2016 Summer Bucket List Update #1

I feel like I say this every year, but it's truly hard to believe that we are a month into summer already! It's making me a little sad to see it zooming by, BUT we are crushing our Summer Bucket List. So at least there's that. We've knocked almost a quarter of our items off the list. Some are serving double duty, but with over 101 items on the list, I'm taking some liberties.

Did you make your own bucket list?! We'd love to see what everyone is up to this summer!!

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1. New library -- our favorite local library is closing for renovations this summer, so we finally checked out the public library closest to our "new" house. Win!

2. Summer playlist -- the kids are fully entrenched in Top 40, which is fine by me. Cam loves to sing, but if you catch her, she'll say "that's not me—that's Kane!" You can find our Summer playlist by CLICKING HERE!

3. - 5. -- Three new science experiments -- we've been doing a lot of messy science this summer. So far we've done icy goop, fizzing sidewalk chalk, and grew crystals.

6. Create and run obstacle course -- we'll have this super fun post up on Z Living soon, but we made an awesome course with one of the kids' friends largely out of pool noodles. Easy to transport and reuse!

7. Alphabet bingo -- I thought the kids might be a little old for this, but it was easy to adapt to their skill level. In case you missed it, you can get you free bingo and word challenge cards here.

8. Beach art -- Cam and I worked on a little shell art on a beach walk this week.

9. Mini golf -- we checked out Topgolf on the first day of summer break!

10. Family Olympics -- a whole gang of friends and family joined us in Brigantine this year for our annual July 4th Family Olympics. We had a three-legged obstacle course race, "whipped cream pie" throwing contest (the Mr. is such a good sport), and a serious combo of a color war + water balloon fight.

11. Baseball game -- we watched a suspenseful, and ultimately devastating, Nats vs. Phils game.

12. Water balloon baseball -- this turned out to be so. much. fun! I really needed one of these super-fast water balloon fillers. We had it for our Family Olympics and it was key!

13. New snow cone -- I'm counting our July 4th granita as a new snow cone—making it was much more labor intensive than turning on the ol' snow cone machine!

14. Make mosaics -- each of the kids made a starry night mosaic stepping stone this week and they came out really well! You can reuse the mold, so I think we'll make some for DC too!

15. New playground -- we've been to several new playgrounds this summer so far, but my favorite was taking them to a playground back in my hometown with all their cousins.

16. New agua fresca -- I'd love it if my kids ate mountains of fresh fruit like it seems every other kid does in the summer, but they just don't. So making agua frescas is a great way to hydrate them and get in some extra fruit too. Watermelon is still their favorite, but pineapple was a big winner recently too.

17. Have a color fight -- I set out this Holi powder in simple trays, had everyone don a white tee and white bandana, and we went to town! I kicked things off with these colored smoke balls, too.

18. New pool -- as you might have seen in our Pool Float post, we've been visiting all kinds of pools this summer. But I took my kids to my hometown pool on our Chicago visit, so that wins best new pool.

19. Summer mani/pedi -- I don't want to turn into a nail art Instagrammer, but Cam and I are obsessed with trying out new nail designs and I feel the need to document her styling direction. She has very specific ideas and it's hysterical. I just sent her to camp with a bedazzled leopard mani.

20. Sparklers -- it poured in New Jersey on the fourth, but we still got out on the porch with our sparklers!

21. Grandparents camp -- Kane was all for it, but Cami couldn't commit to a week alone at her grandparents. Instead, I'm staying with them and they're attending a chemistry cooking camp at their dad's elementary school down the street so I'm counting it. Their camp is in his old shop class and his class plaque is on the wall, including his "Joel Green the first" signature. Too much.

22. Collaborative art project -- both kids really want me to art with them this summer, so we've worked on several things together. I like the mural we made with the fizzing sidewalk chalk the best.