Our Summer Bucket List

What comes to mind when you think of summer?
I remember swimming in our galvanized pool (circa 70’s& 80’s – don’t judge 😝), rushing out to greet the ice cream man, riding bikes to friend’s houses, and freezing in my room with the window air conditioner. But probably the most fun memories I have now, as a middle aged mom, are when my own kids were younger.

There’s the summer we got our 1st pool. Above ground, but leaps and bounds from the galvanized pool of my childhood. Trips to the zoo, Six Flags, crafting, watching the kids play outside, so many good times it makes my heart happy. One of my most favorite summertime activities was making our own summer camp. I was a stay at home mom and we didn’t have the funds to put the kids in summer camps… so we made our own! The girls shared a cabin (their bedroom) and named it the “Butterfly Cabin”. My son’s room was the “Jellybean Cabin”. I bought inexpensive undershirts from the store and they made their own camp shirts with fabric markers. Poster board from the dollar store and markers were used to create their cabin signs, and we planned activities every day. Most days we did free activities around St.Louis.There are so many wonderful attractions around town that are little or no money. (Look for a blog post about that later this summer!)We also utilized our pool, games, and creativity for at- home activities. Those were the days…

Now that they are older, we still love summer and love to spend time together however, it’s different. They have jobs, and they drive, and love to go do things with their friends. That makes my heart happy, too. But as we approach an empty nest with 2 in college and our youngest approaching her senior year in high school, I’m determined to make the best of the summers we have before adulthood and starting families of their own starts calling.

So here is Our Summer Bucket List.

Our list is geared toward our family with older children, but you could create your own! The possibilities are endless!

What’s the importance of a Summer Bucket List? Or a Summer Fun List? Well that can be many different answers to many different people. But to me, it’s something fun I can look forward to with my kids. Even though they are adults/almost adults now, they’ve been asking me when we are going to do these things. They helped pick the items on our list. Some are just fun, some are silly, and some are things we would just like to do. The important thing for me is that we will be spending time together.

At the end of summer I will be back with the bucket list and let you know how it went! Soak up the time with your kiddos. It really does fly by!