5 Bucket List Items for Your Family this Summer

Since today is the official first day of Summer, I thought I would share 5 of bucket list items to do as a family during the Summer.  I love all the bucket lists on Pinterest but boy are they overwhelming!  Some of them list 100+ things to do over the summer.  I would be exhausted if we did all those activities.  Here are my top five that we do every year as a family over the summer.    

1.  Go camping, rent a cabin or stay at a resort - I have posted about this before but I can not say enough about how wonderful camping is for a family. It forces you to unplug, slow down and all enjoy the outdoors.  If you hate the idea of tenting, rent a cabin or stay at a resort in the outdoors.  The whole goal is to spend time together in nature.

2.  Go on a picnic.  Might sound so simple but when was the last time you all went on a picnic somewhere?  Pack up a lunch, grab a picnic blanket and enjoy an afternoon at the park or a lake.  My kids LOVE when we do this.  

3.  Explore water.  Maybe it is swimming, maybe it is boating or maybe just splashing around in a creek.  I happen to love water anything so we do this all summer long.  

4.  Go hiking.  Take at least one hike.  I know this can seem like a daunting task if you have littles ones like we have had for the past 16 years!  Trust me you will enjoy it just don't expect that you will log thousands of steps on your Fitbit.  I usually "research" online for a simple hike of which my definition is a loop that is less than one mile.  Everyone should be able to walk the whole time except maybe the two year old.  I avoid hikes with ledges and narrow paths just because I don't want to be a "nervous Nellie" the whole time telling the kids to be careful.  You will feel like you made a huge accomplishment together!

5.  Visit your local library.  I can't say enough about libraries.  When I was a child, I have very fond memories of library story times and activities.  Now libraries have really upped their game and have so many wonderful and usually free activities.  The kids will get some entertainment and my husband and I take turns exploring the bookshelves.

What is your favorite summer time activity?

Want more family bucket list ideas?  

Check out the Family Bucket List Growing Play Cards Set. This set of cards includes 50 things to experience as a family before the kids grow up and move out.  Write down the date you complete the activity.  Have fun together as a family - they are only young once.  Find out more information GrowingPlay.com.     

Collect Moments Not Things

We are returning from an unbelievably awesome vacation in Florida.  You know what made it so awesome?  We did nothing but go to the beach everyday.  Beach combing in the early morning, then swimming, lunch on the sand and more swimming.  I have to admit it was one of the best vacations of my life.  We all just enjoyed each other's company with practically no bickering.  Doesn't get any better than that!

Definitely makes me realize we need to collect moments not things.  Time goes by too fast!

More to come about our 24 hour road trip to Florida with 6 kids.

Enjoy Life's Small Moments

I feel like life is passing by so quickly.  One of my goals for the upcoming year is to slow down.  As a working mother with 6 children I am feeling like that is not a possibility so I plan on trying to at least slow each day down by taking the time to appreciate the small moments in life.  Each week I will try and reflect on 5 small moments.  So let's get started here are my first 5 small moments from today:

1.  Hanging out outdoors with my toddler.  Being outdoors following a toddler around for some reason brings me peace and quiet.  He is entertained and I follow along in case he finds he needs me. He doesn't need me to play with him but just to be by him.  I know this time will pass and soon enough I will be able to watch him play from the kitchen window.  For now, I am enjoying this small moment for sure!

2.  Playing pretend with my 5 year old.  It may mean nothing to anyone else but the two of us.  She gets so into role playing and again I just follow along.  I am not allowed to change the plot of the pretend tale (the current theme is that she has no parents and she is an orphan - I guess I should take it personally haha).  We play it repeatedly and I just have to do what she tells me or basically listen to what she is doing.  I love that kind of play.

3.  Chatting with the older girls.  Once the 4 younger children head up to bed, my oldest two daughters and I tend to have quick but fun conversations about the day.  It is simple chatting but I do cherish it since they are both in high school.

4.  Reading to the children.  I will never grow tired of reading picture books to my children.  Tonight it was the Polar Express.  So cozy!

5.  Night time talks with my husband and a glass of wine.  Aaaahhhhh!  I think the title says it all.  I always enjoy when we have the time to sit in the kitchen and chat about our day over a glass of wine.  Adult conversation with someone who gets me!

Sure I had some bad moments today (ie closed my finger in the van door OUCH!) or moments of complete chaos but in general I had some great small moments that may soon be forgotten.