I don’t know about you but summer holds a special place in my heart. Like Christmas, it has its own scent, rituals and must-do’s. I think it has to do with childhood when I felt so free for those 3 months. As a kid I had great-great summers spent outdoors 10 am – 10 pm.
Playing war with wooden sticks when pretend shooting wasn’t shunned upon. Drinking unfiltered water from a hose. Buying liver sausage secretly from grandma to feed homeless cats. Making paper and medical tape wallets, hiding from grandma, of course. Secretly (again) buying cafeteria’s 10c doughnuts. Throwing rocks from behind the bushes at passers-by. Setting window seals on fire while discovering matches’ magic. Chasing chickens to the point they stop laying eggs. Gosh, I was a handful. I need to remember to be easy on my kids when they break a window with a ball…
Reading Robinson Crusoe high up on a tree. Eating tart cherry vareniki with sour cream. Applying plantago to bleeding scratches, rashes and insect bites. Beach days. Hot summer nights. Crickets. Frogs. Making grass soup. Running home at an uncle’s loud whistle or a grandma calling my name.
Summers as a kid are so much fun! Right?! As I grew up I always felt missing out on life particularly during summer months clicking away on the keyboard, in a freezing office, in order to pay the bills while my kids were in daycare. Well, now I don’t have to do that and can enjoy summers all I want while working from home and spending time with my boys. I can’t thank world wide web and blogging gods enough!
So, here is our summer bucket list 2016. Bring it on, summer! We are ready for the memories of a lifetime.
- Sleep in past 7 am.✅
- Eat cold watermelon.✅
- Make cupcakes with kids. With sugar and white flour. Real ones.
- Read book in bed.✅
- Suntan in the backyard.✅
- Go to the beach as often as I want to. Wearing skort. While I can, my friends. While I can.✅
- Celebrate birthday with a glass of crisp white vino on the beach watching sun go down the ocean. Totally illegal. Don’t care.
- Stroll my town. Sick of driving!
- Thrift store shopping.
- Watch fireworks.
- Go to an outdoor music concert on the wharf.
- Boating and camping on Keats Island (BC). Let Alex make dinner and I go enjoy those sunsets.
- Go rollerblading. Helmet and pads are a must.
- Have a sleepover with kids.✅
- Play basketball.
- Turn hot tub into a cold swimming pool.✅
- Take kids to Bellingham at least twice. Preferably hang out with Vera and the girls.
- Osoyoos (BC).✅
- Camping at Deception Pass (WA).
- Eat a trunkful of cherries.✅
- Take kids to an outdoor puppet show.✅
- Camp in the backyard.
- Eat dinner outside.✅
- Walk on grass barefoot.✅
- Sit up in bed first before running out the bedroom with a mile long to-do list in mind. Seriously, screw that!✅
- Go hiking on Mount Baker.✅
- Date night on the patio with a view.
- Morning coffee on weekends with Alex.✅
- Make fruit vareniki with kids.
- Ice cream. Make and eat lots of vegan vanilla ice cream.
- Read lots of books. Recommended by my go to book goddess.✅
- Enjoy this red head’s hugs while they last.✅
- Play with kids.✅
- Eat lots of cooked corn. Just with salt and butter.✅
- Wash windows inside.✅
- Write about quitting coffee and dairy. I am alive!✅
- Biking and hiking in Whistler (BC).✅
- S’mores in the backyard. Real ones. With Dandies marshmallows.
- Run through a sprinkler.
- No iPads. I got my kids back!✅
- Buy new dinnerware.✅
- Go to farmers market every Saturday.✅
- Learn to make a gazpacho.
- Don’t feel pressured to do anything.✅
- Enjoy Vancouver with Adriana.✅
- Visit the library.✅
- Take oldest one to a chess club.
- Family bike rides.✅
- Invite friends for a BBQ.✅
- Hang out with Jenn for a week and do everything above and below.✅
- Blow giant bubbles.
- Go berry picking.
- Visit garage sales.✅
- Coffee shop dates with kids.✅
- Eat dill cucumbers sliced in half with salt. Childhood memories.✅
- Wear a bikini. Lesson learnt – fat fills up loose skin. Now I can!✅
- Visit antique car show.
- Drink hot chocolate and play board games on a stormy night.
- Fishing.✅
- Go for early morning walks.
- Let go. Off of things I have no control over. ✅
What is on your bucket list this summer? Maybe I need to experience that as well.:)
That’s quite a list, I’m sure you can get it all done. I have fond summer childhood memories that I wish I could share with my kids, instead I’m in a cold office clicking away at a keyboard. We will be visiting my island homeland in a few weeks and I hope to take my family to see all the places that will always be in my heart.
Do what you can. I have the fondest childhood memories of my father coming and taking me for an ice cream once a year, in summer (They were divorced). I remember it forever because we never had ice cream and my mom would never do that. So, it is about little things and quality vs. quantity. Enjoy your visit home. I hope one day to do that. xoxo
Haha! You are so very right of course! With four young kids, planning was a must, and lists too, or good things would have slipped by without notice, then regrets. Oh the moans and groans that can come from the back seat. Ignoring just makes them louder! Yes, I remember like it was yesterday and still I miss those days!
The days of going at free will happen when they are suppos to. Much later, and we cherish them now, and remember and miss the ones when we had to keep track of all four running off in different directions. Love every moment you are living at the time. Now we are getting ready to say goodbye to our first grandchild going off to college! Makes me so nostalgic.
True. Ignoring doesn’t help, right?! Sometimes. Mostly it doesn’t. Those kids are very persistent.
No, I am not rushing or wishing my life away. I just wish we had a bit of our own free time. Just once a week. Even half a day. Free. But that is what I have to work on to let go off because no point dwelling on it. 1-2 years my oldest one will be babysitting them so we will regain freedom a bit. YES!
I love your list Olena! After 43 years together, we have stopped making lists and just hop into the car and drive! Any direction that seems right, no destination planned, always a day long trip that includes at least one meal and hopefully one interesting picturesque forest, beach, museum, or flea market visit. Usually somewhere along the way if we ask around, friendly folks are happy to point us in the direction of a nearby local event near them.
You’re right about wearing the skorts while you can! Even though my legs are still slim they sure aren’t presentable for skort wearing any longer. Enjoy now!
Thank-you for transporting me back to my summer days of rock chucking and salted pickle cucumbers. I stopped chucking rocks from my hiding place, but not the salted pickle halves!
Your way of travelling is my preferred way but we tried it with great fails. We never get anywhere and kids are whining for bathrooms and food. Everything is rushed. We have to plan at this stage of life. One day I will enjoy the world freely. I made the list mostly for myself to keep me accountable because I am afraid to lose simple pleasures of life in this craziness. Now I won’t!
There is place and time for everything in life. Including skorts and bikinis.:)
This post just made me fall in love with summer all over again. It’s my favorite season because so many of the reasons you listed above. I hope you get a chance to check them all off your list! 🙂
And if I don’t I hope I won’t stress about it. I am capable just of that. Haha. Thanks, Sarah!