Summer Bucket List — the 2012 Edition

The end of July may be a little late to be posting a summer bucket list, but I say better late than never.   Our summer was front-loaded with lots of planned activities, and it’s only now that we are finding ourselves with lots of free time.

Here’s a list of things i hope to do with the kids this summer, I will link/share about activities as we check them off our list.  We probably won’t get through them all, but this should keep us busy!

Image Credit: Deeezyy on Flickr

Summer Bucket List (2012 Edition)

At Home

• Family Game Night
• Make Homemade Ice Cream
  • Paleo Vanilla Ice Cream
  • Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream
  • Dark Chocolate Ice Cream
  • Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
• Write Letter to our Sponsored Child
• Let Each Kid Plan & Make Dinner:
  • W: ground beef tacos with lettuce wrap
  • S:  chicken soup with rice
  • A: Pancakes for dinner
• Readlots of books:
  • What Should I Read Next?
  • 65 Favorite Read-Alouds for Boys
  • 25 Series if You Loved The Hunger Games
  • 75 Read-Alouds Starring Mighty Girls
  • 50 Books to Read Before Kindergarten

Around Town:  Outside

• Attend an Outdoor Concert or Movie
  There are tons of concert and movie options out there, here are a couple I’m considering:
  • Lubber Run (Arlington, VA) — last concert 8/5
  • Starlight Cinema Drive-In (Centreville, VA)
  • Twilight Tattoo (Arlington, VA) — Wednesdays through 8/29
  • Capitol Riverfront Concert Series (Yards Park, DC)
  • Little Tots (Fairfax Corner, VA)
• Redskins Training Camp (Ashburn, VA) — 7/26 thru 8/4
• Check out Wheaton Regional Park
• Visit Yards Park /Splash in the Fountains
• Fly Kites somewhere (Gravely Point?)
• Go Fishing
• Take a Hike:
  • Great Falls, VA
  • Billy Goat Trail (Great Falls, MD)  — 3.7 miles round trip
• Go Bike Riding
• Bumper Boats?

Around Town: Inside

• Go Bowling for free!
• Watch a Free/Cheap Summer Movie (saw Dolphin Tale — it was great!)
• National Building Museum:  Mini-Golf and Lego exhibit
• Make Paper Airplanes and fly them somewhere (Landmark Mall?)
• Living Classroom Science Exhibit (DC) — closes 8/5
• Cultural Experience:  Brazil or Japan
  I want to expose the kids to other cultural experiences and asked them to pick a country they were interested in.  I will try and find some library books related to that country, find a cultural experience and eat a restaurant in that style
• Serve Somewhere as a family:
  • Dinner at Central Union Mission
  • AFAC?
• Play Laser Tag

Short Getaway Ideas

• Shenandoah Valley Discovery Museum (Winchester, VA)
• Luray Caverns
• Baltimore: Port Discovery and/or Maryland Science Center
• Visit Grandma & Grandpa
• Go Camping
• Go Boating
  • Smith Mountain Lake?
  • Lake Anna?