Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Family Summer Bucket List 2018 - What We Accomplished

Our babies have been back in school for two weeks now so it’s time to reflect on our summer bucket list, discuss how we did, and say ADIOS to summer! 

Y’all know fall will always have my heart so it’s time to make room for it in all its glory!    

O N E – Go to the Beach

CHECK!  And this was personally my favorite beach trip EVER!  Lazy beach days, finding shells, Pier Park, the donut truck, The Hub, lots of delicious food and drinks… we love 30A!  Recaps below.





T W O – Celebrate Jacob’s Birthday

CHECK!  We celebrated with family the weekend before and then B was able to take his actual birthday off which made it extra special!  We had Panera for breakfast, went to our local arcade, went to the playground, and had Chipotle for lunch… all Jacob’s choices!









T H R E E – Take the Kids Fishing

FAIL.  We only ever thought about this one once but it was just too hot that day.   

F O U R – Spend Lots of Time at the Library

CHECK!  The kids and I put our library cards to good use this summer.  As a matter of fact, we went to the library more times this summer than we’ve been in the last two years combined.  We are a house full of readers (except for B) so we love utilizing our library.  I’m just thankful to finally have the time to go!



F I V E – Play with Water Beads

CHECK!  The kids played with these several times and they loved them!  The first time I pulled them out they played with them for at least two hours solid.  #Winning



S I X – Find a Cold Drink at Starbucks That I Like

CHECK!  When I originally posted this I had every intention to find a cold COFFEE drink that I liked.  However, I ended up just putting “drink” on the list because I wasn’t sure I’d be in the mood for coffee during the summer as it’s more of a fall and winter thing for me.  I finally tried the “Pink Drink” (I’m only like two years behind – haha) and it is positively delicious.  It truly does taste like a pink Starburst like everyone says.  And pink Starbursts are my favorite.  <3  I also went to try the Mango Dragonfruit Refresher, but they gave me the wrong drink.  Whatever they gave me ended up being good so I wasn’t too mad about it. 



S E V E N – Play in the Sprinkler

CHECK!  I originally posted this knowing because we don’t have a pool, but I ended up getting a blow-up pool for our back yard so we were able to use that instead.  Even better!




E I G H T – Go see a Braves Game in their new stadium… and City

CHECK!  And we had the best time!  We ended up making a weekend of it and we hit up Fernbank Museum, the Braves game, one of the best donut places I’ve ever been to, and The Children’s Museum of Atlanta.  It was a fun trip!










N I N E – Swimming Lessons for Both of the Kids

CHECK!  This was Jacob’s best year yet!  He may not even need to go next year.  Olivia started out a bit rocky, but finished pretty strong.  She’ll need at least one more year, though.





T E N – Date Nights

CHECK!  B and I have been on fire with the date nights!  We went to the Dave Matthews Band concert in ATL, we went to dinner and a movie one evening, and we went to see Taylor Swift in ATL.  So much fun with my favorite!




E L E V E N – Get Milkshakes

CHECK!  We ended up grabbing shakes twice this summer, both times at our favorite place… Chick-Fil-A!



T W E L V E – Play on All the Playgrounds

CHECK!  We for sure enjoyed MANY of the playgrounds that our city has to offer!






T H I R T E E N – Cookout and Outdoor Movie with Friends

FAIL.  We haven’t done this yet, but I’m thinking fall might be better so it won’t be as hot.   

 F O U R T E E N – Plant My Herbs

CHECK!  I can’t say that anything grew, though, but Momma tried!  Haha.  



F I F T E E N – Open Savings Accounts for the Kids

FAIL.  We talked about doing this several times, but just never did.  Summer is for fun things, I suppose.  Not boring trips to the bank!

S I X T E E N – Establish Chores and Allowance

CHECK!  Well, kind of.  I did finally make a list of summer duties for the kids and we stuck to it pretty well.  We never established any kind of allowance system, though.  I’m honestly not sure how I want to approach that yet, so I think that’s why we struggled to implement anything. 




S E V E N T E E N – Vacation Bible School

CHECK!  The kids had a blast and Mommy got a little break!  Win win!



E I G H T E E N – Summer Camp

FAIL.  But this one wasn’t our fault.  Summer camp unexpectedly filled up before last school year was even over, so we weren’t able to grab a spot.

