Our Summer Bucket List-- How We Did
I have never held myself accountable for our summer bucket list but this year I really wanted to try and get to everything on our list. The list wasn't very long and I thought it would be a fun challenge to make sure we did as much of it as we could.
So here's how we did! .
1. Go to Roger Williams Zoo-- Ian didn't want to go but the younger boys and I had a great day at the zoo! We even got to feed the giraffes!
We also checked out Southwick's zoo and rode all the rides too; even Ian came along on this trip.
2. Make our own Oreo pudding pops-- We got a Popsicle maker and made a few different types of pops-- blueberry/ yogurt, strawberry, even iced tea, etc. I'm not sure we made Oreo pudding pops but we made lots and lots of other flavors so I still give us a check on this one!
3. Play water balloon baseball-- I bought the water balloons... but we never got around to trying this one.
4. Go to the beach- We made it a few time to a couple of different beaches and had so much fun exploring the local shorelines.
5. Load up our bikes and try out a new bike trail-- I even got so far as to drag the new bike rack over to the car but I could not for the life of me figure out how to attach it to the hitch or get the bikes on it... another fail. We'll have to try again for the fall and make sure to have my husband on hand to help out.
6. Go hiking and check out some new trails-- We went hiking just about every week and did try out a new trail or two!
7. Visit the Newport Car Museum-- We had the best time at this car museum. It was filled with lots of muscle cars that Ian just loved and it had a driving simulator room that the younger two boys enjoyed.
8. Go boating, tubing, and jet skiing as often as we can-- Yep! The boys went jet skiing just about every day and while there wasn't a whole lot of tubing going on it was mostly because the boys didn't want to; same goes for the boat but I still consider that "as often as we can" since we aren't going to force them in the boat or on the tubes.
9. Make our own ice cream using the new ice cream maker for the stand mixer-- We made basic vanilla (since all the Oreo cookies got eaten before we got around to it), coffee/chocolate chip, fresh peach ice cream, bing cherry ice cream, and mint Heath and even coffee Oreo. They were all so yummy!
10. Spray Paint Resist art-- Evan had so much fun with this project that he asked if we could do it again this year. Of course I said sure! This time we tried it with canvas and it was just as much fun.
11. Make a color changing t-shirt-- We didn't get around to this one (since the boys didn't want to) but the boys did make some really neat spray painted shirts and again I'll put that on the completed list!
12. Try a new Chex mix recipe-- Evan wanted something a bit salty this time so we tried out some cheesy Ranch Chex mix and found a new family favorite. We also made some chocolate mint muddy buddies using Chex.
13. Make a solar oven-- It took us until the end of August but we finally made our oven and used it to bake up some yummy s'mores.
14. Cook pizza on the grill-- Oh my goodness; I'm not sure I ever want to eat homemade pizza again without cooking it on the grill. The smoky flavor infuses the crust for an amazing flavor boost and it was so easy to make too.
15. Watch the fireworks and play with sparklers-- We found these really huge, long sparklers at Target and we have yet to use them but we did watch a few fireworks displays over the lake all during 4th of July week.
16. Host lots of lakeside parties with friends and family-- We definitely nailed this one! It seems like we had someone or a group of someones over just about every week. We ended the summer with an early birthday party for Evan at the lake too.
17. Try some fired alcohol art-- my boys could not wait to try this once I mentioned it! They love playing with fire and had a great time watching the flames turn the ink into art. (tutorial coming soon!)
18. Go to an amusement park-- We went to Hershey and had an amazing time!
19. Make a campfire and roast s'mores-- We roast s'mores each year when we host a cookout with our friends from the other end of the state and I just could not break tradition this year. We made a big campfire in our fire pit and let the kids stuff themselves with marshmallows and chocolate.
20. Have a silly string fight-- I find that silly string is always a huge hit with kids so we bought a few doxen cans and let all the kids have a silly string fight at Evan's birthday party.
Do you bother with a summer bucket list? If so, how did you do?
Linking Up With:
So here's how we did! .
1. Go to Roger Williams Zoo-- Ian didn't want to go but the younger boys and I had a great day at the zoo! We even got to feed the giraffes!
We also checked out Southwick's zoo and rode all the rides too; even Ian came along on this trip.
