Summer Bucket List Bingo Update #3

We're slowly making our way through our bucket list!

Over the past week or so we've crossed off:

Dinner at Five Guys! This was Nate's biggest wish for the bucket list this summer, so it made perfect sense to have it double as his birthday dinner! The kids absolutely loved it and are begging to go back.

Pretending to be sleepy :-P

Dewitt Park and walk to Blondie's for ice cream with our friends! It was a great afternoon hanging out with our friends Jess and Aaron. We don't get to see them outside of church that often, and we really enjoyed catching up with them. We haven't really explored this park before, and I can definitely see us coming back to explore more, especially now that we know the secret path to Blondie's!!!!

Proof that Ry will talk to Jess!!! He loves pretending to be shy around her.

Aaron playing with the kids

Family baseball! Okay, so I wasn't feeling well and while I technically didn't play, but I was umpire, so that counts for something, right? Pete and Ryan were on a team against Paige and Nate, and while we didn't officially keep score, it was a really close game. We're really looking forward to our bigger yard so we're not playing around our vehicles anymore :)

While we probably won't be crossing everything off of our list this summer (yet again), I have to remember to cut us some slack. We've been so busy with house things, but I'm loving how intentional we've been about taking time to fit in some fun things along with the chaos as well!!!

What fun things have you been up to lately?

Summer Bucket List Bingo Update #2

We're about halfway through our summer already, and we've been able to cross off more activities on our bingo sheet!

We did our play date square! Okay, so there's no picture of this, but the kids got to go hang out with some friends for a couple hours while Pete and I were at the inspection appointment for the new house.

We made cookies for neighbors! We made them for two of our current neighbors that we are going to miss terribly. However, we also made them for our next door neighbors at the new house! Yay!

Chocolate chip, peanut butter chip and M&M cookies!

We tried out the newly discovered play ground at the park square! We did this during one of our house showings. It had been rainy most of the day, but it stopped and cleared up nicely so we could burn off some energy.

Mason loves the park!

It was Mozzie's first time at the park!

We did fishing at Pete's sister's house! Well, Pete and Ryan fished. Nate and Paige chose to go in the boat instead ;)

Pete caught the biggest fish!

And Ry got to throw it back

Ryan's fish!

Fly fishy, fly!!!!

Paige and Nate with Pete's mom and sister

To see other posts about our summer bucket list (including the full list of activities), you can find them here.

Summer Bucket List

For the past couple of years, our family has made a summer bucket list of things we'd like to do. We don't have many rules about what goes on the list; we don't limit it to free or local activities, but as long as it is something we can all agree on and doesn't break the bank, it goes on the list :)

Now, just having a regular bucket list is all well and good, but we like to kick it up a notch and make it more fun and exciting: we put it on a BINGO board!

We always get super excited to get a BINGO, and when one box can make multiple BINGOs, that's just even better!!!!

Our goal for this year is something we have not been able to do yet: fill in our entire board.

It's a big challenge, I just hope we're up to it!

What's on our list this year:

• Dewitt Park to Blondie's. Our friend Jess mentioned that this park has a trail that leads to Blondie's, and what's better than taking a long walk and getting an ice cream all at the same time?
• Mario Kart night. A video game night of some sort always ends up on our list! This year the kids chose Mario Kart :)
• Glow stick bowling. We had this on our list last year, and we never were able to accomplish it. We have all the supplies still, so a free activity is a great thing to have!

