Summer Bucket List | Sometimes Things Don’t Go as Planned

So, we are getting to the end of summer and that means the end of our Summer Bucket List. Every summer since Diego started kindergarten we’ve taken a 3-4 day trip to Southern California around the end of August. It’s become a tradition, so of course going to Calif was on our list. As I’m planning the trip, I thought we could also mark off a few more items from the list. We planned to make a few stops on the drive down and look for Geocaches. We also planned to go to a children’s museum and see the sunset on the beach. But, sometimes things don’t go as planned…

We planned to get an early start Friday morning, but that didn’t happen. We left way later and decided to do the geocaching either Saturday or Sunday on the drive back down because we wanted to make it to the museum. We did make it to the Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasedena, CA. The kids really had a great time playing with all the hands-on exhibits, getting wet in their creek, and climbing the indoor towers.

That night, Elysse’s asthma flared up and she began coughing & wheezing a lot. We managed to get it under control by mid-morning with her inhaler and other medication I took. But she was definitely not back to normal. The kids really wanted to go to the beach, especially since we were meeting some friends out there, so by early Saturday afternoon we did make it to Newport Beach. Unfortunately, Elysse was not feeling 100% and she didn’t really enjoy herself too much. Diego tried out his new boogie board but the water was cold, so he hardly played. Needless to say, we did not make it to watch the sunset on the beach. As a matter of fact, Elysse’s asthma got worse, so we decided to pack it up and head back home that night so she could get on her nebulizer treatments asap. We’ll never be leaving home without that machine again!!

What is normally a 4 hr drive turned into 6 hours due to major traffic from an earlier road closure. It was pretty nightmarish. We made it home around 3am and put her on her nebulizer. She’s much better now after her treatments, which is what matters most. I am a little sad we didn’t get to have the fun trip we planned for, but I guess this means we’ll just have to be going back sooner than later 😉

Summer Bucket List | Bike Wash & Star Gazing

We got 2 more things off our summer bucket list this weekend! First up, was the kid’s bike wash! We’d seen this idea on Pinterest last year and Jason thought it would be a ton of fun for the kids, so we put it on our list this summer! It really was a family project, as the kids went with Jason to the hardware store to buy the supplies and Diego even helped with putting it together. The kids had a fun time riding their bikes through it and keeping cool 🙂

We also had Star Gazing at Red Rock Canyon on our list. The Las Vegas Astronomical Society hosts Astronomy in the Park at Red Rock Canyon once a month. It’s a free event where members of the club invite us non-astronomers to peek into the night sky through their telescopes. This is something we’ve been wanting to do since last year, but it just never worked out. So, when we finally were able to go this Saturday we were all really excited. We were able to see Saturn, Venus, few constellations, a nebula, a far off galaxy, and we were even shown how to find satellites flying across the sky. Saturday was also the start of a meteor shower, so we saw some really awesome shooting stars! It really was a fun night to remember!

Summer Bucket List | Camping & Drive-In Movies

So, we’ve got 17 days until the first day of school (but who’s counting!) and then another week until Labor Day which is the official end of our Summer Bucket List Challenge. This summer has flown by! I’m so glad we have this bucket list to keep us from wasting the whole summer away and getting us to have a fun time together as a family. It’s so easy to get carried away in our everyday chores, errands, and chaos that we forget to make the time have fun. Because, that’s what it’s about it’s about making the time to be together and being intentional about it.

So, we had backyard camping on our list but we had to tweak it a bit and bring the camping indoors. The Vegas heat has been intense this summer and none of us really wanted to sleep outside in the heat. Kids still had a great time helping their dad put up the tent! I’m calling this one a “WIN”.

We also had “Mystery Activity” on our list. Jason and I thought it would be fun to keep the kids guessing, plus it gave us some wiggle room as to what kind of activity it could be. We ended up taking the kids to the drive-in last week. We only told them we were going to do our mystery activity so having them try to guess what it could be was half the fun! They were thrilled they were going to see the movie Turbo! It was a fun night and they really enjoyed the movie.

Summer Bucket List | Fishing at Floyd Lamb Park

Last school year, Jason went on a fishing field trip with Diego and his classroom to Floyd Lamb Park. Although it was a pretty cold day, they both had a lot of fun and Diego was very excited to have had a chance to try some fishing! He was ready try it again and kept asking when we’d go, so we decided to add it to our family Summer Bucket List.

About two weeks we bought the kiddos some fishing rods and bait and made our way to Floyd Lamb Park at Tule Springs. This is a historic park found on the northwest side of Las Vegas. What makes this park so different, is that it has a nice lake and lush landscaping. It really is a nice oasis in the middle of the desert.

Although it was was a hot day, it didn’t feel so bad in the shade and there were some clouds too. I was a bit nervous since fishing isn’t much of an “active” event. There’s lots of sitting around and waiting and honestly, my kids are not too good at that. Surprisingly, the day went well. They enjoyed fishing a lot more than I expected and it ended up being a pretty relaxing afternoon. Of course, we didn’t catch any fish but we still had a great time together as a family and that’s all that matters!

Summer Bucket List Challenge | Visit a State Park

During our East Coast Road Trip in June, we managed to knock off another item off our Summer Bucket List and that was to visit a state park. We visited Jones Beach State Park in New York. It started off as a cold and dreary day, but eventually the sun came out and warmed us up on the empty beach. It was a fun and relaxing day of playing in the sand, catching up with family, and for the brave ones, a little bit of splashing in the cold waters of the Atlantic.

Summer Bucket List Challenge 2013 | Silly String Fight

When we first started putting our summer bucket list together, my 4 year old Elysse whispered in my ear that she wanted to “get” her brother with silly string on the last day of school! We kept it a surprise from him, which, if you’ve ever asked a 4 year old to keep a secret, you know it was tough! She was so excited when the last day of school finally came and we went to pick him that afternoon. We waited until we were close to our car and out of the school playground to spray him with the silly string! The mission was a success! He was totally caught off guard and we got him good! I think the other kids were jealous their mom’s didn’t spray them with silly string too, but I can’t be sure 😉

After we got home I gave him his own can of silly string and let them have a true silly string fight. This time, I had my camera and caught some of the action! It was a great way to get our summer started! What kind of fun stuff are you and your family doing this summer?

Summer Bucket List Challenge 2013

This summer has been ridiculously hot in Las Vegas! 120 should never been the temperature inside your car! Sadly, the excessive heat & getting sick after just getting back from our vacation has kept us indoors more than we’d like. But, we’re still excited to be participating in our 3rd Summer Bucket List Challenge created by The Happy Family Movement.
This is a great way to have an intentionally fun summer with your
family and spend time together. Our kiddos really look forward to it
every year. The four of us will think of fun activities to do together
and then once we have our list ready, we put it up on the wall so we can
see it everyday and then start planning out the fun! Here’s our list
for this year! We’ve already marked a few things off our list and will be blogging all about them soon! It’s not too lat to sign up too, just click HERE ! What fun stuff are you and your family doing this summer? I’d love to hear about it! xo