An Intentional Summer Bucket List for 2020

We wrapped up homeschool yesterday {praise Jesus!} so I didn't want to waste another second before posting our Summer Bucket List!  We are here.for.it!

In a year where so much has been taken from us, I can't help but compile a list of things we can do this summer.  Plus, now that we have nowhere to go, I want use the time we have intentionally.   A bonus of school ending early is that we have more days to fill with fun!

A nature scavenger hunt

Build a sandcastle

Catch a fish

Catch lightening bugs

Donuts in the drive

Eat breakfast on the boat

Eat ice cream for dinner

Eat pizza on the dock

Enjoy a day on the water

Fill the Jeep with pillows and blankets and watch for shooting stars

Go for a walk in our pajamas - explore outside with flashlights

Go to a drive in

Grill pizza with friends

Have a bonfire with S'mores

Host a seafood boil

Host an outdoor movie

Kayak across the lake

Lemonade stand

Maid-Rites and chocolate shakes at the park

Make a deck fort

Make dirt cups 

Make homemade ice cream

Moscow Mules and a fire on the patio

Nap in the hammock

Outdoor car wash

Paint rocks

Pick black raspberries

Picnic with parchment paper wrapped sandwiches on the pontoon

Pitch a tent in the backyard (or go on a real camping trip)

Plant flowers

Pool Day!

Read books in the hammock

Rootbeer floats

Share a bottle of wine on the patio while playing cribbage

Sip sangria on the patio

Splash in mud puddles 

Spend an evening listening to live music

Sprinklers & slip-n-slide in the yard

Take a family bike ride on the High Tressel Trail

Take a night swim as a family

Take family photos

Take the kids strawberry picking

Take an RV trip

TropicalSno

Tube down the river

Watch the sunrise

Watch the sunset from the Ranger with wine

Water-balloon fight

Family day at the waterpark

Farmer's Market on a Saturday morning

Play in the splash pads downtown

Swimming lessons

Take the kids school supply shopping

Watch a baseball game

Click here to print your own

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2019 Summer Bucket List

2017 Summer Bucket List

2016 Summer Bucket List
2015 Summer Bucket List
2014 Summer Bucket List
2013 Summer Bucket List

Friday Favorites - Summer Edition

We made it!  About Wednesday I wasn't sure if I was going to last until Friday-ha!  But It's Friday and May and MAY DAY!  We are here for it!  The kids always front load the week so we can have 'Fun Fridays'

First favorite would of course be May Day, but since we've been spending so much time outside, I thought I would share some of our favorite summer items

+ This spiral apple cutter - we use it non stop {like daily!}

+ We don't use this as much {lazy mom} but when we do, the kids day is MADE!  It's the most fun way to make homemade ice cream!

+ The only way to do water balloons!

+ Our favorite life jackets {under $50} & helmets.

+ We love this sunscreen for the face and this one for everywhere else.

+ We don't have these yet, but I'm super excited to have the kids try these goggles -- especially Jordyn!

+ Favorite floaties for kids and adults!

+ My father-in-law got this shuffleboard set and we've been playing it nonstop {he just painted the lines on his driveway}. We also love Jenga & have started a tradition where anyone that visits our house signs a block!  And croquet will always hold a special place in my heart! All perfect for entertaining because you can easily chat while playing.  Also, all can be played with one hand if need be ;)

Also, if anyone has a sprinkler recommendation that isn't junk, I would love it hear it.  Our trampoline died  from a windstorm this spring, so I would love to replace that with one of these!  However, Adam and I aren't agreeing yet.  One of us wants to bury it in the ground with drainage.  Do you guys have any experience with this?  The other just wants to get a swingset/monkey bars for the kids.  

Our niece got engaged! {& we got to be part of it!}

About a month ago, Adam's 2nd oldest niece got engaged to her boyfriend and we got to be part of the special night.  Bryan through a party at his farm and Adam's band played for the night.  Adam learned the song 'Speechless" and sang it while Bryan proposed to Aliya and it seriously could NOT have been more like a scene from a movie.  It was so.much.fun to witness!  We couldn't be more excited to celebrate another niece's wedding next summer!! I haven't met two people that 'get each other' more than these two.  They were meant to be for sure!

17 Books Summer of 2018

CHRISTIAN

If you Only Knew

*Seven

Let's all be Brave

FICTION

The Secrets of Midwives

Confessions of a Domestic Failure

Still Me

Summer Island

Summer Rental 

*Heat Wave
Castle of Water

Wonder

SELF-HELP
*Girl, Wash Your Face
*A simplified life
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Spark Joy

SUSPENSE
Say You’re Sorry 
All the missing girls

TRAVEL
*At Home in the World

Splashpad 2018

Greenway Park & Cowells Common

RAGBRAI 2018

RAGBRAI, for those of you who aren't familiar, is a week long bike ride across Iowa.  It technically stands for Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. There is a new route each year, starting somewhere in Western Iowa and ending in Eastern Iowa.  It's a fun race, not a competition.  Bikers of all adult ages and skill levels participate in the week of fun.  Every night there is a 'host' town where all the riders camp {or stay with friends}, party, rest, etc.

This is the second time Adam's band has been asked to play, so I took the kids for the early part of the night.   

The next day RAGBRAI came right through our little town.  I had the day off {had to get my car repaired from a little snafu} so the kids and I headed to check it out for a bit. The weather was perfect for biking this year {some years it's been in the 100's, others pouring, etc.}  I rode one day with my sisters in 2015, but I'm getting the itch to try to ride the entire thing sometime...