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

Giggles and Grass Stains Family Summer Bucket List 2014

Our family is really excited about Summer. Every Summer we sit down and put together a list of things we want to do during Summer. If your from Maryland and live near Frederick we have a lot of fun day trips on our Pinterest page. Here is our list for this year!

Giggles and Grass Stains Summer Bucket List 2014
* Park Quest

* Camp in a Cabin

* Go to a Baseball Game
* Visit the Zoo
* Visit the Lake
* Tire Park
* Hold a Shrimp boil party

* Visit the Water Park
* Bowling
* Summer Reading
* Summer Concert Series
* Lunch at the Airport
* Pump it up

* Visit the pool

* Fishing

* Hiking
* Collect shark teeth
* Walk on the boardwalk
* Go to a museum
* Camping in Tent
* Biking
* Have a picnic outside
* Movies
*Outdoor Movie
* Make your own Sunday
* Carnival

* Make our own Pretzels
* Make minnow traps and use them to fish
* Canoeing
* Chalk driveway drawing
* Library
* Catch lighting bug
* Roast Marshmallows
* Flashlight Tag
* Learn new cooking techniques

* Camping party
* Tie Dye shirts
*  Take a special interest class

We will hang this list up on our fridge so we can add more and cross off ones we've completed! 

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Bucket List: Ride a horse!

One more off the Bucket List!! We went to a family member's birthday party and had the chance to ride a horse. Carson had so much fun! Conner chose not to ride the horse. 

 

Semi Wordless Wednesday!

This past weekend we crossed off another Park Quest. We also crossed off another one of our Summer Bucket List activities!!

Canoeing!!!

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!

Summer Bucket List #3: Library Passport

As I have mentioned previously, the boys are signed up for a local Reading program through the Summer. It is a free program being offered though our public library.

As bad as it sounds we have a library right down the road that we have never visited before. We used to be members at a library in another county where we lived but, since moving we haven't been to a library. We decided to take the boys to the local library down the street to get them their own library cards. We wanted to show them how to be responsible for the books and be rewarded by getting new books.

The boys learned where the children's section was, that they had fun computer games to play, Conner read Carson a book in a cool play house and, we checked out some fun books. I was very surprised to see that Conner wanted history books!?! He wanted to learn about different world history. No idea where that came from but, he is enjoying the book so far. Carson chose a shark book while, I chose him an alphabet book, counting book and, a shape book!!

While we were there we got our passport stamped for visiting the 1st of 8 libraries in our area. The boys also got to pick a prize from the treasure chest for completing their 1st of 3 lines on their "Dig into Reading" book.

They had a great time and can't wait to go back! I see lots of visits to the library in our future!

To read more about the program see my previous post here!

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!