growing child until these days that I have growing children of my own, though I have different reasons why I love summer then and now. As a child, I love summer because…

(1) It is school break and I can be 100% available to help my mother run our food store (turo-turo) in front of the house. I like practicing my mental arithmetic computing the bills of customers and giving them their change while I entertain others and serve them what they want. That’s where I developed my multitasking skills :D It warms my heart to hear the praises of my Mom’s frequent customers or suki about me having a sharp mind and eyes such that I cannot be tricked even if left alone to man the store at a very young age of 9. My first immersion to the “real world”.

(2) We can swim often, especially during weekdays, for FREE at a resort merely 20 meters away from our house. A special privilege given by our Uncle who works there ;-)

(3) I don’t need to wash and iron my school uniform for two months…ahhh what a relief! Ironing is my least favorite household chore.

Now as an adult, I have more reasons to love summer.

(1) I can have an extended 30 minutes to 1 hour of sleep because I don’t need to prepare lunchboxes very early in the morning, hurray!

(2) Anytime we go out, less road traffic is expected. One less reason to be stressed=D

(3) Summer is the time we enroll our kids for non-academic pursuits of their choice. They have been enrolled to Visual Arts, Swimming, Voice, Ballet and Moo Du Kwan lessons. I love it when my kids get to learn and do what they want and become well-rounded persons in the process…things I missed in my childhood.

(4) There is no free swimming from where we live right now, lol, but the 2-month break provides a lot of opportunities to visit white sand beaches which abound the Philippine Archipelago. I am always ready with a lip balm and sunblock, though. It’s bad that we lost our snorkel and would need to get another one this summer, tsk, tsk, tsk.

(5) Summer is when we go camping outside and inside the house. This may sound silly but we pitched a tent in the garage, had some barbecue grilling on the side, played games in the yard and spent wonderful time chatting with our children while eating caramel popcorn. In three occasions, the tent was pitched inside the house…Yep inside =D. Investing in a tent and sleeping bags had done great things to our family.

There's even more camping, beach and outdoor activities this summer as we go on our Island Travel Adventure.  Follow our travel blog with the RSS below.

(6) My kids don’t wear uniforms in school so ironing is not an issue. They wear casual clothes or whatever is comfortable for them. Because they are growing fast, it is easy for them to outgrow their clothes and foot wears. So towards the end of summer, it is shopping time for clothes…my favorite.

(7) Summer time is fun time for fruit lovers like me. Wide array of fruits are available in the market at a relatively more affordable prices. Summer is the time to keep fit and eat healthy. Tropical fruits like watermelon, mangosteen, durian, mandarin oranges, plus the usual banana, papaya, pomelo, pineapple and mango are all over the city. The roadsides, especially the highways, are full of fruit vendors selling to travelers and vacationers.

(8) Mother’s Day and Papa Sez's birthday fall on summer break, giving me more reasons to celebrate :D