Ideas for Spending your Summertime on the Water

Thank you to Discover Boating for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to get on the water!

Summertime is here!!  Today is our last day of school and the kids are so excited! I’m going to be working hard this summer on a few projects I have going on, and also playing a ton with my family.  This summer we are headed up to Bear Lake, Utah for a family reunion and we couldn’t be more happy.  Some of my most favorite summertime memories have been when we go to a lake and spend a few days on the water!  

One of my first lake memories was going to Lake Powell when I was about six.  I went with my cousins on their houseboat.  It was a magical time. I remember sleeping on the top of the houseboat at night and looking up at the stars.  Amazing!!  Every year after that we went to lakes, the ocean or somewhere that had water as part of our summer vacation.  We didn’t’ have our own boat, but we had a canoe, kayak, inflatable boats, or we went with people that had boats.  

About 6 years ago my sister and I planned a little get away. She had one child and I had three. We decided to head to Lake Powell.  My husband had access to a Wave Runner, we put a hitch on our van and off we went.  We camped on the beach and enjoyed amazing sunsets.  A lot of my friends thought our trip would be lame with just one watercraft, but we had a blast. The adults just traded of using it.  I don’t love to drive them, so I had a great time just sitting on the back or hanging out with the kids on the beach!As you can see my kids had a blast being pulled around in a tube.  Wave Runners can also pull a single skier, so my husband and brother in law had a fun trading off skiing! I stink at skiing, but love to be the flag girl on the back of the boat!!

Just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back again…tomorrow! 😉

Today I thought I would share some great ways to spend your summer on the water.  Obviously you could spend your days at a city pool, but for me I would much rather go to a lake, river or ocean.  We all can’t go to Lake Powell, nor do we have access to boats, but we can make great memories just by going to the lake, pond, river or ocean during the summer and soaking in the sun!  I live by 2 lakes and a really fun river and we spend at least once a week playing in the water over the summer.

Ideas for Spending your Summertime on the Water

There are so many options when it come to spending time on the water during the summertime.    We have done it all in our family from just blowing up our own inflatable boats to spending a week on a houseboat and everything in between.  Most of us all live near water, right? Hopefully!  If not, you should move! 🙂  Here are some ideas I came up with on how you can spend your summertime on the water.   

• Play at the Beach with all your fun inflatable tubes, boats, and sand toys!
• Rent Paddleboards, Kayaks or Canoes
• Play a sport in shallow water – We love water volleyball.
• Go river walking.
• Go tubing down a river.
• Rent a Personal Watercraft such as a Wave Runner or Jetski. 
• Go on a river rafting trip
• Camp on the beach and rent a boat
• Rent a Houseboat.  (This is a pretty expensive option, but if you go in on it with other families you can get a great deal)

One of my dreams after I got married was to own a boat.  That dream hasn’t been fulfilled yet, but I’m still hoping one day it does!  I  love looking at this website Discover Boating. For those looking to get their feet wet, Discover Boating is an unbiased online resource packed with easy, interactive features on all things boating.  It’s a great resource if you are considering buying a boat or just renting one for a vacation.  The website includes a boat selector guide, cost comparison tool, renting options, youth boating programs, education courses – even stories of discovery and some great inspirational videos.

The greatest thing about Discover Boating, is that they have the tools and resources to help you get on a boat, without having to own one!

There is nothing better than a day on the water! Get out there and create some great summertime memories with your family!  I’m totally going to and I might even be planning a little trip in the early fall to head to Lake Powell again…don’t tell the kids!