The sun is finally shining and it feels like we may actually have summer this year. I have also started seeing bucket lists pop up with all of the things I feel like I SHOULD do with my girls. But I am not a big fan of ‘should’ so I decided to make my own bucket list of things I will do and not do.

 

1-Dress each day not for looks, but for activities. My uniform will be active gear and baseball hats. Fashion bloggers, I am your worst nightmare. Yes, I go to the gym every day, but even after I shower, I will put on fresh gym clothes. Yes, it ages me. Yes, it’s not fashionable. But my kids are at the age where they want and need to be active with them. When they are too cool for me, I will worry about dressing cool. 

2- Embrace my curly hair. This means I may wear a lot of ponytails, updos, and baseball hats. But G has curly hair and she thinks its awesome when I wear my hair curly. I want her to love her hair like I never did. If her hair is like mine, her curly days are numbered, and so are the days when she won’t care if her mom’s hair looks a little frizzy or undone. Not to mention, I will spend way less time getting ready each day. 

3-Plan my days with adequate down time for playing, resting, or (gasp) watching TV. I have a tendency to go a hundred miles an hour and then crash. This is not a tendency I want to pass on. I also want to give my girls time to be bored and have to think of things to do, preferably with each other. So far, we have a nice morning down time and late afternoon. And when we are super active during the day, a little veg out time will be what we need sometimes. 

4-No guilt when scheduling in workouts. I have learned the hard way that me trying to get my workout in at the butt crack of dawn leads to a very crabby (and as G2 says, ‘crappy’) mama. My girls love playing with other kids at the childcare offered at my bootcamp. So we will be there most mornings before our days get started. 

5-Balance outside and inside time. We will be at the pool every day that we can this summer. We will eat outside, play outside, run outside, and be outside a lot. But equally important is time indoors to cool off, relax, and regroup. 

6-Make time for good people. We have lost touch with our playgroup due to schedules, naps, siblings, you name it. We are reserving our Fridays to spend time with the mamas and kiddos my girls hung with from age 3 months to 4 years. We became moms together in all its glory and heartache. I want the girls to know the other kids even though they won’t see them during the school year. 

7-Avoid all splash pads unless requested by the good people I just described. I really hate everything about splash pads. It’s almost as bad as craft day at Home Depot.

8-On that note, only choose activities that ALL of us enjoy doing. I want to give my girls a wonderful fun-filled summer. But there’s certain things I just don’t like. Like splash pads. And carnivals. And parades. And large crowds. And long lines. And crafts that involve more than paint, glitter, and glue. But I love going to the pool, going to farmer’s market, going to beer gardens where the girls can run around and play, going to State Street, going to concerts on the square, exploring parks, going on hikes, going on bike rides, playing tennis, playing golf, making s’mores, catching lightning bugs, and maybe even camping out in the backyard. I want to spend the summer finding joy in these things together and not faking it for the sake of doing something fun and cool that I should be doing. 

 

That’s the start of my bucket list. What would you add?


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