A Guide to Enjoy the Seasons

My favorite seasons of the year are spring and fall. Spring because of all the new life, like baby animals, and fall because of the beautiful weather and colors. There are many ways to enjoy the seasons, but as I was doing some typical spring activities, I thought about all the ways we can enjoy the seasons.

Spring

• Visit a farm. In the Netherlands, there are sheep, cows, and other farm animals everywhere. I have seen baby lambs being born before! Since we don’t typically see a lot of farm animals in the city, it is worth visiting a farm to enjoy the new life that comes with the season of Spring. There are even some places around Memphis that offer goat yoga or goat cuddles!

• Take a beach trip. You can also do this in the summer, but I recommend the spring, since it is usually less crowded and less hot at the beach. There are plenty of places to go to, but last year I went to Dauphin Island, AL. It wasn’t as touristy as many of the other beach ‘hot spots’ and we looked out right at the beach!
• Visit new playgrounds around town. Spring weather is usually perfect for playdates. Invite your mom friends and hop around town to different playgrounds in different areas of town.
• Visit kid-friendly coffee shops or restaurants and sit on the patio. Springtime has the best weather for hanging out outside! Grab a friend to have coffee or lunch with and let your toddlers run around outside while you hang out.
• Have a picnic. I was outside the other day and saw a bunch of families having a picnic. This is so fun to do with young kids. Let them help you pack the picnic basket and go outside together to enjoy the weather and eat a delicious meal.
• Make a spring flower bouquet! There are so many fun flowers to pick from in the spring and summer.
• Ride bikes or scooters around town. Since the weather is nice and breezy in the spring, it is the perfect season to explore the city by bike or scooters. We like to bike on the Greenline, but there are plenty of other places around town where you can take bikes or scooters to have fun and enjoy the weather.

Summer

• Visit a local swimming pool (or take swim lessons!). Memphis summers can be quite hot, and there are plenty of places to cool off around town (see this great guide!).
• Have some splashing fun at home! Buy a kiddie pool (you can buy a cheap one for $10 at Target), fill it up with water, and let the fun begin! Take your bath toys or water guns and cool down in the Memphis heat. Our water table is also a big hit with my toddler and her friends. We also like to use our splash pad, but that fun is limited to about 10 minutes before it floods our yard.

  

• Have a water balloon fight. Just fill up a bunch, gather your friends, and start throwing (and catching) them. Guaranteed a fun time!
• Go to the Levitt Shell (now called Overton Park Shell) for a free, live outdoor concert. It is so fun to gather around with friends and enjoy the different lineups of music. You will (guaranteed) have a good time!
• Cool off with some delicious ice cream and/or slushies in the summer. There are plenty of places to get your fix, but my favorites are probably the wedding cake (or watermelon) supreme at Jerry’s Snowcones, or any of the bubble teas (with boba) at Sugar Ghost.
• Talking about ice cream… You could also make your own popsicles. They’re so easy to make. Just fill up a mold with flavored water, stick it in the freezer, and take it out a few hours later. Or.. If you don’t want to make your own, try a MemPop!

Fall

• Visit a local pumpkin patch. There are many fun ones around town, but my favorite is Priddy Farms. It has a hayride and a petting zoo. At Priddy Farms, you only pay for the activities you do.

  

• Take some pretty fall photos. Book a photoshoot with a wonderful photographer or take a friend to take pictures of your family. We personally just take a tripod and set it up for some fun family photos.
• Take a hike somewhere in nature. There are plenty of fun places to go in Memphis! Take in the beautiful fall colors and smell the amazingly fresh, fall air.
• Go canoeing at a lake around town in early fall when the weather is still nice. We like to go to the Shelby Farms Hyde Lake. They have a boat launch there, so you can easily launch your own boat.
• Throw leaves in the air and watch them fall. The is a super fun and simple activity. Just grab a bunch of leaves you see while you’re out in nature, throw them up into the air, and twirl around while they’re falling down on you. So fun! My daughter Nora could not stop doing this when we were out in the fall.
• Collect pinecones. Our street is full of them. Nora loved doing this. We took an empty kid stroller, and she just stuck them into the stroller until it was full. You can also do this with acorns, sweet gum balls, or other fall “fruits.”
• Make a fall craft. There are so many fun ones on the web! You can use leaves or pine cones, or simply just use paint. There are endless options.

Winter

• This is the obvious one, but go look at Christmas lights around the Christmas season! There are plenty of lights to look at in Memphis, around neighborhoods, but also organized light shows, such as Starry Nights and Zoo Lights.
• Make a campfire with s’mores. Gather some friends, get your graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, and make something delicious!
• Buy Girl Scout cookies! This is a great way to support your local community, and, bonus, they are delicious too! Around January/February, there are plenty of Girl Scouts selling online or locally.
• If it snows- go sledding, make snowcream, build a snowman, or have a snowball fight. Or, if there is enough snow, you could even make an igloo!
• Visit your local library. Lots of books, fun, and warmth. The winter is the perfect time to be inside, curled up with a book. Most libraries do a weekly story time for each age group, so make sure you check that out.

Go ice skating! The Midsouth Ice House is the perfect place to go. And if you’re not into skating – try a curling class – it’s on the ice, but not on skates! Very fun. Travis and I did a date night where we did the ‘learn how to curl’ class, and we had a blast. The Memphis Zoo also has a seasonal ice skating rink in the winter.

Whether it is doing goat yoga in the spring, going to a splash pad in the summer, throwing leaves in the fall, or making igloos in the winter, there are plenty of ways to enjoy each season.

Which activity are you going to try?