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I love just sitting poolside, soaking up the sun, sipping strawberry daiquiris...and sometimes even going to the baseball park taking in a baseball game!

My favorite summer tradition is BBQ with good friends.

A summer tradition for us is going on a trip to see family in Chicago (which we just did a road trip and got back from, last night) and swimming in the pool and at the beach!
Lisa Russell

One of our favorite summer traditions is going up to Frankenmuth MI to celebrate my mother's birthday. We are actually doing it today! We have a great time eating and walking around the little town and then we always stop at Bronner's Christmas Shop to pick up a new ornament for December.

Every year we go canoeing down a local creek...it's 6-7 hours of sheer fun! =)

My favorite summer tradition is buying and setting off fireworks at our house!

Love having the grandkids here on the weekends so they can swim and cook out with us.

My favorite summer tradition is reading good fiction books on vacation...

My youngest son and I began letterboxing last year, which quickly became a spring and summer tradition. You can read about one of our favorite adventures here: http://laineysalteredego.typepad.com/weblog/2009/04/spring-break-part-two.html

One of my favorite summer traditions is getting snow cones from our local family-owned stand Mr. Snow - my flavor is strawberry cheesecake with cream.

My favorite summer tradition is traveling to California as a family, enjoying the beach and the wonderful fun things to do there, and then dropping our son off at camp in the beautiful San Bernadino Mtns...

There comes a time in life when parents have passed on and the siblings have become matriarchs/patriacrhs of their own branches of the family tree. An annual summer picnic brings all the branches together with the roots. A time to celebrate and remember.

Picnics with siblings, their children, and grandchildren are a favorite family tradition.

We always have some sort of family picnic. It's become more important to me as we live out of state from them. It's a great way to make it home for a visit and see 50+ family members very easily!

My favorite summer tradition is watching the fireworks with my entire family. Years ago my Grandma would make homemade carmel corn for the family to share while watching the fireworks, but now my Mom carries on the tradition. My Dad makes homemade lemonade to go with it. Yum!!

I watch the fireworks with my 90-year-old aunt on her charming apartment terrace and oooh and ahhh and giggle and smile and feel enormously proud and grateful for this shared moment.

Whenever I go back to my parents' house in NJ during the summer, my husband and I head over to Thomas Sweet Ice Cream with them, just like I did when I was a kid, and get some sweet treats. Thomas Sweet makes special blend-ins, where the ice cream is blended with an assortment of candy confections. We sit outside together and talk. However, now it's four, not just three of us.

We love to make smores in our fire pit!

We have a summer walk with all my nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and some nieces and nephews of my mom and their kids. We do this every year for as long as I can remember. It's a great way to see each other and reconnect!

A favorite summer tradition is celebrating my birthday along with my moms. We are born 2 days a part and I love that we get to celebrate together.