• Camping. We've been meaning to go camping with our friends Stephen and Vanessa the past couple of years, but we've never been able to make the schedules work. If it doesn't work again this year, we kept it fairly general so camping in our backyard will also work for this square.
• Tim Horton's trip. We don't stop here often (unless we have a gift card or someone needs a donut after a shot/blood work), so this is a cheap and super special treat!
• Drive in movie. We LOVE the Silver Lake Twin Drive In, and I think we're going to go try and see Despicable Me 3 when it comes out soon! This is one of our favorite things to do during the summer, so it is a must for our list.
• Fishing at the cousin's house. Pete's sister and brother-in-law just got a new house last year, and it has a stocked pond. The kids love to fish, so we were invited to put fishing at their pond on our bucket list!
• Applebee's. We have a couple gift cards here, and it's the kid's favorite restaurant (and there's food I can eat there, too!).
• Game night. We love our board games! We have a closet filled in our play room and 3/4 of our coffee bar is filled with more board games. This is always one of the first things the kids ask for on our bucket list!
• Make cookies for a neighbor. I want to try and have the kids be thinking more of others and doing random acts of kindness, and this is a great way for us to bond as a family as well as think of our neighbors!
• Family baseball. This is Ryan's favorite square! He keeps asking to do this one, but it's always when we have someplace to go, it's pouring, or it is so humid out we can't breathe without breaking a sweat!
• Letchworth. This one was added a few months ago when I was thinking about applying to the Letchworth Arts and Craft Show in October. I have lived in this area for almost 11 years, and still have never made it to this park. It's quite sad. I'm hoping this will be the summer we finally go!
• Berry picking. This could be any kind of berry at any location. We try and pick blueberries every year, and we used to do strawberry picking. We love to take hikes in the Genesee County Park, and they have wild berries there, so we'll stop and pick them when we've completed our walk. Any of those can fill up this square!
• Buffalo Museum of Science. We went over spring break, and loved it! The kids can't wait to go back. We just renewed and upgraded our membership, so each time we go, we can take one extra kid. Pete and I will be taking Ry while Paige and Nate are at camp, so we're anxious to see who he chooses to bring along.
• Play date. We try to get together with Pete's coworker and her family at least once every summer, but we're also thinking about having the kids each pick a friend and having them meet us at the school playground as an option (or addition!) for the summer.
• Dinner at Five Guy's. Pete and I love this as a date night option when we have errands to run, and the kids are anxious to try it as well. This was Nate's #1 pick for the list this year!
• Bike riding. Ryan just got a new bike for his birthday, and all the kids want to ride this summer. We don't really have a place to ride where we live, so we don't really do it. Ever. So this would be a special thing!
• Movie night at home. Oh how we love these! Eating dinner in the living room while watching a glowing screen with moving pictures? Amazing.
• Fireworks. Last year we saw an amazing firework show at the kid's school for their field days, and we're hoping to go back again this year! If we miss it, sometimes we can see them at our house when neighbors put on a show.
• Make a new flavor of gelato. This is another favorite of ours! We have a gelato machine, and we love trying new recipes. Last year I think we did a peanut butter cup, a lemon blueberry, and peanut butter. So. Good.
• Geneseo Movie Theater. We have movie tickets there that were given to us, it's just trying to find the time and a movie we all want to see!
• Campfire cookout and s'mores. We LOOOOOVE cooking out over a campfire, and then roasting marshmallows afterwards for s'mores!
• Take Mason on a hike. Our pupper LOVES taking a walk, especially at the park where there's shade and a breeze, and the kids love bringing him for snuggles in the van on the way to the park!

If you're a math person and have tallied up how many things are on our list for our 5x5 BINGO board, two boxes should be empty. One just happens to be the free space, and the other one...well, we just can't decide what activity to put there! We have so many to choose from, and are really having a hard time picking from the list of other possibilities. 

Some things we have on the list of possibilities are:

• Air and Space museum in Washington D.C. We really really want to do this either on our way down or way back from the Outer Banks. However, we're not sure when Paige's middle school orientation will be, so once we know when that is, we'll know if we're going to be able to make this happen or not.
• Virtual Reality. Our library has this now, and I think it would be really fun to try as a family!
• Geocaching. Pete especially has wanted to do this for awhile, and I just saw that our county just set up a geocaching trail all over the county, so I think this would be a fun thing to try!
• Move. A lot of people suggested this one, and we LOVE this idea!!!! However, that's kind of out of our hands, so we'd hate for this to be the one square that would keep us from filling in our board!
• Memorizing scripture. Nate has been asking about this one, and we love this idea. But we're not sure what or how much we'd do, so that's the only reason it's on the back burner.
• Go swimming. We have a pool, so this one should be easy to do. However, it's either been too rainy or too cold, so we're not sure when this would actually happen!

