Summer Fun is Good

BY LURA ROTI

Each morning, my 9-year-old daughter, Parker and I take a walk from our home on the edge of the Cathedral Historic District, to the Cathedral of St. Joseph. Roundtrip it’s about a mile. This walk is a much needed break from work, and a great way to connect. Our conversations typically revolve around Parker’s latest read. She devours Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and loves sharing the outrageous predicaments Gregg, the book’s middle-school-age, middle child, main character finds himself in.

But the other day, we were only a few blocks from home when she said

something quite profound: “Mom, I’ve decided that only things that are fun or funny are good. Everything else is bad.”

I gave it some thought and tested her theory. “What about challenges? They aren’t always fun, but I wouldn’t consider all challenges bad because we often learn from them.”

She came back with. “Do you think learning is fun?” Ok, you got me there. I do enjoy learning.

After that, we began throwing examples out to test the theory. You may enjoy trying it as well.

COVID-19? Neither fun, nor funny.

Challenging? Yes, but not in a “learning is fun way.” So, it’s bad. In fact, we ranked the pandemic as “very bad.”

And because Parker has asthma, while many around us return to normal, we continue to practice social distancing. Thank you to every grocery store employee and Insta Cart delivery person who make it possible for us. Our family appreciates

the work you do.

Also, a big shout out to Siouxland Public Library. Thank you for your large cloud library of good books and implementing curbside pickup.

Social distancing?

Although it’s not ideal, since many of our close friends also remain cautious, we’ve found it to be much more fun than Facetime or Zoom. Sometimes with masks, sometimes without, we sit 8 to 10- feet apart and visit.

One of our neighbors came up with a great idea so our daughters could safely hang out. We lay blankets 6 to 10-feet apart on the lawn. Because they are sitting on their blankets they don’t have to worry about getting too close. One time they had a picnic together, other times they just sit and visit. The other day I overheard them quizzing each other about their favorite book series – The Penderwicks.

Sure, these blanket playdates don’t look the same as traditional playdates, but from their giggles, I know the level of fun is.

Overall, time with friends and family, however it’s done is fun, funny and priceless.

A hot summer? Very fun.

Especially when kayaks are involved. Kayaks have been on my bucket list for a few years now. I began saving up for them, and determined that once my masters was complete, we’d buy some to emphasize the fact that weekends would no longer be set aside for mom’s homework.

Living just a few minutes from Terrace Park’s Covell Lake also means we’re able to put them to use after work several times a week.

I love kayaking because it doesn’t take any skill. It’s refreshing and relaxing at the same time. And they are quite stable… unless you’re leaning way over to one side in an attempt to grab a turtle off its perch on a fallen tree. That’s how Parker experienced her first spill. She was a champ. She didn’t panic and was able to pull herself back onto her kayak.

When we purchased life vests for our family, we also got one for Tulip, our fivemonth-old golden retriever. Now, if she was testing Parker’s philosophy, I’m sure she would not have considered her first time out on the kayak as fun or funny. But the second time out, she seemed to enjoy herself. She either slept at my husband, Shon’s feet, or kept herself entertained by the water bubbles, insects and snails that kept popping up through the scupper holes.

Watching a puppy eat snails? Funny!

On her second voyage out, our family explored a small fishing lake in Iowa. Every so often, we’d paddle up to shore, and Tulip and Parker would get out and explore the shoreline together.

Like Covell, this lake also had a swampy area along the shore with several turtles and frogs to keep Parker busy. But unlike Covell, this lake also had quite a bit of clear water. So, when we paddled out to the middle, Parker was able to spend some time swimming.

Swimming? Fun.

But since we have a teething puppy, it seems our blow-up kiddie pool isn’t an option. Oh well, I guess we don’t have to worry about dead grass rings in our backyard.

Yardwork? Fun.

Each summer Shon and I have a long outdoor to-do list. This year, because our social calendar doesn’t exist, we have many items checked off the list already. Thankfully, our favorite nursery opened an online store and began doing curbside pick-up, so I was able to pick up some new perennials, including hops.

We’d heard hops were a quick growing shade solution. And what we read was correct. Within the first week, the bines grew a foot (yup, they are referred to as bines, not vines). Within a month, they had climbed from the planter to the top of our cedar pergola. I strung more string for them to wind around with the hopes that we have complete shade by July 4. With the lovely weather, our family eats most summer suppers under this pergola.

Time with family?

Fun and funny…most of the time. Even though we see a lot of each other, work still consumes quite a bit of time (thankfully!). So, I treasure the downtime we have together. Cutting out all evening activities for safety reasons, has shown me the value of downtime. It’s something we still don’t have much of. Even when we feel safe to rejoin activities that aren’t socially distanced, I plan to make time for downtime.