Non-Bucket List of Summer Fun

    The lazy days of summer are upon my household.  Our normal routine has been scrapped and we’ve spent several days in our pajamas.  I’m talking entire days in our pajamas…unless one of my neighbors happens to be reading this.  In that case, those are our “cleaning clothes”.  If one of my friends is reading this, my house only looks like a mess.  We’re downsizing and organizing…it has to get worse before it can get better, right?

     I don’t know if it’s because you spend the first several weeks of summer at full speed, determined to make every minute of these warm days and long nights count, determined that your kids will have some good memories from childhood.  Maybe it’s because we took our family vacation and now there’s nothing “big” left to look forward to. Maybe I’ve simply come to the realization that my kids don’t appreciate elaborate memory making moments any more than they appreciate simply blowing bubbles in the driveway.  Whatever the reason, the last week or so at our house has truly illustrated what it means to have a lazy summer day...or ten...in a row.  

     I have several mom friends (women who could probably be defined as the “pinterest mommies” I wish I was) who have made bucket lists of summer for their families.  I’m not talking a simple list on a cute notepad. Picture giant, cutesy posters with kid-friendly penmanship and illustrations.  I was determined to make one with our family.  We even got some tourism brochures and catalogs hoping to add some new and exciting adventures from our new area…but somehow we never got around to it and in my desire to be the next member of the Pinterest Mommy Club, simply scrawling our ideas on a piece of college-ruled notebook paper we would surely misplace just didn’t suffice.  We took a much more effective approach…we didn’t do one.

     I haven’t thought about our non-bucket list of summer fun for several weeks…until yesterday evening.  My husband arrived home from work and suddenly I realized I was still in the tank top I’d slept in the night before and the cut off sweat pants I’ve had since I was a senior in high school. (Yes, Mom.  I still wear them.) My hair was uncombed and unkempt, and the baby was wearing nothing but a diaper.  Thankfully my three-year-old prefers to dress himself, so at least it looked like he’d made some effort to be part of a civilized society.  It was in that instant that I realized we may be getting a little carried away with our slothfulness.  I determined then and there that it was time to make our summer bucket list.  It may not be as exciting or fun as my other mommy friends, and most of the items on the list are things my kids do anyway, but maybe if we have a list we can create enough momentum to at least put our clothes on and run a brush through our hair.  For your viewing enjoyment (and so I can't lose the list)…

The Cole Family Summer Bucket List

·         Venture into town once a week

·         Watch any cartoon besides “Justin Time”

·         Get dressed every day

·         Play on the Slip n’ Slide

·         Go fishing and catch something (preferably fish)

·         Play at park

·         Look for frogs

·         Have a bonfire (and S’mores)

·         Chase a butterfly

·         Go for lots of walks

·         Attract a hummingbird to our feeder

·         Make our own popsicles

·         Go camping

·         Send out birthday thank-you cards

·         Eat a watermelon

·         Mow the lawn before it’s too hard to push the mower 

Going camping...almost

Spending the day in your pajamas/diaper

Slip N' Slides...not intended for adult use

It isn't summer without a little watermelon..

Going for a walk

Don't you wish you looked this cute in goggles?
 (Or "gobbles" as they are referred to around here)