Monday, September 9, 2013

Miscellaneous Madness: FINAL Summer Bucket List Update!

Woohoo!!! Um, we mean, awwww man. School starts today for both of us and while we are all glad for a change of scenery, we were actually a little sad to see our awesome summer come to an end. We threw down an ambitious bucket list at the beginning of the season and it kept us busy all 13 weeks of our summer break. We didn't quite get to everything, but pretty darn close -- 60 items! Not too shabby considering that Kane's sprained ankle this past week threw a bit of a wrench in our plans to wrap up the outdoor stuff.

Frankly, mom's exhausted. Apparently when you give her a list, she's got to cross everything off of it. I think next year we'll stress that the list is aspirational. Or maybe make a smaller list. Either way, we're glad we pulled it together because it kept us motivated, busy, and out of trouble (on most days).

We know everyone else has been back in school for like a month, but if you had a bucket list, how'd you make out!? Happy Back to School!!!



29 - 32. found 4 new geocaches (a total of 9 out of 15) -- so we may have gotten a little full of ourselves when we came up with the 15. turns out, geocaches are hard to find. especially in the city. but we did happen to round up caches from 6 different states and that's pretty cool.



33. fondue night -- thanks to our friends at Where the Watermelons Grow for their fabulous fondue playdate post. we followed their recipes to make yummy cheese and chocolate courses. mom misses the 1970's fondue set she grew up with, but we still made it work.



34. complete pre-K workbooks!!! -- this gets three exclamation points because it is next to impossible to get Kane to sit down and work on letters, phonics and numbers. he literally did the other 200 pages of his workbook before he would concentrate on those subjects. it was like watching a patience contest between Kane and mom unfold before our eyes. we all learned two things. 1. the imaginext wizard tower castle has more pull than gold; and 2. mom should never be a teacher.



35. outdoor movie night -- thanks to our great friends, this one came together just this past weekend.



36. visited a new science museum -- it's no secret that we loved our trip to the Maryland Science Center and you can read all about it right here.



37. took 1 new hike (that's a total of 2 out of 3) -- our harrowing hike along Great Falls might have just done mom in and that's why we didn't make 3 for 3.




38. attended outdoor concert -- we enjoyed a fabulous night of Jose Andres food truck deliciousness and DMB covers at one of our favorite outdoor music destinations: Yards Park.



39. visited a new beach -- Brigantine, NJ remains our most favorite beach in the world, but we had a great time exploring two new beaches on our trip to Mathews, VA.



40. made s'mores -- these just never get old. we did it right this year. on a campfire. before curling up to glamp.



41. discovered a new history museum -- we spent a very odd 1/2 hr. at Gwynn's Island Museum -- self-proclaimed to be "one of the finest small museums in Virginia." as a comparison, mom was about equally thrilled when dad made a late-night announcement at their wedding that mom was "the prettiest girl in South Florida."



42. stargazed -- our attempt at meteor shower sighting was thwarted by cloudy skies, but we viewed some starry scenes at the Maryland Science Center's Planetarium show.



43. conducted 1 new science experiment (out of 3) -- it goes to show you that we spent most of our summer out and about. we grew some crystals on the one rainy day on our Mathews, VA vacation.



44. visited a new pool -- it's not fancy, but we had a good time splashing at the outdoor Francis Pool.



45. washed the car -- those long drives to NJ kill our car (inside and out). we bumped the tunes and helped mom clean her up. we were particularly good at cleaning out tiny spaces.



46. visited a new historical site -- we were actually on a real historical roll this summer, but our favorite new historical site has to be Colonial Williamsburg. Read all about our (not long enough) day there right here.



47. glamped -- like rockstars. mom was anticipating we'd last about 35 minutes and then go inside. shame on her. we hit those sleeping bags and were out for the entire night. lucky her -- she got to "sleep" in between us.



48. painted hot rocks with crayon -- this might be our new favorite art project. no one burned themselves and we all had a blast.




49. watched a sunset -- we ended up watching many sunsets this summer, but the most beautiful were over our little rivah house in Mathews with Grammie and Grandpa B.



50. ate crabs -- we got this one in right under the wire. we spent our last free weekend celebrating our friend's birthday at a fabulous house in St. Michaels, MD. on the way home, we stopped in Kent Narrows for a yummy crab lunch at Fisherman's Inn and Crab House.




51. took a family photo -- we didn't get a great shot, but we did get all of us together. sort of looking at the camera?




52. made bubble art -- more to come on this activity where Cam took down a lot of suds and Kane was bubble champ.



53. splashed in a new waterpark -- LOVED Ocean Dunes Waterpark. check out our visit here.



54. made homemade donuts -- i mean, does this really need an explanation? get our "recipe" here.




55. conducted a nature scavenger hunt -- for rainbow items in nature on our Great Falls hike. before we scared mom with attempts to plunge to our death.



56. explored children's garden -- loved the Washington Youth Garden at the Arb. read about our visit here.



57. did some dinosaur excavating -- we had plans to visit Dinosaur Park in Maryland, but instead did some digging with a kit on vacation AND at the Maryland Science Center.



58. held a whipcream pie throwing contest -- more of an attack, really. thanks to Grandpa D-Rock, Uncle Steve and Daddy for being such good sports. mom has already put this as a top item for next year's list as well.



59. participated in a 12 in 12 photo challenge -- mom pulled it together each month of the summer to share the inane details of our day with you. you're welcome.



60. saw a sunrise -- it was cloudy, but we raced down to Brigantine beach at 6:19 a.m. to see that sun come up over the ocean. then we all promptly went in the drink.

2 comments:

Cath said...

So glad you guys liked the fondue! And I love the way the hot rocks project turned out. You guys are inspiring. Happy back to school. :)

Darcy said...

I love this! thanks for keeping us inspired!