When I reminisce about childhood summers, the first things that come to mind aren’t always the big family vacations or the huge moments.
School always let out in June growing up.
June was a magical month, I could taste it like a frosty red popsicle and smell and feel it on my skin, thick like banana boat sunscreen. The moments of summer that were truly magical, the ones that screamed summer to me were the simpler ones, the everyday little moments.
My idea of a summer bucket list is reliving some of my favorite, most poignant memories with my boys as well as creating a few new ones. These are the moments that capture my childhood summers:
- Berry picking
- Back-to-school shopping
- Corn shucking
- Catching lightning bugs
- Playing in the sprinkler
- Swim lessons
- Vacation Bible School
- Lessons to learn a new sport (golf or tennis)
- Power outage night: flashlights, forts, telling stories (or, in this case, this summer, three nights so far, including an impromptu two-night hotel stay!)
- Children’s museum
- Zoo days
- Safety town
- Carnivals (like Union Center Bash – find an equivalent)
- Ice cream truck
- The Cone
- Friendly’s Wattamelon
- Dive-in movies
- Putt-putt golf
- Creeking
- S’mores
- Drive-in movies
- Discover new parks
- Create a lifesize board game with sidewalk chalk
- Decorate t-shirts and baseball hats
- summer reading program at your local library
- Playing school or camp with a younger sibling
- Popsicles on the deck or front porch
- Water balloons
- Olympics-themed parties
- Put on a play with neighborhood kids
- Stay at Great Wolf Lodge
- Reds Game (fireworks night or daytime game and ice cream in the baseball hats!)
- Kings Island
- Water park (Splash City or The Beach)
- Stricker’s Grove
- Water fight with neighbor kids
- Slip-n-slide
- Swim parties
- Summer camps with church
- Summer camps (day camps)
- Eating big slices of watermelon and spitting out the seeds
- Fireworks!
- Sparklers
What’s on your summer bucket list with your family this year?
