our summer Bucket List

We have been having such a fun summer! At the beginning we talked as a family and decided on a list of things we wanted to do this summer. We made a big poster and have been coloring in the boxes next to the things we've done. Since summer is sort-of winding down (although Jed doesn't start school for several more weeks) I thought I'd show you how far we've gotten.

The list is as follows: pick strawberries, go canoeing on the river, go swimming at the lake (I need to color this in), go camping at the river, airplane museum, play croquet in the back yard, build a water wall with plastic bottles, go to Art on the Beach (we missed this), go hiking at Eagle Run trail, draw with sidewalk chalk, pick raspberries, Oscoda Historical Museum, Wednesday Farmers' Markets (I will color this in when the season is over), make a backyard sand table (ours is actually a clear plastic tote--works so well!), have a "late night" and go stargazing, Tuesday story time, make necklaces out of cereal, look for shapes in the clouds, Tawas Train Museum, pick blueberries (this will happen next week!), play ring toss in the back yard, fish for letters in the tub or pool, go see Planes at the movie theater, go mini-golfing, go hiking at Corsair, make 4th of July t-shirts and wear them to the parade, go camping at Pine River and play in the water, go canoeing on Cooke Pond, play balloon Ping-Pong, play at all the playgrounds in town (we just have one more), throw rocks in the river at 3 Pipes (I need to color this in), pick up cans and use the money to get ice cream, and watch the end of the Canoe Marathon (we missed this--it's hard cause this happens on Sunday during church).

I think Jed's favorite activities have been going miniature golfing and going to see Planes. We did that Friday night and had so much fun. Hank stayed with our kind neighbor Miss Elaine and we took Jed for ice cream before the movie. He was mesmerized the entire time, sat on Dave's lap and held my hand and held tight to a sucker with his other hand--I don't think he licked the sucker but once or twice during the whole movie. It was so nice to be just the 3 of us for an evening, although we missed Hank.

We have really enjoyed our simple projects--the boys both love the water wall and the sand tote. Jed and Jeremy had a blast fishing for the letters in the pool. Next year I will add a few things (sleep in the tent in the backyard--Dave and Jed did this Friday night and had a great time) and take off a few things that we aren't really interested in (the cereal necklaces and balloon Ping-Pong are not big winners, it seems, since Jed always chooses something else when I suggest them).

I am really glad we made this list. It has been nice to somehow quantify that we are, in fact, having a great summer. Another thing I have really enjoyed is not trying to take pictures of all these activities. I love to have a record of what we're doing, but with simple things like some of these, it's the most fun to just live in the moment.