N I N E T E E N – Get a Tan (While Using Sunscreen, of Course)

CHECK!  Friends, my tan was darker this summer than it’s been since I stopped going to the tanning bed back in 2007.  I know tanning isn’t good for you, but goodness gracious I feel so much healthier when my skin is nice and bronzed!  I did tan with caution, of course.  I always wore my sunscreen so I was smart about it.  :o)



T W E N T Y – Read Five Books

CHECK!!  I’m so proud of myself for this one!  I LOVE to read, y’all, but since we had kids my time has been so limited and by the time I get in the bed at night I can barely stay awake long enough to read a few pages, maybe a chapter if I’m lucky.  This summer I really took the time to relax more and during all of my relaxation time I tore through five whole books!

Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews – loved it
Small Admissions by Amy Poeppel – just thought this one was eh
Still Me by Jojo Moyes – loved it
All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin – really loved it
The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan – SUPER loved it





T W E N T Y – O N E – Perfect Our Grilling Game

FAIL.  We grilled a couple of times, but we stuck to hamburgers.  We still haven’t tried chicken.  Womp womp.

T W E N T Y – T W O – Paint and Hide Rocks

CHECK!  Kind of.  We did hide rocks that we had found previously, but we never painted our own.  I’m still calling this a win! 



T W E N T Y – T H R E E – Random Acts of Kindness

CHECK!  We surprised my Momma at work with some flowers, we left encouraging notes in library books for people to find, we donated loads of old clothes and toys to our church’s outreach center, and we donated one of our books to the sharing library.




T W E N T Y – F O U R – Rainy Day Double Feature

CHECK!  We had a lot of rain this summer and we used one of the days as the perfect opportunity to snuggle up on the couch with popcorn and watch two movies back to back – Frozen and Cinderella.  The kids loved it!



T W E N T Y – F I V E – Campout

CHECK!  The kids had several campouts this summer.  They slept in their sleeping bags on Jacob’s floor twice and Olivia’s floor twice as well.  I think they would have done it every night if we would have let them!



T W E N T Y – S I X – Dance Party

CHECK!  We had a couple of these!  I didn’t even get pictures because I was too busy dancing myself!  The kids favorite dance party soundtrack right now is The Greatest Showman.

In addition to all of these things, we also…

Went to the science museum…


Went on a couple of girls’ nights…



Celebrated National Donut Day…


Worked on several house projects…








Watched America's Got Talent...



Had a yard sale...



Picked LOTS of blueberries in Nana's garden...



Met our new second cousin...



Enjoyed many evening thunderstorms followed by some stunning sunsets…




Made our own popsicles…




Went to several movies at the theater (Ferdinand, Incredibles 2, Trolls)…






Watched our nephews/cousins play baseball…


Celebrated Fourth of July…





Went to Atlanta for a quick day trip for Olivia's appointment...







Had picnics and play dates with our friends (including celebrating Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day)...



Went to Chuck E. Cheese with our cousins…


Went to the splash pad with our friends from school…


Went exploring…


Tried to earn our green thumb...




Went to the Botanical Gardens...


Visited the ice cream truck…


And had fun playing at our friend’s birthday pool party…


Did we make the absolute most of our summer?  I’d say HECK-TO-THE-YES!!!!  All of our adventures are below if you missed anything!

Until next year!



13 comments:

  1. You guys definitely had a FULL summer! So many great memories! Now bring on fall!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It looks like you guys soaked up every second of summer! I love it!! So many fun adventures! Now cheers to fall!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG what a fun packed summer. We will end ours with our beach trip in just two weeks from today! Wahoo! I am going back to read your posts to make our meal stop.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You did great! I'm pretty sure we didn't totally finish our list...oh well, we did have a good summer and yours was even busier than ours!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You guys have had an awesome summer! Look at all the fun stuff you got in and some projects knocked off your list too!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wow!! You did a great job getting through your list!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'd say for your first summer as a stay at home mom you totally NAILED IT!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Such awesome photos of your amazing summer! 😎

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love all of the fun you packed in this summer!! So many smiled and great accomplishments here. Sierra Beautifully Candid

    ReplyDelete
  10. What a wonderfully fun summer!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment... I read and respond to each and every one! However, if you are a no-reply blogger (meaning that your email address is not connected to your Blogger account), I will not be able to reply to you directly via email... you will have to check back on the blog post for a response!