The Ultimate Summer Edit

Books, Bites, Bogg Bags, and Bucket Lists

School’s out for summer! While the season doesn’t officially kick off until June 20th, I’m already in summer mode and imagine you are too. There are so many excellent Summer Reading Guides that have been making their rounds on Substack that I’m not going to publish my own. I’ve also been thinking about what

Katy O.

wrote in her recent post about a seasonal shift in newsletter frequency. Because I wholeheartedly want you to put down your phone and spend every moment you can soaking up all the summer fun with your kids, I’m publishing this massive newsletter focusing on all things summer. I hope you’ll flag this email in your inbox or save it on Substack to come back to when you’re looking for ideas for fun family activities. It’s my goal that The Ultimate Summer Edit is a one-stop shop for summer inspiration for all the working moms out there.

In full transparency, this post is heavy on links compared to my usual newsletters. Only the books linked to Bookshop.org are affiliate links. The rest came requested by a few friends and are meant to be helpful if you’re looking for similar items this summer.

What’s in my Bogg Bag

I’m one of the many moms and micro-influencers singing the praises of the Bogg bag this season. My younger sister gifted me the XL bag a few years ago and I’ve made good use of it ever since. We use it at the park, at the pool, and at the beach. It’s great to keep packed and ready to grab by the door at home or stashed in your trunk. There are plenty of more affordable dupes out there now too! I love that it is structured, waterproof, and easy to clean. Here are some non-negotiables for my bag:

• Dock & Bay Quick Dry Towels

• pool toys like water guns and goggles for the kids — This Super Soaker is a current favorite.

• reusable wet/dry bags

• snacks like crackers, applesauce, and fresh fruit — I love this Rigwa bowl with the 3 way divider insert to keep things cold

• water bottles + juice pouches

• Nalgene bottle + spray lid — this comes in super handy as a mister to cool off or as a spray bottle to clean up spills

• lots of sunscreen — My daughter and I are both quite sensitive to aerosol sunscreens so lotions work best. I keep them in a wet/dry snack bag to contain the mess.

• bucket hats for the kids and a trucker hat for myself

• floaties for my toddler

• sunglasses

• Dip mini brush + Sun Shield after swim detangler

• my Kindle

• mini Bluetooth speaker

This post from Organized Marie is incredible. She shared so many container hacks for organizing things that I wouldn’t have thought of alone!

These are the bag accessories I have so far: cup holder / carabiner keychains / phone holder + charms / divider trays / clear zipper bags

Summer Bucket List

Now that we are on a year-round school schedule, our summer is only 6 weeks. We have lots of things on our summer bucket list and kicked things off with a trip to the beach this month. Tennis wrapped up so we will spend every chance we get at the pool to use our membership, hence the full run down on my Bogg bag essentials.

Here are some ideas to add to your summer bucket list. I recommend you copy + paste this into a note on your phone that you can check off as you go!

• go to a “far away” playground instead of the neighborhood park

• Library visits + Summer Reading Challenge

• splash pad

• the zoo

• beach trip

• picnic at the park

• cook from the garden

• BBQ outdoors

• fly a kite

• water balloon fight

• build a sandcastle

• watch fireworks

• host a lemonade stand

• buy flowers at the farmer’s market

• movie at the theater (Inside Out 2 is at the top of our list)

• swim at the pool

• catch lightning bugs

• outdoor concert

• game night

• try a new local restaurant

• DIY craft

Kid Lit that Celebrates Summer

Thinking back on my childhood, summer screams sleepovers with cousins, long days at the pool with friends, fun day trips, lemonade stands, eating watermelon until our bellies hurt, and reading for hours to earn a summer reading prize from the library. I pulled together a selection of kid lit that celebrates all things summer. There’s something for every family on this list!

Summer Recipes

If you’re like me and need a reminder to lighten up your menu for summer, consider this your sign to prep more salads, fruit, and veggies during the warmer months. There’s no chance I’m firing up the oven when it’s 90+ degrees outside. Summer is the perfect season for salads but that doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to eating lettuce! My 5-year-old is probably the rare lettuce-loving child but salads can take many forms. Here are some recipe ideas I have saved to come back to all season long:

• Tomato pie with pimento cheese

• Strawberry rhubarb pie

• Golden Girl salad

• Cowboy Caviar couscous

• tomato, peach, and burrata salad

• shrimp ceviche

• Mexican Street Corn

• French potato salad

• Paloma cocktail

• three bean salad

• scallops with citrus ginger sauce

• fried goat cheese, strawberry, and arugula salad

• Beach sandwiches + Easy Picnic Food

beach sandwiches

Soundtrack for Summer

Here’s a fun idea to get you moving and grooving in the kitchen as a family this summer. My kids love it when I play a soundtrack based on the theme of our dinner. I set up an Alexa Routine so when I say “It’s Pizza Night” our Echo Show plays The Perfect Italian Dinner playlist on Spotify for 30 minutes. Spotify has tons of these expertly curated playlists for any type of cuisine. Give Mexican Restaurant or Backyard BBQ a go. Sadly, they’re not paying me to say how much I love them but finding playlists someone has already curated is a huge time saver.

A few other playlists I love from Apple Music + Spotify:
Summer BBQ / Taylor Swift: Summer Era / Feel Good Summer

My Summer TBR Stack

I’m grateful to NetGalley + various publishers for the opportunity to read several eARCs that will be the perfect beach reads. These covers look so good together too!

Elizabeth of East Hampton by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding — Jane Austen retellings are quickly becoming my favorite so I couldn’t say no to this version of Pride & Prejudice set in the Hamptons.

Enemies to Lovers by Laura Jane Williams — I can’t wait to dive into this romance set on a family vacation in Greece! I’ve heard this book has great sibling dynamics and touches on mental health themes.

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer — Jean Meltzer is one of my favorite romance authors. I’m looking forward to seeing how she melds Jewish culture, romance, and the obstacles Greg and Faye run into along the way.

The Slowest Burn by Sarah Chamberlain — The cover for this book drew me in and I love that it features mature characters. This fake dating romance features a cookbook ghostwriter and celebrity chef!

I pre-ordered This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune and can’t wait to visit PEI through her latest romance.

The next two books I’m reading as part of my Rereading Project are Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer and Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. The setting of both books reminds me of summer.

Summer Watch List

My kids are anxious (ha see what I did there?) to meet the new characters in Inside Out 2 so I’m planning for that to be the one big summer blockbuster that we see at the theater this summer.

To take advantage of our various streaming services, I created a summer watch list for movie nights at home. These movies scream summer to me! They're sure to set the vibe even if you just put one on while doing chores. I’ve shared this tip before but if you want to see what services are streaming these movies, check out Just Watch.

• The Parent Trap

• The Sound of Music

• Lilo & Stitch

• The Goonies

• Troop Beverly Hills

• Addams Family Values

• Heavyweights

• Luca

• The Lizzie McGuire Movie

• Rio

• Cheaper by the Dozen

• Moana

• Finding Nemo

• Honey I Shrunk the Kids

• Holiday in the Sun

• Our Lips are Sealed

• When in Rome

• Moonrise Kingdom

Whew! Chime off in the comments or reply to this email and tell me what your summer plans are. Are you going to see Inside Out 2? Is your family also crazy enough to take a road trip in the heat? Do you have any special traditions for the 4th of July?

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Wishing you a JOYFUL summer,

Elsewhere on the Internet: Goodreads / Storygraph / Pinterest