SEASONS There are 4 in all – choose your favorite

By Gaye Bunderson

Once again, I’ve tapped a number of contributors, advertisers, interviewees, and friends about a family-related topic, soliciting their views on a subject we all have an opinion about: What is your family’s favorite season, and why? The idea was to stoke the fires of enthusiasm for events and vacations to come.

Our favorite season here in Idaho is spring. Not only because it means the long winter is over, but because we can start gardening as a family. We love gardening, spending time in the sunshine and planting our own food. There is nothing like harvesting a fruit or vegetable that you planted from a tiny seed. And eating it is even better! It’s also very educational for our 5-year-old daughter who has Down syndrome. She has her own little gardening tools and absolutely loves to garden herself.

We also love to camp in late spring. The camping opportunities here in Idaho are endless, and some of the locations that we’ve found are stunning. We love camping as a family and plan to do much more this year as soon as the weather permits.

Steffanie Larriba Idaho advocate for children with Down syndrome

We have all four seasons covered in our family of four. One son loves winter because he loves playing in the snow, the other loves summer because he doesn’t have to go to school. My husband prefers fall because of the colors, and my favorite is spring because of the joyous relief from darkness and cold!

Dani Grigg Attorney, Foley Freeman – Meridian

My family’s favorite season is what we call “Fummer.” This is the time period when most of the summer activities have died down but the weather is still nice enough to enjoy the outdoors before fall fully sets in. We created the term when we lived in McCall and celebrated Fummer when all the summer tourists were gone but we could still recreate in the outdoors before the snow fell.

Alex Brooks

Education Manager and Boise Urban Gardens Executive Director

Fall, for us, is the time we spend doing our activities we enjoy: hunting, fishing, outdoor hiking. There’s beautiful scenery, and the trees changing colors. We spend the most time out-of-doors in the fall – and the weather in Idaho at that time of year is beautiful.

Shawna Billington Hairstylist, Looks Unlimited-Boise

Our family focuses on blessing others who are not family members. We enjoy Christmas the best as the season of giving. However, we continue to consistently give throughout the year. Since I am a Spanish Basque we have been decorating the Christmas tree at the Basque Museum and Cultural Center lobby for all to enjoy for the last six years. We have also donated tabletop trees, wreaths and home décor to the Festival of Trees for the last 12 years. We make various seasonal cards for our neighbors, friends, and family across the country. We have invested our lives doing volunteer work serving our communities. Our outreaches have included three churches we have started and served as pastors, reaching out in innovative ways to encourage and strengthen our communities.

When the recession hit a few years ago we decided to give although we did not have any work for our Redesign Boise business. Just before Christmas we ended up giving away $100K of goods and services by doing three large painting and redesign projects for the Women’s and Children’s Alliance. Other organizations where we have served include the Assistance League of Boise and Toastmasters in the Treasure Valley.

These days we continue to make and give out handmade bookmarks to encourage others wherever we meet them. We have donated over 15,000 of them to disadvantaged children, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, the Boys and Girls Club and discouraged strangers that we meet wherever we go.

Irene Woodworth Business owner, Redesign Boise

Our favorite season would be fall, because of all the beautiful fall colors and all the fun fall activities and the family gatherings.

Mira Sebyakin Photographer in the Treasure Valley