If there were a meteorological equivalent of dissociative identity disorder, Marin’s summers would qualify for all of the clinical trials. Our mean temperature of around 66° from June through September conceals bracing lows and scalding highs–often on the same day if you drive around a bit. Depending on where you live and that year’s weather RNG, you might pass a string of perfect, mid-to-high seventies weeks by the pool, or you could barely see the sun before September. It might be windy, or stultifyingly calm, and there could be a great deal of wildfire smoke, or none at all.
One thing is certain, though: neither smoke nor fog nor heat nor gloom of night will stop your kids from expecting months brimming with a scintillatingly diverse array of bespoke entertainments, all backed by Alvin Ailey-worthy logistical choreography and superlative production value. Most of you will take a trip or two this summer, and–though I’m guessing Marin beats the national average here–the children in just under half of your households will attend some form of camp. But what about those spaces in between?
First, you can and should butt out a bit and let your kids entertain themselves–provided they’re old enough to do so…safely. Unstructured play time does wonders for developing brains, and what better time to let it happen than over break? Eventually, though, you’ll have to come up with at least a few handfuls of ideas to keep the kids (and yourself!) content and fend off any excess boredom. Enter the Summer List!
Six years ago (happy 6th, Summer List!), my wife, Katie, and I began a late-spring tradition of sitting down with the kids to sketch out our hopes, dreams, ambitions and aspirations for a summer lived well. It was a free-for-all brainstorming session where nothing was out of bounds. And the Summer List! was born. The process has gotten more democratic (and, inevitably, fractious) with time, but it’s still a ritual we all look forward to and have come to revere.
Putting your own Summer List! together is both fun and rewarding: we find we do many more of the things we love doing in summertime if we spend a few minutes jotting them down first.
Some tips:
- A few days before your family talks, ask everyone to think about what they want to do this summer. Categories: favorite activities, restaurants, places, people and events.
- At the meeting, go around and write down everyone’s suggestions, no matter how big/small/out there.
- To make sure you’re not forgetting or missing out on anything, check any previous lists you have, and explore sites like Ronnie’s Awesome List, Marin Mommies, Marin Parks, Visit Marin and of course, SMMC.
- Post the list somewhere everyone can see it, and refer to it when planning your summer days
- Enjoy!
If you’re looking for some inspiration, here’s what we’ve come up with for 2025. As is tradition, the list is in non-biased alphabetical order:
- Backyard campout
- Boating on the Bay
- SF Botanical Garden
- China Live
- Deck flower planting
- Farmer‘s market
- Giants games
- Homemade Pizza night
- Hot air balloon ride
- Lake Lagunitas/Bon Tempe/Phoneix Lake hikes
- Marin County Fair
- Marin Shakespeare Company
- New object of glory
- Non-backyard campout
- Pacifics games
- Picco
- Roller coasters
- SF Symphony
- Shakespeare at the Curtain Theater
- Spend time on the deck
- Stinson Beach
- Sushi Ran
- Swinner (swimming + dinner at TPC!)
- Venchi
- Water slide
1 Your faithful Dad’s Corner columnist hopes you might forgive him this reprised (yet hopefully still inspiring) installment. At deadline time he was laid up recovering from a minor, elective and yet somehow still super-exhausting medical procedure. Excelsior!