Finding things to do that work with our schedule and won't completely blow our budget is what's challenging at this point!

I'll be posting updates regularly on how we're doing. If you want to do a BINGO board bucket list, this is the board we use (and it's free!). 

What would you put on your summer bucket list? We're always looking for new or additional ideas!

Boston Trip: Day #3

Ahhhh, the last day of the trip.

We were really enjoying Boston, but we were ready to go home. Everyone was exhausted, and our super loud crazy bus was sooooo quiet for the first hour or two that morning as so many people were napping.

We stopped for lunch in Cobleskill quickly, and then it was a quick drive over to Howe Caverns.

I've been in caverns before (but can't remember which one it was), but this one was a lot different than I remembered the other one being. We got to ride an elevator down to where the tour started, then started in exploring the caverns.

Paige really loved riding in the boat along the water up to the waterfall!

My favorite part (which I didn't photograph) was the winding way. It's a pathway that's 300 feet long, has about 60 twists and turns, and ranges in height and widths!

After the tour everyone was able to grab a snack or souvenir shop, and then back on the bus. A couple hours later we stopped for dinner, and then the last stretch home....which was not the smoothest sailing.

At one point of the drive we were in Manchester, and everyone was getting antsy and just wanted to be home. I heard a gasp, so I looked up at the people across the aisle from us, and they were all panicking and bracing against the seats in front of them. Paige and I looked out the front window and saw a semi truck riiiiight in front of our window, and thankfully, our bus driver, Ron, is the best bus driver in the world and got us to a stop mere inches from the back bumper of the semi. We all let out a sigh of relief, but then saw the semi pull off to the side of the road....along with our other bus that had been in front of the semi.

Thankfully, they only had a super minor fender bender, where our other bus was slowing down for a construction zone and the semi wasn't able to stop quickly enough. The back bumper of the bus was barely damaged from what we saw, and the semi was a little crunched. No one was hurt, but everyone was shaken up. Our bus ended up leaving the other behind while they exchanged information and filled out the police report, but they ended up not being to far behind us the rest of the trip home.

We were able to get back to school and got our things, then made the drive home. I was so excited to come home and see my guys, but both boys were asleep! Ry refused to wake up (they made me promise to wake them); Nate woke up, happy cried when he saw me, and then fell back asleep (and didn't remember seeing me when I asked him the next morning!).

I really enjoyed the trip, even though it was a lot jam packed into three days. Everyone was really tired, so there were some hiccups along the way with attitudes and tempers. Nate has begged me to go on his whale watch trip next year, and I am looking forward to it! I will be better prepared with what to expect and ways to keep kids happy on the bus or out and about in Boston, and just be able to really enjoy the trip knowing what to expect and take it all in better.

What is your best tip for traveling, especially with tweens? Let me (and Nate!) know in the comments below!

Boston Trip: Day #2

Well, Day #1 started out with exhausted Apps girls....and Day #2 started with super crazy exhausted Apps girls.

You see, I am strange. I never sleep well my first night in a new place. There's too many new noises, smells, the bedding feels funny...I just can't sleep. And poor Paige, there was another group on her floor of the hotel that made noise into the wee hours of the morning. Not much sleeping was done, and that makes for a difficult day.

Our morning started off with continental breakfast in the hotel lobby, but as they're working on renovating their tiny meeting/dining room, my group of girls decided to take their food back up to their room for some peace and quiet. I thought that was a great idea!

Shortly after breakfast came boarding the bus again to head into Boston for the New England Aquarium! Pete had gone to Boston a few years ago with the Science Club, and he loved this aquarium. Paige and I were super excited to finally get to see what the hype was about, and we were not disappointed.

Waiting to get into the aquarium

Outside of the aquarium they have a harbor seal exhibit. Some of them were swimming around and splashing, but we liked the sleeping lazy ones the best!

