Every year the kids and I make individual summer bucket lists on the last day of school. I love seeing what they come up with! This year C kept it short and sweet:
Get water guns.
Get a new sprinkler or pool.
Get more chickens.
Get candy and eat it in the sunshine.
We’ve successfully accomplished all but one of those (sorry buddy, Official Pet Ban and such…)
Azelie had a longer list with more specific requirements.
Go to the cabin.
Go swimming.
Help Cosima try out a new little pool.
Get popsicles.
Go camping.
Go on a picnic.
Sounds like the perfect summer to me! We’ve done most of these already and it’s only July, but we do have a few more camping trips planned and we have to go an what Azelie deems a proper picnic. One cannot simply eat food outside, oh no. The picnic blanket must be on the checkered side, and we have to have packed a lunch, “not just snacks on the deck, mom.” The girl has picnic protocol down.
My list involves a lot of what the kids would probably classify as “work”. Berry picking, jamming, walks and bike rides, organizing for the new school year, BBQing, brewing, foraging, etc. I’ve already got strawberry jam in the books and blueberry season is eminent!
Our bucket lists give us some good goals for the summer but we always have other activities to fill our time as well. Caidoc is doing baseball again this year (yay for sports being back!) and his developmental leap has been amazing! Azelie will be taking tennis lessons in July and she is so excited. Both of the “bigs”, as well call them, take piano lessons through the summer. This year we are doing two two week sessions of summer school- much to C and A’s chagrin. It pays off to not have any of the “summer slide” though. I’ve been really cashing in the summer time vibe and we’ve been watching movies, eating ice cream, and having lots of fun adventures.
Pickle maintains the title of Adventure Baby. She loves to get out and do things. Her life goal is to be a big kid and she’s always asking to be included with whatever C and A are doing; she always “practices” piano after them and patiently waits her turn each day- so sweet!
The chickens and kitties are really keeping us busy. C and A have morning chores with the animals, “doing these animals chores makes me feel like we have a farm, mom!” We are all learning a lot, especially from the chickens. We recently had to clip the wings on our cross beak who likes to scale the six foot fence. She better be a good layer because between the beak and the flying she is giving us a run for our money. Those birds are so much smarter than anyone gives them credit for. The other night I went out to lock them up and Sorcha was still out. She’s taken over being the guard chicken since Lucas has been re-homed (that was hard!😢). I talked to her saying, “now lady, you can go to sleep it’s okay, it’s just me”, to which she promptly came over for a pet, then flew up into the coop. Such good girls.
Our summer has been a blast so far! We are blessed. I can’t wait for the rest of it! I look forward to more gardening ( it’s been a great year for the garden!), more foraging, camping trips, and getting myself psyched for the school year to come. I can’t wait to show you what we have planned for field trips for year- just wait! In the mean time, if you’re bored and in Washington, feel free to stop by anytime. We are always good for a popsicle or a cold brew and our willow tree has the best shade around. Come on over!