School is out and it’s officially summer in Destin! And yes, that means hot, humid weather and the occasional crowd, but it also means perfect beach days, weekends spent at Crab Island, and mornings at the splash pad with your littles.

Now that I have kids, summer has taken on a whole new meaning. And this year I’ve noticed something: so many people, myself included, are craving a 90s summer. Those summers felt carefree, unhurried, and truly relaxed. No one was planning elaborate Pinterest activities. No one was sharing every moment on social media. We were just spending time outside and connecting with the people we loved.

Playing with the neighborhood kids until someone’s mom called everyone in for dinner. Riding bikes until it got dark. Meeting friends at the park with no plan other than to show up. Knocking on a friend’s door just to see if they could come out. Sidewalk chalk covering every inch of the driveway. Running through the sprinkler in the front yard. Waiting for the ice cream truck like it was the most important event of the day.

That’s what I want to recreate this summer. For myself, and for my kids. Not just the nostalgia of it, but the actual experience of living it again, this time from the other side as the mom who gets to watch her kids have the kind of summer she still thinks about. And the Emerald Coast is a pretty perfect place to do exactly that.

Here are some tips and ideas for having a 90s summer in Destin:

Set Your Phone Down

I’m not going to pretend this is easy, because capturing every moment and staying constantly connected is just part of our culture now. But something shifts when you actually tuck your phone away and let yourself be present. Whether it’s watching your kids run around the splash pad, pushing them on the swings without the urge to check your notifications, or sitting on the beach and just listening to the waves, it genuinely changes the experience.

We did not grow up documenting every moment, and our memories are not worse for it. This summer, try spending at least one beach trip fully present. Bring a book, bring snacks, bring your favorite people. Let the afternoon stretch out the way it used to when you had nowhere else to be.

Get Outside Every Single Day

This is the one I keep coming back to. We live on the Emerald Coast. The water is this impossible shade of green, the sand is white and fine, and the weather is warm for months at a time. There is genuinely no good excuse (okay, except for when it gets too hot or a pop-up storm ruins our plans).

Start your morning at Captain Leonard Park, where you can let the kids loose on the playground, cool off at the splash pad, and walk right down to the beach without going far. Rent a paddleboard and get out on the water. Pack a proper beach picnic with a cooler, a blanket, and no agenda. Do a nature scavenger hunt along the trails at Topsail Hill Preserve State Park. Stay long enough to catch the sunset.

These are the things our kids will actually remember. Not the activities we scheduled or the things we bought them. Thinking back to my 90s summers, what stands out are the days we were outside together, unhurried, with nowhere else we had to be.

Try Something New

The 90s were also a great era for picking up a random hobby and running with it. This summer, give yourself permission to try something you’ve been curious about. Gardening, Mahjong, embroidery, pickleball, reading an actual stack of books.

Kids can get in on it too. The Little Adventures program makes it incredibly easy here in Destin with free one-hour classes that teach kids how to snorkel, fish, and more. No equipment or experience required, just register and show up. Surf camp through Ride On is another great option for kids who are ready to catch a wave.

Give Them Room to Actually Be Kids

Here’s something I keep coming back to: the reason 90s summers felt so magical wasn’t just the era. It was that we were kids and summers were wide open. Relatively unscheduled. Full of room to get dirty, run around, and figure out how to fill the hours on our own.

I feel the pressure too. Whether you’re working from home or juggling a full schedule, some structure is genuinely necessary. But even when the calendar is more flexible, there’s this anxious pull to enroll kids in camps, fill every week with activities, and keep them busy. And I get it. But kids also need space to breathe, to be a little bored, and to discover what they actually want to do when no one is directing them.

So this summer, try a few things that cost almost nothing. Set up your own backyard waterpark with a blow-up wading pool, the sprinkler, squirt guns, and a big box of popsicles from the freezer section. Let your kids run a lemonade stand. As a mom and a small business owner, I will happily pay five dollars for a cup of lemonade made by a very determined six-year-old. Those are the afternoons they’ll remember.

Let them get dirty. Let them chase waves and collect shells they’ll lose before you get home. Let them dig in the sand with no particular goal. You don’t have to engineer it. You just have to give them the space to let it happen.

Go to the Library

The Destin Library is such an underrated summer resource, and if it’s not already part of your weekly rhythm, this is the summer to change that.

Beyond just checking out books, the library runs free events and activities all summer long for kids of all ages. Think hands-on science demonstrations, creative workshops, and regular story time. It’s a great way to break up the week, get out of the heat for a little while, and give your kids something genuinely enriching that has nothing to do with a screen.

Let your kids pick out a stack of books they are actually excited about and make the trip a weekly ritual. There is something about a library that slows everything down in the best way. It’s quiet, cool, and unhurried, and it teaches kids early that reading is something you do for the joy of it, not just because school requires it. Check the Destin Library’s calendar at cityofdestin.com for upcoming events this summer.

Slow the Pace Way Down

Get an ice cream cone from Pink Coyote or frozen treat from Dewey’s Snoballs and enjoy them at the picnic tables while spotting boats and dolphins. Eat dinner late because you lost track of time outside. Stay at the beach until the sun sets without rushing home for the bedtime routine.

We are so good at optimizing and so bad at lingering. But lingering is where summer lives.

Start a Weekly Tradition

Some of my favorite childhood summer memories weren’t spontaneous, they were the things I could count on. The rhythm of the same thing happening every week gave summer its shape. This summer, pick one simple tradition and protect it.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Pizza on the beach on Friday nights. Monday morning beach walks. A weekly field trip to somewhere new, just to shake up the routine and remind yourself how much there is to explore right here. Check out the tide pools at Norriego Point. Drive out to Turkey Creek in Niceville for a completely different kind of nature day. Find a park or playground your family has never been to and just show up.

The destinations don’t have to be impressive. The point is getting out of your usual loop, seeing something different, and giving your kids the feeling that summer is full of small adventures worth looking forward to.

What We’re Really After

The 90s weren’t magical just because of the music or the fashion or the fact that our phones were attached to the wall. They were magical because we were kids and summers were gloriously unstructured. Our days weren’t packed, and yet I don’t remember ever having nothing to do. The memories that stuck are the simple ones: running through the sprinkler with my sister, riding bikes with neighborhood friends, and long afternoons that seemed to stretch on forever.

That’s what we’re really trying to give our kids. Not a perfectly curated summer. Not the busiest schedule or the most activities. Just the space to be young, to be outside, to be a little bored and figure out what comes next.

One day our kids will have that same wistful sigh when they talk about the summers of their childhood. The Destin summers. The ones where they ran on the beach and stayed at the splash pad too long and got snoballs from Dewey’s on the way home. The ones where they checked out a huge stack of books at the library and stayed outside until the sky turned pink.

We get to give them that, so this summer let’s relive that 90s lifestyle right here in Destin. I’ll be sharing more family-friendly activities on Instagram all summer long, so follow @destinsnapshots!