Inside, we went to the ray touch tank first. I guess I didn't know what I thought they would feel like, but they felt kind of squishy yet rubbery, almost like what I thought a dolphin would feel like. There were two that hung around us a lot, and we named them Flappy (because he'd flap and splash us) and Happy (because he'd act happy to see us there!).

Next were the penguins for my penguin loving girlie!

In the main exhibit area is a huge (and when I say huge, I mean HUGE like four stories high, 40 feet wide, 200,000 gallons huge!) tank in the middle that a ramp goes up and around so you can see all of the layers of creatures in the tank. They had so many varieties of fish and sea creatures in there, even some scuba divers cleaning/checking on the creatures! We spent most of our time here, so we weren't able to go see all of the tanks on each floor.

The top of the tank

We were under strict orders to find the giant octopus. It was Pete's favorite thing when he was there, so we had to find him and say hi. And goodness, were the octopi amazing! They were just sitting around, but, they were huge and gorgeous!

Octopus on the front of the tank

I also found this pretty boy; he loved posing for a picture!

We checked out the gift shop while we were there, and had lunch in the cafe. Everyone was getting super nervous for the whale watch at this point; we had to take medicine for sea sickness, and a lot of the kids (and even me) were so afraid of getting sick on the boat. A lot of the kids also had Sea Bands (Paige and I got some as well), and I had ginger ale, so I felt as prepared as I could be for the boat.

Finally, it was time to board our boat for the whale watch. It docks right next to the aquarium, making for a quick walk over. Paige, her friend and her dad (my co-chaperone) and I all went up to the top deck, but Paige started feeling sick almost immediately. I figured it was mostly nerves, but we went to the main deck and she started feeling better once the boat got going. Once the boat is out of the harbor, it goes really really fast! I'm glad we were told to bring sweatshirts, because boy, does it get COLD on the boat!

On board the whale watch, watching everyone outside of the aquarium

Some of our group on the main deck
looking down from the top deck

We drove out for quite awhile, and then stopped and waited for a whale....then drove a bit some more and waited....and still nothing. The crew on the boat were really trying hard to get us a whale; apparently their policy is if there's no whale, they give you a fee pass to go back on another watch. As that would be expensive for them to do, they do whatever it takes for everyone to see a whale!

About the time a lot of the passengers were feeling like we wouldn't see a whale, one of the crew members who had been telling us all facts about whales over the PA system starts yelling that there's a whale at 1 o'clock (they had instructed us on that 12 o'clock is the front of the boat, 6 o'clock is the back, so when a whale was spotted everyone would know where to look). And sure enough, there he was!

A little later there was another whale spotting at 11 o'clock!

And then again later at about 8 o'clock. I didn't get pictures of this one as it was farther out, but it was really neat. One of the ladies we were standing with spotted where a whale was in the distance, then Paige saw the spray, and then the crew saw it and alerted everyone else!

There had been evidence of a whale again, but we unfortunately had to head back into shore. Neither one of us got sick, and it was such an amazing experience!

Fun fact: there are four big engines on the boat. One of them can fill up the huge tank in the aquarium in FOUR MINUTES. That is craaaazy!

Once we got back to shore, we walked a few blocks over to the Quincy Market for dinner and shopping. We had three hours for food and souvenirs, and Paige and I pretty much hung out just the two of us for that time. We got smoothies for dinner (we weren't overly hungry), got souvenirs for us and gifts for the guys, and watched a street performer!

We were hoping for a slow trip back to the hotel as a lot of the kids had fallen asleep, but as it was after rush hour, we made it back in about 25 minutes. The kids woke up, and then it was pool party #2. Only two of my girls wanted to swim, so they went in and the other two visited and relaxed on the pool deck. After a short while, they all decided to go watch tv in their room. I went to our chaperone meeting, called and talked to Pete, and did lights out for the girls between 9:30 and 10....and then I passed out and barely moved until 6 the following morning! I was just a liiiiitle tired ;)

Day #3 will be up on the blog soon: the long and slightly eventful drive home and our stop at Howe Caverns!

Have you ever gone on a whale watch? What is your favorite aquarium?