Our 2016 Summer Bucket List

Now that we are less than a month away from the boys getting out of school, I am starting to get excited for some fun in the sun this Summer.  Every year the boys and I get together and make a list of Summer activities we want to fit in. There are some favorites we always add and some new activities we have added this year. We can not wait. If you don't know our family, we live in Maryland so a lot of these ideas are based on where we live. Hopefully, you can find these activities available in your area as well.

Park Quest

Camping
Bowling

(There is a really awesome program where you can bowl once a week for only the small price of your shoe rental.)

Blueberry/Strawberry picking

Fishing

Swimming

Hiking
Jr. Ranger's Program

Go to a Baseball Game

$1 Movies

Summer carnival
Police Academy

Utz Factory

Sky Zone

Leesburg Water Park

Gymnastics

Catoctin Zoo

Tubing

Climb a Tree
Walk a Slackline

Watch Fireworks

Have a picnic lunch

Build a butterfly garden

Drink a slushie

Run a race

Make Smores

Pop popcorn on a fire

Catch fireflies
Eat watermelon
Lurray Caverns
Skyline Drive
Lake visits
Eat Crabs
Make Ice cream
Ride bikes
Creek fun
Camping party
Visit the library
Ice skating
Play tennis
Visit Harpers Ferry
Visit the Butterfly Gardens
High Wheel Race
Wooden Slide
Visit the Airport
Summer Concert
Outdoor movie

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 5}

Weekly Portrait Project is something we have started to hopefully keep up for the boys until they graduate. We will post a favorite picture of each of the boys once a week!

Weekly Portrait Project {Week 1}

I have been following the Solar family over at The Happy Family Movement. One of their weekly posts is a portrait project where they post a weekly portrait of their children. They are collecting weekly portraits for their children for when they graduate! I am not sure if I can keep up until the kids graduate but, I'd love to try. I think it's a great idea. So here starts the 1st installment of the Giggles & Grass Stains family weekly portrait project!! If you decide to join me post your link below, I'd love to see your photos!

Semi Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List #4: Fishing!!

The boys went fishing with their dad and pappy! They caught tons of fish!

I had to share this...it looks much worse than it was. He cried only for a little while getting it out. He was fine after. He went to cast his line and he did not reel it in before casting, it went out and came back at him hooking his face.  He was very lucky not to get his eye and it didn't hook in enough to make it bleed. He's a trooper!

Summer Fun doesn't have to break the bank!

Since making our Summer bucket list, I have had a lot of people telling me they can't make a bucket list because they don't have a lot of money to spend this Summer.

This Summer our family has decided to try and save as much money as we can. Last year, we spent a lot on trips, gas, and treats. We wanted to prove to those people it can still be done.

I have already mentioned some free programs and low cost activities already in the past month. Dig into Reading, Library visits, Park Quest, and Slip n slide fun. Some more that we enjoy are lake visits at a local State Park, Swimming, crafts, water balloon fights, playing in the creek, chalk drawing, park visits, free bowling, and so many more. There are a ton of ways you can still be budget friendly while having fun this Summer.

Last weekend, we tried out another free program for the first time. The Build and Grow program that Lowes puts on at their stores. They hold these workshops on specific Saturdays throughout the month. During your visit you are given all the supplies to make that weeks activities and a patch of completion. At your first visit you are also given a certificate, an apron and safety goggles. My boys had a fantastic time and were begging to go back. Everything is free but, you do need to go online and register for a spot at your local store.

My boys made a Monster's University wooden treasure chest. Then, they decorated them with stickers. Their chests both turned out amazing!!

Park Quest #1: South Mountain/Weverton Cliffs

We finally had time to go out on our 1st Park Quest of this Summer.  We chose the South Mountain quest that listed in the description, would be a 2 mile hike to the Weverton Cliffs. We were going with another family who also had a smaller child Carson's age. We were hesitant about making the full 2 mile hike up to the cliffs because we were told it was a hard hike. In the Park Quest book it describes it as a not for the faint and a 4 "Hat" difficulty. We decided we would hike to as far as we could and come back down.

We were pleasantly surprised by the young ones. They never once complained they were tired or wanted to quit. The older boys were super stars leading the way and even leaving the parents in the dust. The 2 mile hike taught us about the Appalachian trail, thru-hikers, about erosion and, switch- backs. The Cliffs overlooked the Potomac River, CSX Railroad, West Virgina, Virginia and, Maryland. It was such a beautiful view. 

We ended our quest with a trip to South Mountain Creamery which has some of the best ice cream! The boys both opted for mint chocolate chip while I got caramel sundae!

What a great 1st Quest! We can't wait for the next one!

