Ten Great Calgary Summer Activities

Living in Calgary makes you really enjoy the few summer days we get. Unfortunately, I still have to work during the summer (and why do workdays seem so much nicer than weekend days?) so we try to make the best of the weekends by getting out and seeing the world. Here are some of my favorite activities with Evan.

1. Attend a festival – We decided to go to Prince’s Island Park this weekend to celebrate Canada Day. Evan loved going to “the party”. He got to see friends, eat ice cream, hear music and run amok…what more could a little boy want?

2. Go on a picnic – Picnicking can be a big or a little trip. We often have a picnic in the back yard or the park across the street. Other times we pack up lunch and take it somewhere around town. Just today we bought a rolling cooler bag to make picnicking that much easier.

3. Go to the Zoo – We broke down and bought a year pass to our local zoo. Evan loves to go and with a yearly pass you can go for an hour and not feel like you’ve wasted your money. It’s a great place to meet friends and ours has a great playground. Oh yeah…and there are tons of great animals!

4. Go for ice cream – When you don’t have time for a full blow outing, it’s amazing how much fun just going for ice cream (or buying it from an ice cream truck) can be. Sitting outside at a picnic table or at home on the grass, there’s just something about melted ice cream running down your chin that just can’t be beat.

5. Play Outside – I know, I know, you send them outside to play all the time. Here’s the thing…go sit out there with them. Even if I’m doing something else (reading a book, *ahem* twitter, etc), Evan likes that I’m out there with him. Plus he often talks non-stop while we’re out there which gives some great insight into his little 4 yr old brain.

6. Gardening – Evan loves…LOVES…gardening. He would water the flowers and plants until they drowned if I let him. We have an assortment of gardening tools so he can always find one that works for him.

7. Local Events (even ones you don’t think you or the kids will like) – If you asked me years ago if I would be a regular rodeo attendee, I would have told you that you were CRAZY. Yet, we go to at least a few rodeo events every year. Normally we try to take Evan to the ones that are out of Calgary since they are much less crowded and much more family friendly. Evan loves going to a big party, eating junk food and seeing the horses.

8. Backyard BBQ with family & friends – Evan LOVES a party especially if it means other kids his age will be in attendance. Multiple kids? OMG he’s in heaven!

9. Camping – If you’ve read this blog for a while, you know that we LOVE camping. Evan does too & he often asks when we are going to go get his “traiwer” and go camping.

10. Don’t forget about rainy day activities – We’ve had our fair share of rainy days this summer. Evan’s favorite weekend rainy day activities are baking, crafts, building lego or watching movies. The key is that he wants me or Dewey to do all of these with him.

In the end the key to any great summer activity is spending family time together!

What are your favorite summer activities to do together?