It's June - and unofficially (until the 21st, if you're counting) summer. We Midwesterners earned this one, too, after the endless, gray subzero days, snowpocalypse after snowpocalypse and cabin fever so high we thought we'd all go crazy.
The older we get, the harder it is to keep these days precious, especially if we're cooped up in the office for the bulk of them. That's why a summer bucket list is so important. It gives you the opportunity to think back to what summer meant to you - what it means to your family, your kids, your friends - and take note so that these days we so longed for as children don't become a distant memory.
To get you started, here's 25 things you may want to put on your summer bucket list.
- Take a walk during your lunch hour.
- Drive to a park and have a picnic with a friend or coworker.
- Hold a meeting outside under a shade tree.
- Take a different route to or from work - with the windows rolled down.
- Listen to summer tunes on your headphones.
AFTER WORK
- Grill your dinner and eat outside.
- Take walks with your kids and pets at sunset.
- Turn off the TV and and go outside. Talk to that neighbor you haven't seen all winter. Play catch with your kids. Go fishing at dusk.
- Start a new outside exercise routine like walking, running or biking.
- Head out to the ball park and cheer on your favorite team.
ON THE WEEKENDS
- Visit your local pool and actually swim with your kids. Heck, go off the diving board! Why not?
- Plant an edible garden with herbs and veggies of your kids' choice. (Sugar snap peas and mint are my kids' favorites!)
- Plan a "Staycation" and pretend you're "just visiting" the town in which you live. Explore some of the areas you've never visited, like nature centers or community parks.
- Take a day trip to a state park, like Starved Rock in Utica, Illinois.
- Visit your local farmer's market.
- Have a water balloon fight.
- Draw with sidewalk chalk.
- Visit an ice cream stand.
- Attend (or better yet participate in) a parade.
- Run through the sprinkler.
- Catch fireflies.
- Go mini golfing.
- Re-read one of your favorite books from when you were a child (Mine is "The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles").
- Roast marshmallows and make s'mores.
- Watch the fireworks and ooh and ahh and the big ones.
“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
