Summer Plans and Ideas

So, I've been giving it a lot of thought, and -- just like with my Spring Break plans -- I am determined to not let summer slip away and wake up one day wondering what, exactly, we did.  No, we're not going on any exotic vacations this year, but this is CAM's last summer before kindergarten, and once she goes to kindergarten we will blink and I just know we'll be staring down her last summer before college.  We have a gazillion things to do around here, and I am not going to miss out on summer with my kids because I am too busy doing nothing.  Seriously.  I can't let that happen. 

(Besides, we're moving this summer and it promises to be our biggest move ever in the history of the universe our already-move-filled marriage.  I am quite positive it's going to be super emotional (since I already have sob fests at least once a week and I've yet to even pack a real box), so the best thing I can do -- for all of us and our collective sanity -- is to keep busy and keep being productive!) 

There are a ton of blogs and people on Pinterest who have boards about summer activities, but as with most things, some would work for us and some wouldn't.  (For the style of our house, or the age of our kids, or the fact that in the middle of our summer we are moving about 1200 miles away, or the fact that we don't have a pool, or a fenced yard, and our HOA hates us, and at some point we will really need to start packing ... well, you get the idea!)

So that's a lot of background just to let y'all know that I decided to try to make my own little list.  It's not as strict as putting them in "Day 1, Day 2" format and I'm not going to be so militant about it to take out the fun, I hope, either. (Gosh dang it, you WILL make this craft and you WILL GLUE THIS RIGHT HERE AND PAINT THIS RIGHT HERE AND YOU WILL LOVE IT BY GOLLY!!!) but I think it's still got a lot of stuff going on and plenty of ideas to keep us busy and able to say we had a great summer.  Keep in mind that this is not meant as my summer "to-do" list, but is just meant as a list of fun ideas of things to do with the kids.  So while packing is on my personal list, it's not here.  This is my "hmm, what shall we do this afternoon" idea list. 

Besides, making this list fits really well with another of my goals:  once again re-organize and update my Pinterest boards.  Of course, that's not on my "101" -- that's just a necessary evil, and much like laundry and emptying the dishwasher, there's always more to do every day!

I'll keep you posted!

--Jen

1.  Bake a fun summer cake and decorate it
2.  Play marble races with cut pool noodles
3.  Eat somewhere that was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dive
4.  Have a picnic.  Check that. Have two picnics!
5.  Make a door-hanger for WHM's room.
6.  Go ice skating.  (Groupon)
7.  Go horseback riding.  (Also Groupon)
8.  Take the kids to Stone Mountain
9.  Have a puppet show
10.  Go to IKEA for lunch and walk around the whole place.
11.  Make some Christmas ornaments!
12.  Make a marshmallow catapult.
13.  Have a water balloon fight.
14.  Have a squirt gun fight.
15. Build another giant train layout in the living room.
16.  Bake cookies from a recipe we've never used before.
17. Bake cookies from a recipe we love!
18.  Make ice cream sandwiches from scratch.
19.  Freeze toys in ice and chip away at them one hot afternoon!
20.  Make an icebox cake
21.  Have potato sack races!
22.  Have three-legged races!
23.  Make mini apple pies in a cupcake tin
24.  "Paint" the driveway with paint and chalk.
25.  Ride the train at the mall.
26.  Play every one of our games in the family room.
27. Build "stuff" with toothpicks and marshmallows.
28.  Make rice krispy treat sculptures.
29.  Use CAM's Easy-Bake Oven
30. Make homemade rock candy.
31.  Play badminton and horseshoes.
32.  Go for a bike ride.
33.  Go for a long walk!
34.  Go to a park/playground.
35.  Make "real-life" Candy Land pieces with our photos, and play a game with them!
36.  Go backyard bowling with giant pins.
37.  Go to "the train store".
38.  Visit Ansley.  (This is something very personal to us.)
39.  Have a play-date with friends.
40.  Go to a museum -- preferably an art museum!
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 ... more ideas are coming!  If you have any you'd like to share, please leave a comment!  Thank you!!

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