5 After 5, Summer Traditions Edition

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It's time for another round of 5 After 5!  In case you missed it, last week's list was 5 things you can't pay me to do and if you're new to this series, you can read more about it here.

Today I've got my list of 5 to share, as well as next week's topic for you to stew about over the upcoming days.

And this series is now a link party, so be sure to scroll down and join in all the fun with us this week!

List 5 summer traditions you have

I was originally thinking that we don't really have many summer traditions now, so I was going to write about the summer traditions I had growing up...

...but then I realized that would be a pretty boring list, consisting mainly of my morning television-watching routine (Leave it to Beaver, Andy Griffith, Gomer Pyle, then some Price Is Right before Bewitched came on at lunch), followed by spending the rest of the day outside (constructing bike ramps, choreographing roller-skating routines, playing on my swingset) until it got dark.

Oh, and reading pretty much every other second I could.

That doesn't surprise you, does it?

So, I challenged myself to think harder about our current summer traditions, and I realized we really do have quite a few:

1.  Camping

The biggest tradition we have is heading up to the mountains of North Carolina at some point in the summer and getting all cozy with the dirt for a free vacation.

This forces us to unplug and unwind and embrace a much simpler life for several weeks as we live like pioneer folk with only the rushing streams for a water source and the bushes for a bathroom.

Want all the fun of a family camp-out, with less hassle?  Check out this great camping kit from one of my favorite blogs!

2.  4th of July Fun

There's a quaint college hamlet nearby, so we head into civilization and join the locals for all sorts of small-town charm to celebrate our country's birthday each July.

The activities vary each year, but always include a fun street festival, rubber-duck race, afternoon picnic and breathtaking fireworks that end the evening.

3.  Eat copious amounts of ice cream

Lucky for us, there's an amazing little ice cream shack that we pass whenever we emerge from our temporary forest home and head into town.

There are seriously more specialty ice cream flavors than I can count here - you name it, you can probably get a scoop of frozen dairy delight filled with whatever your taste buds are in the mood for that day.

We stop here often.

Much too often.

Like every time we head into town often - and our cooler's ice melts after 3 days...

4.  Forge new trails

This still scares me half to death sometimes, but while I am of the "Let's bring three different topo maps and a GPS so that we know where we are at all times along with an emergency whistle and a compass" kind of gal, G is more the "Hey, I wonder where this would lead?" kind of guy, so at least a few times each summer, we have to make our own path somewhere, or connect two already-established trails that previously have not intersected, or otherwise stomp through waist-high foliage to investigate "that waterfall sound that's just around the mountain."

I always wear neon orange on those days, in case you decide to send out a search party.

5.  Swim

Despite living in a state where pretty much every house has a pool (or neighborhood access to a community pool), we don't swim much.

Mainly because we Healys rival the Cullens in our disdain of the sun.

We're just minutes from the beach, but only go in the evenings - just an hour or two before the sun sets - and never, ever in the summer.

Oh no.  We're winter beach people, all the way.

We don't have a pool ourselves, but we do have plenty of close friends and family who possess their very own little blue-green backyard oasis, so it probably makes no sense that I can count on one hand how many times we've been in a pool in Gv's whole life - heck, make that since I graduated from college.

And pretty much most of those dips have been with the cousins - the week before school starts back up in the fall - and it happens, of course, only after the afternoon sun has dipped behind their house and the water is swimming in wonderful shade.

For next week:

List 5 kitchen appliances you can't live without

Many of you were surprised a few weeks ago to see certain handy appliances missing from my 5 After 5 list.  That's simply because I had such a difficult time narrowing down my numbers, so I decided to create an entire new topic, just for appliances.

See if you can guess which five make my list - I can't wait to see yours!

And now, here's this week's link party!  Two other fabulous bloggers have teamed up with me to create lists of five each week and we hope that you'll join us, too!

That's right, every post will be read, pinned and tweeted!  

Every Saturday, just stop by one of our three blogs to add your own list of five, then pop over and read as many other posts as you're able to each week - treat it like a true party and really mix it up and mingle with our fun little community!

The rules are simple:  just write your own list following the prompt each week (feel free to interpret it loosely - or in a unique way!), follow each of the three hosts on the social media channel of your choice, and then get into the spirit of the party by grabbing your favorite beverage or snack and reading the lists of the other party-goers.

Your Hosts:

Lisa, at Syncopated Mama: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Google+ // Bloglovin'

Samantha, at Motivated Days: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Google+ 

Heather Marie at Life, Love, and Lasagna: Facebook // Twitter // Pinterest // Instagram // Bloglovin'

What's your list?  I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

Also, if you don't want to miss a single minute of great tips like this and all the fun around here, be sure to sign up for free updates and then look forward to having each post delivered right to your inbox.

An InLinkz Link-up

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