Summer has arrived!! The older I get and the longer I'm a mom, the more I really do love summer. The long days at the pool, the drippy and sticky popsicle fingers, the fresh garden food, the sunscreen/bug spray/dirt smell lingering on my kids... I love it all.
We aren't obligated to anything this summer, but we have a lot of fun things going on. The kids made their bucket list and we have already done so much of it!
Bucket List #1: Swim in Nana and Pop Pop's pool
Always the mark that summer has arrived. We were able to spend Memorial weekend with the whole Ready crew, including swimming in the pool, going to a car show, visiting a giant museum, cooking out, playing with all the big toys in the garage, and having lots of fun!
Bucket List #2: Go to State Farm Pool
We usually visit the pool weekly with our friends and hopefully this year will be no different! I can't believe how big the kids all are. Even Ewan can do the big diving board this year. I love my little fishies and I love that we have access to such a great pool.
Bucket List #3: Go to the Movies
This was the kids's FIRST real movie theater experience. Our theater is offering $1 kids movies all summer and I thought my very sensitive kids could handle Curious George. We went with some friends, which made it even better! They loved the popcorn and the big screen :)
Bucket List #4: The Library Summer Programs
We are reading like crazy in our house to fill out our reading logs. We'll turn those in for prizes as soon as we're done. But another fun thing we tried was school lunch at the library. One of the school districts in town offers free lunch for all kids, every day. The kids had so much fun trying an actual school lunch and we plan on going back for more all summer long! Our library is the best!!
Bucket List #5: Make S'mores
That's just an obvious summer one, but we are also cooking over the fire more often too. I try to have as many meals outside as possible!
Bucket List #6: Campout
Our co-op had their first ever (and hopefully annual) campout at our good friends Tara and Casey's house. It was so fun! Most of the families came for the evening where the kids chopped wood and built the fire using flint. They also learned how to tie knots with climbing instructor Michael, who did a great job showing them how to make bracelets. And then they finished with fishing and s'mores. Half the families actually camped, which was quite the adventure including an all-nighter from several of us (me included) and a throw up situation (not in our tent!). But everyone had a great time. And we woke to a beautiful morning where we cooked breakfast over the fire and hung out for another full day.
It was SOOO much fun and I can't wait to camp some more this summer.
We have more items to check off our list this summer, but in the mean time we've been busy with many more things! For one, our co-op has continued to meet and will throughout the summer. Our first co-op event for June was our book club celebration for Charlotte's Web. We all love that book, so it was fun to bring it to life. We made spider web words with glue and salt, went on a word scavenger hunt, and played with some real farm animals at a co-op family's house. We had fair food for our snack and ended with pizza down the road for lunch. It was a great time!
The next co-op event was a visit to the Jake Wolf Fish Hatchery, which was a little over an hour from our house. The hatchery raises many kinds of fish to stock ponds, lakes, and rivers in the surrounding areas. It was really fascinating and I think I learned more than anyone there. One tank had 26,000 little muskie fish in it that would some day grow to be up to 4 feet long! It was also bass spawning season so we got to see them collect the eggs from the nest boxes... riveting stuff :)
And our most recent co-op event was a visit to Allerton Park, also about an hour drive away. (We go all over the place for co-op now!). We did some yoga in the sunken gardens and painted some of the flowers we observed. It was a nice day. Afterwards, we visited Amma who was on our way home!
A typical summer day for us:
Most summer days begin with a morning walk for me and that gives me the energy, patience, and strength to get through our full and fun days! After my walk, I come home and make a hearty breakfast for my sleepy-head crew. I let them sleep in if possible; swimming and climbing and running and playing can sure make you tired. Breakfast and coffee outside are the best. Sometimes, a fire is even going by the time the kids wake up.
Then I do what little yard work I can like watering and weeding. I'm sad to report it's only the beginning of June and my garden is already DROWNING in weeds. I might give up for the year if it gets any worse.
After that, we all get ready for the day and usually head out on an adventure... we might have co-op, or visit the library, or go to the pool, or run to the garden center, or try a new park, or have a playdate with friends, or swim at Nana's house, or check off a bucket list item... the options are endless :)
If by chance we stay home for the day OR when we get home from our outing, you can usually find us outside. We try to do school on our home days and we try to be outside as much as possible. This does usually mean a special drink or popsicle is used to keep said children outside for longer :)
Then after a long day, we come together for dinner. We really love to grill out and Michael just got himself a new Blackstone grill, so we are trying ALL the things on it. After dinner, we read a little together as a family, play outside, pick up the house, and head to bed! These summer days are looonnnngggg.
Oof, being outside also means TICKS. This is the year of ticks, after all. I've been a faithful tick-checker since Isla was a baby and my kids have never had a tick to my knowledge... but this year is different. We've had more on us this last month than our entire life as a family.
Even still, summer is just the best. We are looking forward to more summer fun to come!
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