Summer Bucket List

I admit, in the past summer has struck fear in my heart. "When will I get a break?" I would wonder while compulsively wringing my hands. I love my children, truly I do. But to have them with me for every errand (and by "with me" I mean complaining and fighting and wrestling in the produce section) and to have to find a babysitter to get my hair cut and to have to say, "Can we schedule that for September?" when I need to make an appointment for something (even something important....)? Oh mercy.

But parenting is a process and a learning curve. And I have finally come to realize two very important things: they grow up and so do I. This summer I don't feel fear. I feel genuine excitement. I truly can hardly wait for the last bell to ring and for summer to begin. The kids are a little bigger now. And while I will still need to find a babysitter to get my hair cut, and while they will still wrestle in the produce section, there are so many other things that won't happen this summer. We won't have to stop every hour for a potty break on our road trips. We won't have to choose the 1/2 mile loop when we go hiking. We won't have to be home for naps or in bed by 7:00 p.m.

I'm bigger too. I don't need them in bed by 7:00 p.m. I have also figured out that if you want them to stop wrestling, give them assignments: "You are in charge of broccoli, you are in charge of bananas, and you are in charge of apples." I have also figured out these moments are fleeting. What I would give to snuggle my tiny babies or cheer on a first step or laugh when they say the words all wrong but so darn cute. I can't make it slow down, but I have learned not to wish it away.

So this summer, I'm excited. I can't wait for a summer of outings and no outings and cleaning out toy closets and reading, reading, reading. So my husband and I sat down with the kids recently and made a summer bucket list. Our point was not to make summer feel as scheduled as the school year feels (and truly is). You'll notice that some things on the list involve exactly no schedule at all. Our point is to have a go-to list of options as we plan our days, weeks, and summer months. There is no particular order -- just as things came to mind. Lots of what we included is local to us, but I hope this list will inspire a summer bucket list of your own. It's the last summer my kids will be this little and it's the first summer they are this big. I don't want to miss a thing.

Summer Bucket List 2016

• Horseback riding at This Is the Place Heritage Park
• See Finding Dory
• Have family pictures taken
• Go glamping at Bear Lake at Conestoga Ranch
• Go camping (like, with a tent....)
• Rent a paddle board and spend the day at a lake
• Play tennis
• Go swimming -- like all day, take a lunch and lots of sunscreen and do a day (or 10) at the pool.
• Go to the driving range
• Organize pick up games of baseball, kickball, basketball (is that an oxymoron?)
• Do 10 hikes, including hiking to at least one waterfall
• Go to Delta, UT, to find geodes and trilobites
• Go the the Kimball Arts Festival in Park City, UT
• Go to a rodeo
• Do a lemonade and cookie stand
• Do major cleaning/organizing projects: toys, books, clothes
• Attend an outdoor concert (Deer Valley concert series, Red Butte Amphitheater, or Gallivan Center)
• Sleep in
• Stay up late
• Have a backyard movie night
• Leave the city to see the Milky Way
• Go hiking in the High Unitas
• Go hiking in Southern Utah
• Go to baseball games
• Make new recipes -- with the kids
• Late entry (by suggestion): Go to a drive-in movie! (Yes, apparently they still have those!)

I'd be interested in some things you'd put on your summer bucket list!

10 Trips to Take before Your Kid Turns 10

Just came across this little gem from Parents Magazine with some fun travel ideas for the littles. From this list you could easily combine a stop at Gilroy Gardens and Monterey Bay Aquarium (maybe an hour apart in central California). Also, there is a Polar Express Train in Heber, Utah, as well, in the mountains just outside Salt Lake City. This could easily be combined with a ski vacay in one of Utah's many accessible resorts.

To Parents' list I would add --

Legoland in Carlsbad, CA:  While the Parents list includes Legoland Discovery Centers, the actual Legoland in California is also perfect for littles. I would imagine the top age to be 8-10 yrs. You must combine it with a hotel stay at the Legoland Hotel, just for the talking elevators. But as I recall, the food options at the hotel weren't great and were quite pricey.

The Enchanted Forest near Revelstoke, British Columbia: Wow, this amazing place is a must visit. I would think an imaginative 10 year old would still LOVE this magical little forest. The littles will be enthrolled. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales are recreated throughout this magical place. Kids will love to play in their-sized houses, and parents can just soak in the beauty of the forest itself. For the big kids, there is a separate, but connected park (with a separate entrance fee) that includes ropes courses and tree houses in the tree tops. This is completely out of the way from anything along Canada's Highway 1 between BC and Alberta, but you won't be disappointed you found a way to get there.  (See picture above.)

Here is Parents list:

10 Trips to Take before Your Kid Turns 10
http://www.parents.com/fun/vacation/ideas/10-trips-to-take-before-your-kid-turns-10/?esrc=espmmreg0915gxsgi

Road Trip Tip: Shoe Pockets!

I came across this in one of those posts people share on Facebook -- you know, the "50 Hacks Every Mom Should Know" kind of thing. And this is definitely a hack every traveling mom should know. I love this idea! Buy a small shoe organizer and hang it on the back of your car's seat. Brilliant.

I've tried other car organizers for my kids -- from caddies between their seats to individual "fun bags" packed with their activities. But my biggest gripe is they can't reach them very well (such as when the "fun bag" falls on the floor and they are strapped into their booster so they can't retrieve it -- and it becomes the not-so-fun bag because now they are screaming....) or it's not ultimately that easy to get stuff in and out of them. But I envision this solving both of those problems. It doesn't fall on the floor out of reach (if installed correctly) and it seems easy enough to get stuff out and put stuff back. One drawback I can see is it clearly won't fit picture books or coloring books. Not everyone can read in the car, but so far (knock on wood), my kids don't get car sick and do read in the car. So that might be a problem. The other thing I would consider when purchasing the shoe organizer is make sure the pockets are not so wide that stuff just falls out of them. I would think they would need to be a little on the "compact" side to make this hack truly work.

But I think it just might work! I'm going to try this on our first road trip of the summer. We'll see how it goes.