Dig into Reading

Now that school is coming to an end here, we will be taking time during the Summer to keep up with our learning. We joined two different reading clubs to help keep the reading skills fresh as well as, reading independently and, as a family.

Here in Maryland, our public library has a program called Dig into Reading. It has a couple different components to it.  The first is to complete each burrow of 6 reading activities. Once finished and crossed off,  you can bring in your sheet and receive a prize. There are 3 rows of 6, resulting in 3 prizes.  Another component is, each participant is to try and read 600 minutes or more in 3 months to earn an additional prize. Lastly, there are 8 different libraries within our county. If each participant visits all 8 they will be entered in a drawing to win a grand prize.

Both of my boys are signed up for this program for the first time this year. We look forward to visiting each library for events/programs.  It will also be the first time Carson will have a library card! He is very excited to be able to check out books.

There is also a free program being offered through Barnes and Noble. Each child (grades 1-6) is asked to read 8 books and record them in their journal (downloaded) and to let them know to whom you would recommend each book, and why. Once you have done that, you can turn in your journal for a free book of your choice. (Off the suggested list)

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List #2 - Picking Strawberries!

Summer Bucket List: Slip N Slide Fun!

The weather was finally warm enough to enjoy some play in the water. It was humid and the kids were playing outside, sweating. I recently bought a Slip N Slide to try out and thought it would be a perfect time to try it out. We could also cross something off our Summer Bucket list!

The kids, and a couple of their friends had a ball on it, once we figured out how to get the slide nice and wet!! (Soap works wonders too! ;) )

I want to look into getting another one so they can race each other. (I am loving this one!) The one I bought was just a cheap one from 5 below. It ended up breaking at the bottom by the time we were done. We followed all the rules and limits but, I guess the kids were just a bit rough.

It gave us a good hour of fun with friends. Even I wanted to jump on it and try it. They should make these for adults too!

Park Quest 2013

Excitement has hit the Giggles and Grass Stains house! Once again we have made it in to the Park Quest Program that Maryland Department of Natural Resources puts on every Summer.

Park Quest is a free program where families sign up to participate as a team (Needs to be at least one adult and a child under 16) to complete at least 10 of 24 different quests at different State Parks located in Maryland. The "quests" consist of activities like, canoeing, how to use a compass, learning Maryland's history during different periods, hiking, learning facts about flora and fauna in Maryland and, so much more. They only allow up to 1,000 teams enter the program. Registration took place last Monday at 6pm and was filled up within the first hour.

We have participated in Park Quest for 2 Summers now. It has been such a fun way to get the kids active and learning during the Summer.  We can't wait to start again. We have decided to add some additional activities to Park Quest this year to really expand our fun.  We are even hoping to add a couple minor league ball games to our trips this Summer. Visiting some local ball parks we haven't been to yet.  Here's a list of activities we hope to do before during or after park quest this year.

*Make Team T-Shirts
*Start a Park Quest Journal
*Visit Local Ball Parks
*Go Geo-caching
*Collect State Park pins/patches

*Iron on patches/pins to Park Quest duffel bags.

Here's a couple pictures from our favorite quests last year! 

Do you Park Quest? What's your team name?

Our Family Summer Bucket List!

Every year we sit down together as a family and each of us comes up with ideas of some activities we want to do during the Summer. Then at the beginning of the Summer I try to plug them all into our calender with a back up activity in case of  rain or some unforeseen incident.Of course some ideas might not make it on our calender and, others not listed here might make our calendar.  Here is a copy of our list. Some are activities we did last year and, some are new ideas. I can't wait for Summer time to get here.

*Go for a hike                      *Make Family Park Quest shirts
*Take a bike ride                  *Paint a Canvas
*Go canoeing                       *Make ice cream in a bag
*Make Smores                     *Have a bike wash
*Tent camp                           *Visit a carnival
*Play in the sprinkler            *Use oil pastels
*Visit the Library                  *Family game night
*Start a Summer journal       *Go to $ movie theaters
*Strawberry picking              *Visit a nature center
*Go fishing                            *Fort Magic Fun
*Tour an ice cream store        *Iron on our patches to duffel bags
*Go to the beach                    *Sidewalk Chalk
*Go to the lake                       *Eat on the patio
*Go bowling                          *Go to a baseball game
*Have a picnic                       *Cabin weekend
*Have an Outdoor movie       *Ride a horse
*Go to the zoo/petting zoo     *Go to a new park
*Go to a pool                          *Eat Crabs
*Go to a Water Park               *Play in the creek
*Make a salad using our grown vegetables         *Go to bounce place
*Visit a Farmers Market          *Visit Grandma's
*Watch Fireworks                    *Slip and Slide Fun
*See a play                               *Go to a rodeo

** I decided to cross of the items we have done to see if we can complete them all!! **