Summer Bucket List Time

One of my favorite pictures of the kiddos from last summer.  Snapped on my phone while waiting for sno-cones outside the pool.  I look at this picture and can smell the chlorine and coconut sunscreen!

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It's almost here, folks!  The start of summertime.  As a student and now teacher, I have always lived for this season of sunshine, for it is a much-needed break from the normal routine that starts to feel a bit heavy after a long, cold winter.  The anticipation is always palpable and for weeks leading up to Memorial Day weekend, our family loves to make plans and dream up simple ways to spend our summer days.  I love looking back at my blog posts from each of our summers, for we have been blessed to travel the four corners of this country on vacations that created unforgettable memories; yet, it's the simple days I cherish most of all.  Watching Cruz devour his first ice cream cone on our back deck, melted ice cream running down his tan chubby fingers.  Picnicking at Alice Wyth Lake and blowing out birthday candles on the dock.  Strolling down Main Street on the perfect summer night, stopping for coffees at Cup of Joe before crossing the bridge to the park.  Planting our first vegetable garden and watching tomato plants grow taller than all of us.  Strawberry picking and picnics afterwards.  For five summers now, I have been carefully crafting some of our favorite ideas into a summer bucket list to help keep us creative throughout the summer months.  It's nothing more than a place for ideas, a fun tradition that I want the kids to help craft with me each summer.  One of my favorite parts of this tradition is looking back at each list and recalling sweet memories from every adventure checked.  The big, the small, and the unexpected adventures that always come out of nowhere.  

Here is our 2015 list.  On here for memories and on a poster on our wall for Cruz to keep us accountable. :)

1. Ride bikes until the sun goes down

2. Read the paper and sip coffee outside on a Saturday morning
3. Sink our toes in the sand on the Florida coast
4. Mumford in Waverly! 
5. Fly a kite with Cruz
6. Picnic at Castle Hill Park
7. Pick flowers with Mila
8. Get burgers and ice cream from La Calle and take a stroll through campus afterwards 
9. Mom and Dad date night
10. Eat fresh seafood on the beach 
11. Donate some books to a neighborhood library
12. Decorate the porch for the Fourth of July

13. Roar with lions and tigers at the zoo
14. Grill pizzas and drink wine on the deck
15. Experiment with homemade flavored lemonades 
16. Cruz and Mom date
17. Go strawberry picking
18. Let the kids get all sorts of sticky with melty ice cream cones
19. Send Cruz to his very first VBS 
20. Plant some shrubs
21. Re-pot all my indoor plants 
22. Eat cotton candy and ride a ferris wheel with Cruz 
23. Road trip to a pizza farm
24. Take Cruz to the Minion Movie in the theater 
25. Bring homemade chocolate chips cookies to Daddy’s office 
26. Borrow books from the library – participate in their summer reading program
27. Make homemade popsicles 
28. Go on a bear hunt in the forest
29. Pack the kids’ lunchies and see where the day takes us 
30. Sip a vanilla bean frappe and chase the kids at the park 
31. Bake a cake
32. Start a new book

33. Sit on the deck and watch a storm roll in

34. Visit the Splash Pad

35. Play hopscotch

36. Watch Cruz play tee ball

37. Ride bikes around Prairie Lakes Park.  Stop to watch the sunset.

38. Explore a city with Beau for our anniversary

39. Eat hot dogs at a baseball game

40. Sip gin and tonics on the front porch after the kids go to bed

41. Hang some lights on our back deck

42. Pack a picnic lunch and eat supper at the pool

43. Run through the sprinklers with the kids

44. Set out a big piece of paper and let the kids paint

45. Make dinner from farmer’s market finds

46. Make iced coffee

47. Pizza picnic at the ballpark

48. Go fishing

49. Eat Pablos outside

50. Catch fireflies in mason jars

Happy happy summer!