I’m as inclined to faux nostalgia as the next mom trying to give her kids the perfect childhood summer experience. It’s so tempting to make a shiny, happy summer bucket list. But let’s be real, as much as we all look forward to summer, sometimes it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. So don’t worry if you can’t “enjoy every freaking moment.”
Last week a fellow mom and I were sitting on the grass at the park watching the kids wreck havoc on the paths with their scooters and discussing summer plans. Neither of us had signed our kids up for a bunch of camp activities. At that moment my son came up and whined, “I’m bored. Let’s go home.”* I suddenly envisioned 3 months worth of listening to the “I’m bored”s and my friend and I shared an eye roll. I simply cannot plan a summer’s worth of activities just so my kids do not get bored.
If you feel overwhelmed by all the “super-fun” ideas on the currently circulating summer bucket list ideas all over the web, sit back and enjoy the experiences on my summer bucket list. These are the only things I can guarantee you I will actually accomplish. How do I know this? Well, because all of these things have happened to me. Every. Single. Summer.
THE REAL SUMMER BUCKET LIST
Get caught in a thunderstorm without an umbrella. At least 3 times.
Squeeze 10 lemons for lemonade and realize you don’t have any sugar because you gave it up 3 years ago.
Get ice cream on a hot day and realize you don’t have any napkins/wipes/towels. Wipe your kids’ hands on your own shirt.
Carry the stroller and/or screaming child up and down 10,000 subway stairs.
Plan several trips to local museums to ensure “summer learning” but bail at the last minute because it is too hot to carry the stroller/screaming child up and down 10,000 subway stairs.
Unplug the air conditioner on a 100 degree day because your youngest kid can not stop playing with the dial. Sweat.
Get 1,000 mosquito bites because you have an irrational fear of DEET.
Spend 1 hour getting to the public pool only to realize you’ve forgotten the towels/sunscreen/your own bathing suits.
Listen to your older child scream he can’t play [insert outdoor game here] because his younger brother “can’t do it right.”
Take an hour joy ride on the subway because you can not think of anything else to do and your children are “bored”.
…
Aren’t the lazy days of summer over, yet?
Oh, that’s right. They are just beginning.
What’s on you REAL summer bucket list?
* For the record, I did not take him home.
Summer fun you might actually do:
- Tag games that tire kids out
- Rolling down a hill
- Have even more fun at the library
- Summer reading list resources
- Bubble activities
- Warm weather car wash
Phyllis at All Things Beautiful says
LOL…I don’t think I have one of those…we do those spur of the moment.
Erica MomandKiddo says
Ha ha. This is certainly not something I plan, either. LOL
Even in Australia says
We’ll go somewhere in the car and i’ll forget to give my oldest her Dramamine. We’ll go to some free city event only to be miserable since it will be too hot and crowded.
esivy says
Stay home to get something done – like housework. Realize at the end of the day that nothing got done – and we didn’t have any fun.
Lisa Dreisigmeyer says
or the house looks worse then when you started because, kids.
Bethany Winston says
This is so funny. Our backyard swarms with mosquitoes each summer and we keep using this “natural” spray that stinks like crazy and doesn’t work. I just can’t bring myself to spray DEET on the kids every day though.
Amy @ Sunlit Pages says
Ha! I love this! Our summer is very unscheduled (on purpose, because of the new baby). Unfortunately, I think I’ve been making it too idyllic in my mind, and we’re going to be looking for things to do.
P.S. I also have an irrational fear of DEET.
Amy @ Sunlit Pages says
P.P.S. I was going to ask you what program you use for all of your picture collages. I’m feeling like I want to step it up a little on my blog. 🙂
Erica MomandKiddo says
Picmonkey! I love it so much I actually pay the fee for premium features and I am super cheap.
Erica MomandKiddo says
But I warn you it’s highly addictive. Sometimes doing the photo is my favorite part of writing a post!
Pragmatic Mom says
Take the kids to ice cream for a “cool down” because it’s roasting inside. Forget cash and it’s a cash only place.
Emma @ P is for Preschooler says
LOL – we’ve already done the ice cream one!
Pauletta says
Start taking the 2 younger kids on a walk every day with a friend a couple weeks before school is out so you can get in a routine. “It will be fun to add the other 2 kids in on the walk ….good exercise and being outdoors”. Before the first week of having kids home is over you stop walking with the friend because it is more stressful to walk with the kids and isn’t the walk supposed to relax you?! 🙂 Now in all fairness, that was just this week and today I had all 4 kids at the doctor’s office because they are all coughing. 🙁
alysastewart says
Ha! I love it. In seriousness, there is only one thing on my summer bucket list for this year: teach my son (age 5) to swim. And I don’t care how it gets done or if it is ME that ends up teaching him or not. But I know he can do it and I know that it’s really important for safety reasons.
Now. If only he hadn’t had a fever for the last 6 days we could have gone to the pool. But wait! Not the pool within walking distance because that one is closed for maintenance for “a few weeks.” Urgh.
Stacey Loscalzo says
So funny! Love this list given how suffocated I am by all the others circulating right now!
writersideup says
I found this “sort of” funny lol Couldn’t help feeling for you! 😀
Erica MomandKiddo says
I try to have a good attitude by laughing at it all! I’ve I didn’t laugh, I might go a little crazy! LOL
Leah says
Determining the success of your day based on the number of hours you child has been on an electronic device!
Erica MomandKiddo says
Ha! So true.
Emma says
LOL! Here’s one we do every year, at least a dozen times (AT LEAST!) – Go to park, realize you forgot sunscreen. Walk home and begin trip again! 😉