School is out, and the warm weather is here. It’s time for summer fun.

As a child, summer meant swimming, sleeping in, and sitting in front of a fan on hot days. That was before anyone had air conditioning.

My parents did have an above ground pool, but that water never got warm. It was hard for the grown-ups to get in it, but I would just jump off the deck and get “getting in” over with quickly. My mom would say it “chilled you to the bone,” and you’d stay cool all night long.

Summer meant a yard full of lightning bugs, or as my husband calls them - fireflies. I loved catching them and putting them in a jar with some grass and a metal screw-on lid. My dad would use a hammer and nail and punch in a couple holes for air in the lid.

My mom loved sitting on the front porch, listening to the sounds of night and watching cars and people pass by on the street. We’d spray on mosquito repellent, but one or two would still get me. They still do. I loved sitting with her.

Then there were special days when we got together with my grandparents and extended family for a cookout. Sometimes we would meet at a state park and sometimes at an aunt or uncle’s house.

When we went to a state park, we would walk down to the beach and swim in the lake or rent a paddle boat and take it for a slow spin on the water. The grown-ups likes to sit near the picnic table a talk all afternoon.

A couple times, we rented a cabin for a week. It was fun sleeping on the bunk beds in sleeping bags, roasting marshmallows over the camp fire, and listening to my brother tell ghost stories. I loved having that his special uninterrupted time with family.

As a grown-up, I carried on the traditions and took my kids to lots of family cookouts, a couple stays in cabins at state parks, but mixed in a few things my husband and I did differently than our parents.

We bought some inexpensive kayaks and went kayaking on the Delaware River and local lakes. We took the kayaks to vacation trips to the Outer Banks, and rented kayaks in Maine and Florida.

We went to water parks, amusement parks, and local fairs. Explored Civil War battlegrounds, museums, and several air shows. We love air shows. We tried to give them all the precious experiences we had as children, while adding a few new adventures.

The warmth of summer is freeing. Freeing of jackets, freeing of day-to-day responsibilities - if only for a week, and freeing of the mind to explore anything you might want to do.

What will you do with your summer?