Since June is the first official month of summer, it’s no surprise that it’s also heralded as National Great Outdoors month.  Whether you visit a National Park, a local park, or just enjoy your own backyard, this is the season when everyone is encouraged to get out and enjoy nature.  Sunshine and warm weather beckon families out for lazy days at the beach or adventures in the woods.

In our house, summertime meant softball games, ice cream cones, bike rides, chasing fireflies, and any other outdoor activities I happen to discover.  We discovered concerts in small town parks and new-to-us ice cream shops to sample.  

Eventually, though, my luck ran out and my event-planning expertise was put in question when I suggested a beach clean-up one sunny Saturday morning.  I rationalized that by doing a good deed and spending a few hours picking up snack wrappers and pop cans at the beach, we’d each receive free admission to the Greater Cleveland Aquarium we’d been wanting to visit.  It was a win-win, I told them, and they reluctantly agreed.

When we arrived at the beach, we were each given disposable gloves and large buckets and sent to specific areas to collect all the trash we could find. It was lovely to see the large number of volunteers that turned out that morning.  Sadly, there was plenty of trash to go around, and we headed out to an open spot along the water to fill our buckets.  In addition to cups, cans, and bottles, there were cigar and cigarette remains and a large quantity of used band aids.  “Why can’t people use the trash cans?” my children wondered aloud.

Then it became a weird sort of game as they compared their collections to determine who found the grossest item.  For those keeping score, that honor went to my older daughter, who had found a ratty old pair of mens underwear floating near the shore.  In the end, we tossed away all the trash we had collected, pulled off our gloves and accepted our tickets after using a liberal amount of hand sanitizer.  After our trip to the aquarium, my suggestions for outings were greeted with extreme scrutiny, but we still manage to laugh about that unusual day at the beach.

Some time has passed since that infamous beach cleanup.  So much so, that my sweet husband agreed to attend a river clean up event with me recently.  We agreed that since we enjoy kayaking along that same river, helping clean it up seemed like a great way to give back.  Not surprisingly, our girls were both busy that day.  So my husband and I made our way to the site in a cold steady rain that continued the entire length of the event.  “Whose stupid idea was this?” I asked, trying to make light of the situation.  In the end, we filled five trash bags, making a portion of our river upstream a little better than we found it.  And we both have bright green volunteer t-shirts to prove it.

Hopefully, you’ve got your own ideas of what to do to get out and enjoy the summer.  I’d offer some suggestions, but according to my family’s Yelp reviews, my event planning services don’t garner many stars.  Regardless, whatever you end up doing together, I hope there’s lots of laughter, regardless of the weather.  But I’ve got one favor to ask: don’t forget to pick up your trash!