For my family, summer feels different than it has in past years. Our boys are teenagers and our daughter starts middle school at the end of August (and I can’t leave out our pup, who will be turning 5 next month). We don’t have as many scheduled camps and activities on the calendar. There’s more freedom and spaciousness for all of us. We have been finding joy in the simple things, many of which are free.

Here’s a little glimpse into some of the ways we’ve been finding delight this summer – and some sweet summer deals our family has been happy to discover:

Bike Rides

I have finally discovered the ease and complete joy of riding an e-bike. It is amazingly possible to arrive at a meeting by bike across town without being drenched in sweat in the middle of summer! I borrow Dan’s e-bike from time to time, but there are also about 300 Spin Bikes on campus and in the borough anyone can rent and ride. Our oldest son Connor has recently gotten into road biking, and there are so many beautiful places to ride around State College. When he goes out we joke he’s gearing up for the Tour de Happy Valley.

Connor headed out road biking with friends

Crop Share Bounty 

We have been members of the Plowshare Produce Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for the last 13 years. We know and love our farmers, Micah and Bethany, who grow our vegetables on their land in nearby Huntingdon County and bring the harvest to State College for us to pick up on Tuesdays.

The delicious Sungold tomatoes, corn, lettuces, scallions, carrots, cucumbers, garlic, kale, potatoes and more that we have been enjoying in our shares keeps us all feeling healthy and well fed. We especially enjoy preparing meals with friends and family and feasting together. Dan is always requesting that we make panzenella (a bread salad) with lots of chopped up veggies, greens, and mozzarella tossed in a red wine vinaigrette – and, of course, pan roasted, garlicky chunks of bread. Here is a simple recipe you can adapt to your liking – we like to add corn, slicing it off the cob when we have leftovers.

Did you know that Centre County alone has more than 500 farms, covering over 120,000 acres of farmland? We truly live in an agricultural paradise and we feel that by pre-paying for our vegetables at the beginning of the growing season we save by not overbuying. We don’t let anything go to waste and we freeze foods we can’t use.

Panzenella before adding the lettuce

Gym Sessions

Planet Fitness has a free summer pass for high school kids – which is a big deal for our son Will. A member of the State College Area Rowing team, he rides his bike to the downtown location most days and gets his workout in. Or, he heads over after he finishes his work shift as a host at The Corner Room.

There is also a great summer deal for students at our local climbing gym, Climb Nittany. This is where our oldest likes to “hang out” with his friends. The cost is $200 for three months of unlimited climbing time, and he definitely gets his money’s worth.

Library Books

Our local Schlow Library has a robust Summer Reading Program with all kinds of prizes to help motivate young readers to get their reading time in (free tickets to a State College Spikes game!). Reading is not my youngest’s favorite thing to do, though we are finding ways to make it more enjoyable. Early morning porch time with a book or two and a cup of coffee is my favorite way to start the day. My library stack usually includes something non-fiction, with a side of fiction and a small slice of poetry.

Ice Cream

We go to Meyer Dairy almost every week to refill our four glass half-gallon bottles of whole milk. And because it’s summer, we often time this milk errand with an ice cream break. My go-to is a hot fudge sundae with butter pecan ice cream. Will loves the black and white malt shake. If I am feeling ambitious, I pick up a bottle of Meyer’s heavy cream so I can make ice cream at home (a must if there is pie involved).

For a post-dinner treat, we ride our bikes to the Penn State Berkey Creameryfor big cones – no lines on most summer nights. And, I finally got to grab a scoop from the new walk up window at Flour & Stone this past week. I went with their creamsicle flavor for nostalgia sake.

Coming up on August 2nd, The 10th Annual Ice Cream Festival is happening downtown.This is a fun way to support the Downtown Rotary Club and an economical way to sample ice creams from a variety of places.

Creek Dips

While our local pools are great, we have been spending more time in creeks to cool off this summer. Sometimes we bring tubes and take a float – other times just getting our feet in is enough to give us a break from the heat. There’s easy access to water at Spring Creek Park and it’s a great place to set up a chair in the creek or float a tube. A short drive away near the tunnel in Coburn, there’s a horseshoe bend in the creek where locals love to tube. And if you happen to have a friend who knows of a special swimming hole where the water is super cold even in the summer because it is spring fed, you definitely keep that spot secret.

Tubing along Spring Creek

Live Music

When Dan and I head out for a date night, it usually includes catching live tunes.This summer, we’ve really been enjoying shows at the new Manny’s Live Performance Space.The other weekend, we took friends to hear Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, an eclectic, genre-defying ensemble from Switzerland with two giant xylophones on stage, band members playing their electric guitars on the dance floor, and the the rest of the stage packed with horns, cello, drums and a violin. The 12-member group closed the night by singing to us a cappella along with the steady pulse of the xylophone. It felt like a dreamy, intimate lullaby.

Wildflowers and Butterflies

I am obsessed with watching baby monarch caterpillars turn into butterflies. We check our Milkweed every day for signs of munching and collect tiny caterpillars to keep them safe inside a special tent we have for them (birds and big bugs like to eat them).

I love seeing pollinator friendly plants in yards and garden beds all over our neighborhood in the State College borough. Habitat loss and pesticide use have caused a roughly 90% decline in Eastern monarchs, largely due to the disappearance of milkweed from the landscape. Milkweed is so easy to grow – I have seeds to share if you need some!

We feed our caterpillars fresh leaves and watch them grow. When they’ve eaten enough, they climb to the top of the tent and hang in a “J” before they form their chrysalis. When they emerge as monarch butterflies, we release them outside and watch them fly away. It’s a miracle every time.

Monarch caterpillars on a milkweed leaf