It’s August. Our school district is clamoring for my attention again with registration forms in the mail and orientation reminders in my inbox. As much as I want to ignore it and pretend my mornings will forever be blissfully quiet with kids sleeping late, summer is winding down. School will be starting again. Soon. And that feeling that we haven’t done everything we wanted to for the summer niggles at me.
You too? I have some good news for both you and me: it’s not over yet. Even as we shop for school supplies, we can still complete something we had planned this summer that we haven’t gotten around to. And even better, we have a natural deadline to spur us on – the first day of school.
So that’s the theme for this month’s bucket list life dare: Seize the Summer Moment. Think back to the first day of summer. What did you envision the three months of June, July and August 2015 to look like? What did you hope you and your kids would be able to do or create or see or learn or visit or encounter?
Hopefully you can say your summer lived up to much of your vision. And maybe you were pleasantly surprised by experiences you hadn’t dreamed of ahead of time. But there are probably one or two things that you couldn’t fit in or just plain forgot about. That’s what this dare is about. Pick one or two things, preferably bucket list goals – things that you have never experienced before, that you still want to get in before summer ends. Then make them happen in August (or by Labor Day, if you want to give yourself until the official end of summer).
My goal is to take my kids to Magic Waters, a water park we have never tried. We pass it every summer on our way to my in-laws’ summer home, but since we go out there to boat and fish and swim, it never made sense to hit the water park. This year we were fortunate enough to be given passes to Magic Waters. But first summer school and its rigorous homework prevented us. Then vacation away, appointments, work and other obligations made it hard to get out there. Now we have no reason not to go – we just need to make it happen. And I can’t wait for the fun we’ll have when we do!
How about you? What is one new adventure you want to still squeeze into your summer? Take the August Bucket List Life Dare and make it happen.
We have a specific hike on our summer bucket list- but with vacation away it will be pushed until later August. I also want to extend the summer mind set into September by doing something fun each weekend- we have many hikes & bikes that are relatively close to us- I just need to keep pushing them onto the schedule.
Yes, do the hike! And I like your plan to use September weekends to keep summer going.
I always thought of bucket lists things to be big events, and I love how you make them so simple, like going to a water park, or ice cream on the roof. We had a jam packed summer of fun. We took 2 road trips (with 2 kids ages 2 and 4), and two flying trips (without kids). It was also our oldest’s first day of pre-k this year, so we got home from our trips and started working on that. I think I need to plan for the fall now, but I want to find some small bucket list items that I can do for our family! Thanks for this!
I’m glad I could inspire you. Especially when kids are young like yours, there are so many “firsts” to enjoy with them that you don’t really need to go big. And I’m impressed you took *two* road trips with kids at that age – that must mean they travel well.