Ready or not, summer is here!

On Friday as my kids left school for the final time this year, in my head “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper played as they busted through the front doors.

“No more pencils. No more books. No more teacher’s dirty looks.”

Summer is here!

Now that it has arrived, how do we want to spend it?

My children would probably choose to sit around watching YouTube or playing games on the iPad and have these beautiful days go to waste.

But how can we take advantage of the gift of time with our kids being home throughout the day before the inevitable “I’m bored” phrase rears its evil head?

Since Memorial Day is the unofficial opening to consistent warmer weather, it’s time to write down some summer resolutions for your family.

With this season comes the unique promise and opportunity of long light, reliable warmth, bare skin, open-toed shoes and sweat. Yes, we summer lovers like sweat even though we complain about it ... maybe not the bugs so much.

Like all resolutions, they aren’t vows or guarantees, but they’re simply intentions that we make in the hopes that they’ll increase our likelihood of doing what we wanted.

Looking through the new Mustang Guide at the Lovell Area Chamber of Commerce, there are 20 fun mustang country experiences listed in our neck of the woods alone.

For example, one could spend an afternoon at Devil Canyon Overlook, picnic at Barry’s Landing, visit the historic Medicine Wheel, go check out the wild horses, golf a round at Foster Gulch or go swimming out at Horseshoe Bend.

“Staycations” have become the new thing since they’re usually a lot cheaper, less stressful and can be done with minimal travel, preparation and time.

We are pretty blessed to be surrounded with so many opportunities nearby.

I look forward to making my summer resolutions list and getting outside and making memories with my family.

As advertising manager of the newspaper, as I make my rounds to the local businesses and speak with their owners, almost every conversation starts with asking one another about something in our personal lives: “How was your weekend? How did this or that go? How is that person doing?”

This time of year, I sense quite a theme ... family.

We tend to value family more this time of year with picnics, barbecues, reunions, vacations, ballgames, you name it.

This is high time for family, and I always love seeing people light up when they talk about the great recent times they’ve had with loved ones.

Get outside and enjoy one another.

(This column is to be continued when, come July, my kids are driving me crazy and I’m counting down the days until school starts again!)