The Bucket List

At the beginning of the summer, the kids and I put together a bucket list.  Actually we put together an actual bucket with clothes pins of all the activities we wanted to accomplish over the summer.  The bucket was suppose to be a very cute (pinterest inspired) visual of our summer plans.  But this summer did not really go according to plan...the bucket list still has several pins clipped to it.  What did we accomplish this summer?  Besides a bunch of stress from building a new house and learning how to eat dinner and while being in two places at one time, here is what we did accomplish...

We planted a garden...

It turns out that planting a garden is one thing, but helping keep up the garden is something else entirely.  Since we participated in the community garden at church during our transition year, we had to make an effort to go and keep up on the weeding and watering.  The kids lost interest in that project about 2 weeks into it.  As the produce is now maturing, they are happy to pick it and eat it though.  And the homemade tomato soup and spaghetti sauce have been amazing.  Who knew that freshly grown celery could be so much better than store bought?  We certainly learned that this summer!

We went raspberry picking...

I blogged on this already.  Raspberries were not actually on the bucket list, but we missed strawberry season.  They were delicious raspberries and continue to make excellent smoothies for us.  Plus it was a day spent with friends and what could be better than that?

The turtle races...

This was another thing that wasn't on the list, but it was a favorite.  Every July 4th, Todd's cousin Dave and his wife Jane's neighborhood pulls turtles from their lake and does a turtle race just like up north.  This year we spent the 4th with them on the lake and got to participate in the races.  Colin won third place and ended up with $7 cash.  Zach was just happy to spend time with the turtles and didn't really want to let them go after the races.  

We let off fireworks...

Getting to let off fireworks has become a rite of passage in our house.  When you are eight, you are allowed to actually light some of the fireworks.  So this was Zach's big year!  But Colin still likes it so much, he didn't really want to share.

We ate ice cream...

The kids wanted to completely replicate the ice cream adventure from two summers ago.  We didn't quite get that done, but we did make it back to our favorite spots and eat our fair share of ice cream.  Grand Ol' Creamery is one of our favorites because it might also go along with a trip to Cossetta's for pizza!

The Sculpture Garden...

I wanted to do a couple of things with the kids that we had never done before, so I put the Sculpture Garden on the list for this summer.  It is a Minneapolis landmark and someplace everyone should visit at least once.  The day was hot and the kids tempers matched (mine did too!).  But in the end they told Dad how much fun it was to visit someplace new.

We built fires...

My kids like fire (see fireworks above).  We got to build a fire while camping...actually at one point we noticed the kids had started one without supervision, but that is another story.  And we got to build one at the cabin too.  Fires are cool, but they also mean s'mores!

We went to the cabin...

It wasn't our best week, but they still love to go and cannot wait to go again (BUT, only with their cousins!).

We saw the dinosaurs at the zoo...

The zoo hosted the robotic dinosaur exhibit this summer and we finally made it!  I thought it was pretty cool.  Molly thought it was scary.  Zach loved taking pictures.  Colin thought it was embarrassing!

We went to the State Fair...

Well, Molly and I went to the State Fair.  The boys threw a temper tantrum and ended up staying home to do chores.  We rode rides, ate corn dogs and fried candy bars, looked at horses, and marveled at all the people.  It was a great day!

We visited Historic Fort Snelling...

This kids always enjoy this trip.  This year they got to wash some laundry, chop some wood and help make a biscuit.  

We attended our year end pool party...

And Molly was finally brave enough to jump from the diving board!

We visited the apple orchard...

And we picked as many apples as we could carry!  Zach even climbed trees to get the best ones at the very top.  Colin picked one apple to find a Wolf Spider (after that he was done picking apples!).  

We don't have pictures of our visit to Lake Harriet and Wild Rumpus bookstore, Chutes and Ladders Park, countless trips to the lake to swim, boating and tubing at the cabin, our camping trip and all our play dates with friends.  It was a busy summer and although we did not get done everything we thought we might...we had a good time.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to summer until next year...let the school year begin!