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!