2. Make our own Oreo pudding pops-- We got a Popsicle maker and made a few different types of pops-- blueberry/ yogurt, strawberry, even iced tea, etc. I'm not sure we made Oreo pudding pops but we made lots and lots of other flavors so I still give us a check on this one!
 |
| our strawberry/yogurt bars |
3. Play water balloon baseball-- I bought the water balloons... but we never got around to trying this one.
4. Go to the beach- We made it a few time to a couple of different beaches and had so much fun exploring the local shorelines.
5. Load up our bikes and try out a new bike trail-- I even got so far as to drag the new bike rack over to the car but I could not for the life of me figure out how to attach it to the hitch or get the bikes on it... another fail. We'll have to try again for the fall and make sure to have my husband on hand to help out.
6. Go hiking and check out some new trails-- We went hiking just about every week and did try out a new trail or two!
7. Visit the Newport Car Museum-- We had the best time at this car museum. It was filled with lots of muscle cars that Ian just loved and it had a driving simulator room that the younger two boys enjoyed.
8. Go boating, tubing, and jet skiing as often as we can-- Yep! The boys went jet skiing just about every day and while there wasn't a whole lot of tubing going on it was mostly because the boys didn't want to; same goes for the boat but I still consider that "as often as we can" since we aren't going to force them in the boat or on the tubes.
9. Make our own ice cream using the new ice cream maker for the stand mixer-- We made basic vanilla (since all the Oreo cookies got eaten before we got around to it), coffee/chocolate chip, fresh peach ice cream, bing cherry ice cream, and mint Heath and even coffee Oreo. They were all so yummy!
10. Spray Paint Resist art-- Evan had so much fun with this project that he asked if we could do it again this year. Of course I said sure! This time we tried it with canvas and it was just as much fun.
11. Make a color changing t-shirt-- We didn't get around to this one (since the boys didn't want to) but the boys did make some really neat spray painted shirts and again I'll put that on the completed list!
12. Try a new Chex mix recipe-- Evan wanted something a bit salty this time so we tried out some cheesy Ranch Chex mix and found a new family favorite. We also made some chocolate mint muddy buddies using Chex.
13. Make a solar oven-- It took us until the end of August but we finally made our oven and used it to bake up some yummy s'mores.
14. Cook pizza on the grill-- Oh my goodness; I'm not sure I ever want to eat homemade pizza again without cooking it on the grill. The smoky flavor infuses the crust for an amazing flavor boost and it was so easy to make too.
15. Watch the fireworks and play with sparklers-- We found these really huge, long sparklers at Target and we have yet to use them but we did watch a few fireworks displays over the lake all during 4th of July week.
16. Host lots of lakeside parties with friends and family-- We definitely nailed this one! It seems like we had someone or a group of someones over just about every week. We ended the summer with an early birthday party for Evan at the lake too.
17. Try some fired alcohol art-- my boys could not wait to try this once I mentioned it! They love playing with fire and had a great time watching the flames turn the ink into art. (tutorial coming soon!)
18. Go to an amusement park-- We went to Hershey and had an amazing time!
19. Make a campfire and roast s'mores-- We roast s'mores each year when we host a cookout with our friends from the other end of the state and I just could not break tradition this year. We made a big campfire in our fire pit and let the kids stuff themselves with marshmallows and chocolate.
20. Have a silly string fight-- I find that silly string is always a huge hit with kids so we bought a few doxen cans and let all the kids have a silly string fight at Evan's birthday party.
Do you bother with a summer bucket list? If so, how did you do?
Linking Up With:
What an amazing summer. The weather sadly interfered with many of our plans. It rained on the days we'd planned several outdoor events and at the end it got incredibly hot and muggy. We keep trying.
ReplyDeleteWe had a pretty rainy, hot, muggy summer too but we really lucked out that that weather cooperated when we really needed it to.
DeleteWow! You guys went hiking every week?! I LOVE that!!! We went once as a family and I was so excited about it, haha! Granted the kids are just getting to where we can be doing this more. You and your family had an awesome summer; loved reading about it. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Yeah we hike a lot; the only times we don't bother are when it's really hot and muggy.
DeleteLooks like you guy shad an amazing summer! Somehow I thought I had lost your blog in changing over my url, glad I found you again! :) Love the pics! Happy fall!
ReplyDeleteWe did have a great summer!
DeleteThat is a great bucket list! Love that you did most of everything on the list. Looks like so much fun. Thank you for sharing with us at the Whimsical Wednesdays Link Party. Have a great week!
ReplyDeleteI was quite proud of us for accomplishing so much of it.
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