10 Awesome Things About Summer

As Canadians, we tend to think summer is pretty awesome! At the first sign of sunlight, birds chirping and a thermometer reading above 5˚C, we pack away our parkas, bust out the flip-flops and get excited for the months to come. To celebrate summer's arrival, ParentsCanada teamed up with Neil Pasricha, author of The Book of Awesome! and 1000awesomethings.com, to bring you the little joys summer has to offer.

1. Walking on grass with bare feet: It's prickly, squishy and just plain awesome.
2. Driving around with the windows down on late summer nights: The air is just a little bit musky, and you can hear the sounds of insects chirping, kids making the most of the sunlight and adults enjoying the awesome porch-friendly conditions.
3. Warm sandals that have been sitting in the sun: It's summer's awesome equivalent to putting clothes on straight from the dryer.
4. Drinking from the hose: Does this bring back awesome memories from when you were a kid? The hose is everyone's backyard best friend because who wants to leave the sunshine for even a moment?
5. Actually squeezing out the right amount of sunblock: Too much and you're an oily mess, too little and you're burnt to a crisp. Perfect amount? Always awesome.
6. Midnight summer walks: Step into the cooler air and let your stress melt away in the awesome, warm quiet.
7. Really, really selling it while barbecuing: Barbecuing in the summertime is fantastic and a given. When you or someone else gets extremely serious about it, it's guaranteed to be an awesome time.
8. Seeing way worse weather on TV somewhere else: It's always awesome when you're enjoying a bright, sunshine-y day and your friends in a different city are being doused with thunderstorms.
9. Drying off in the sun after swimming: Who needs towels? Soak up those awesome rays of sunshine!
10. Biting off the last piece of the Popsicle without losing any of it: It's every kid's summer challenge. Who are we kidding, it's ours, too. Which is why it's awesome when we achieve the elusive impossible!

Originally published in ParentsCanada, June 2012.

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