100 Ways to Play This Summer....

After the longest winter in years those summer memories might be a bit hard to recall.  Here are Lakestyle's top picks for "must do" events for this summer...

Better start soon, there are only 111 days until Labor Day and summer is over!

1. Take the Nestea Plunge off your dock.
2.  Fall asleep on the Adirondack chair by the beach
3.  Spend a day boating on a lake that you've never been on before
4.  On the Fourth of July, watch the fireworks from a boat
5.  Visit the headwaters of the Mississippi River, Itasca State Park
6.  Rent a personal watercraft, better yet, rent two and bring a friend. Just remember to respect your lakeside neighbors.
7.  Canoe to that remote bay at sunrise
8.  Enjoy a walk around one of Minneapolis' city lakes
9.  Visit Excelsior and take a ride on the Minnehaha
10.  Arrange a lakeside progressive dinner with your neighbors

11.  Upgrade your view with a replacement window
12.  Build a beachside bonfire, don't forget the marshmallows
13.  Ask a child to join you fishing off the dock
14.  Take time to notice your feathered neighbors
15.  Catch at least one amazing waterfront sight on camera
16.  Send a copy of that photograph to Lakestyle!
17.  Don't just watch, join your kids in the water
18.  At least once, stop in the middle of the lake and go swimming
19. Get another adult to drive and join your kids on the tube
20.  Camp out overnight on the boat

21.  Teach someone new how to Snipe Hunt
22.  Take a week off and don't leave the lake
23.  Play eighteen holes on a lakeside golf course
24.  This year, enjoy one of the Minneapolis Aquatennial Events (July 13-July 22)
25.  Spend an evening playing board games
26.  Find a remote island for a picnic
27.  Antique shop in Stillwater
28.  Race your kids to the raft
29.  Read a good book, may we suggest Don't Sweat the Small Stuff by Richard Carlson or What's so Amazing about Grace? by Philip Yancey.
30.  Watch the sunset from your dock or boat

 31.  Have a canoe race with your family
32.  Plan a treasure hunt (a map, buried treasure and some clues can last a weekend!)
33.  Take a long walk in the woods.
34.  Bring your bike to the cabin for the weekend
35.  Take a nap in a hammock
36.   Build a sandcastle
37.  Have breakfast on the deck
38.  Climb a tree
39.  Learn to scuba dive
40.  Bury your kids in the sand, from the neck down of course!

41.  Go fishing with a guide
 42.  Participate in your local summer festival (Need a suggestion, see pages (insert page numbers for Lakestyle Activities section)
 43.  Plant some flowers better yet try a professional landscape architect
 44.  Rent a movie, how about "On Golden Pond?"

45.  Go to Dairy Queen
46.  Skip soccer (or baseball, or softball or swimming etc.) practice and leave for the cabin a day early
47.  Leave the cell phone on shore
48.  Have a dockside wine and cheese party
49.  Visit Duluth and the north shore
50.  Plan a day trip

51.  Tell your children about what the cabin was like when you were a kid
52.  Rent a motorcycle
53.  Start a journal
54.  Invite your nieces and nephews for a day on the lake
55.  Get an aerial photograph of your home
56.  Spend an evening on the deck, alone with your lover
57.  Catch your dinner
58.  Spend a weekend at a resort exploring a new lake
59.  Read the newspaper on the deck before going to the office
60.  Play "kick the can" or "hide and seek" with your kids

61.  Put in a rope swing...then swing on it
62.  Window shop at your favorite Lakestyle advertiser
63.  Buy a glue-gun and decorate a picture frame for the lake home
64.  Put up a water volley ball court
65.  See the northern lights.  Better yet, see them from Ely.
66.  Tell ghost stories around the fire
67.  Have a margarita...with, or without.
68.  Listen to the birds in the morning and the crickets in the evening
69.  Cancel the morning meeting and stay one more day
70.  Try another lake that you've never visited...

71.  Spend a day on the St. Croix River or Lake Minnetonka, busy yes, but there is a reason for it
72.  Eat at a lakeside restaurant
73.  Get an appraisal, then hire the architect for the addition of your dreams
74.  Go sailing
75.   Leave footprints in the sand
76.  Try a nature scavenger hunt for the kids                
77.  Read the newspaper on your boat...with coffee of course
78.  Create a summer scrapbook
79.  Spend 10 minutes, every day, looking over the bay in silence
80.  Join your children on the paddleboat

81.  Make a list of things you'd like to do in the coming years
82.  Sit on the dock, feet in the water, watching the minnows swim by
83.  Write a letter to a friend from your dock
84.  Lay on the ground with your kids and find shapes in the clouds
85.  Try painting as a hobby...a picture, not the walls
86.  Go to a movie in town
87.  Listen to a Loon
88.  Have a Fourth of July party at the lake
89.  Sing Puff the Magic Dragon and other campfire songs
90.  Catch your kids being good and celebrate together

91.  Sleep in
92.  Go to bed early
93.  Have desert for dinner and pizza for breakfast
94.  Stay up too late playing cards (we recommend 500)
95.  Notice your loved one's gestures of love
96.  Sit, play, sleep, splash...it is summer!
97.  Teach a child to water-ski
98.  Talk about your hopes and dreams
99.  Watch the moon set over the lake 
100. Email Lakestyle your list of must do items for next year's list! (comments@lakestyle.com)

By Lakestyle Staff