Summer is here! Oh no.

Those of you with MS know that nothing seems to aggravate us more than HEAT.  And summer means heat, so I really do not like summertime.  Most people can't wait for summer, and of course I used to love that it meant no school, but I find I am just wiped out all summer.
Now I live on the northern California coast, where it is not so bad, but all of my family are still back home in Georgia and Tennessee, where it is HOT!  And we are headed to a family reunion there in a little while and I'm starting to think about how to stay cool, other than just shutting myself up with the air conditioner all summer, haha!  

Things I have found help me keep cool:

• Fans. For some reason, even if it is blowing around warm air, just having air flow helps.  And if you get your face wet, the water feels cool, even if the fan is blowing warm air.  So I have a big fan that comes out every summer and blows the cool night ocean air in every night and then I close the windows during the day and the fan blows the cool air around all day. 
• Get a large-brimmed hat.  It actually works!  I resisted it for a long time thinking I would look old and that having a hat would make me hotter because it would keep my body heat from my head trapped, but if you get a light colored one, it really does work to keep your head cooler, especially if you have dark hair like I do.  And I found a cute one :)
  
  

• Heat zones.  Whenever I feel myself getting hot or fatigued, I have found that running cold water over my feet and hands in the bathtub cools me off right away and invigorates me.  
• Take lukewarm showers.  Hot showers are very invigorating, for about a minute.  Then I start feeling exhausted.  So I generally have it really hot for about a minute to wake me up in the morning and then I turn it lukewarm, almost cool even.  And if at the end of my shower I feel more tired than when I got in, I turn it cold and let my body cool off before getting out. 
• A sun/beach shelter tent.  I haven't gotten one of these yet, but I think it would be a worthwhile investment for a mom with MS.  It offers shade when you're at the beach, park, picnics, pool, wherever.  So the kids can run around in the sun, but I can stay in the shade and keep cool so I have the energy when I need to get up and chase them!  
  
  I would love to hear other ideas on how to keep cool during the summer, so please comment!