As seems to happen every single year, the ‘end’ of summer starts to loom the moment we hit the first day of August. And all of a sudden, I realize that we’ve done very few of the things that I so optimistically thought we could do back in June, when the summer days stretched out ahead of us, looming emptily.

What I have to keep reminding myself is that a) there’s still weeks left of summer – plenty of time to squeeze in a lot of fun, and b) we don’t have to wait until the weekends to go do any of that fun stuff. I’m still so used to a ‘working’ schedule and have a hard time remembering that we can simply pick up and go just about anywhere within reason on any weekday as well. So, here are the things that I’d like to find a way to do with the girls before school starts again in September. Hopefully we can make as many of them happen as time (and finances) allow.

1) Swimming lessons. I’m kicking myself about this one – we usually do them in August every year, and I hadn’t signed the girls up yet because they’re expensive (especially with Becca old enough to take them this year too), and I thought there was one more session left for us to save up the money. I checked today – and the last summer session started on Monday. So I’ll check into other options, either at the Y or elsewhere, to see if we can still squeeze them in somehow.

2) Beach. Yes, I know – we live 30 minutes from Lake Michigan and have yet to actually visit a beach this summer. In our defense however, the weather hasn’t exactly been beach-friendly, and the water temperatures are still hovering around what I consider to be marginally swimmable. But I would like to still get the girls (and myself) there at least once – or at a minimum, even to the little local beach here in town.

3) Berry picking. I don’t know why this is so important to me – I hate berries. But Abby and Becca love them so much, and even Hannah had a grand time picking blueberries when we went a few years ago, that I really want to take them all out to pick blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries this year.

4) Vacation. Not a long one, but I would so love to take the girls at least somewhere overnight. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve even stayed in a hotel room at all, and traveling is an experience I want the girls to experience and enjoy while they’re kids. Ron didn’t travel much as a kid, and he hates traveling even now – one reason why we haven’t made it a priority up until now. But I think we could do an overnight trip somewhere fairly close by (maybe Chicago) without spending a huge amount of money. I need to research it a bit and see, but I think it might just be do-able.

5) Zoo. We did finally make it to our little local zoo last weekend, but it’s been years since we’ve gone to any kind of bigger one. I think we can maybe work this into the whole overnight trip idea, especially if we end up in Chicago or Detroit. I’d love to see some of the bigger animals, like elephants, zebras or giraffes.

6) Slip ‘n Slide. We have one, but have only gotten it out once so far this summer. It seems like either the weather’s not cooperating, or we have other things going on – but I want to make sure the girls have at least one or two (or more) more chances to get into their swimsuits and run around outside.

7) Bike Ride. Now that Abby can ride her two-wheeler and is getting more confident on it, I think we could maybe do a family bike ride much more easily. Hannah does pretty well either on her scooter or on her bike with the training wheels on – and we can hopefully borrow a bike trailer for Becca (since ours got ruined over the winter). It would be so much fun to start exploring the local bike paths!

Splash Park. A couple of years ago they put a little splash pad in next to the playground at a nearby park. We didn’t go at all that year, figuring that it would probably be really crowded since it was new. Guess what? We’ve still never gone, so I think a trip there is definitely in order, very soon.

9) Play dates. We’ve had a few already this summer, but I’m hoping to have a chance to get both Abby and Hannah together with their friends some more before school starts.

10) Fishing. This one is more of a Ron activity. He used to take Abby and Hannah fishing in the lake behind our house fairly often every year (our neighbors let us cross through their yard and use their dock since our property doesn’t actually have lake access). But ever since he’s had his current job, he’s just not home nearly as often and I think they’ve only gone once or twice in the past couple of years. Becca’s hardly gone at all and doesn’t even have a fishing rod of her own yet. Hopefully we can get her one and Ron can get in some quality fishing time with his daughters.

11) Birthday party. Normally we don’t make a huge deal out of Ron’s birthday, which falls on August 19th. There’s usually a joint get-together for him and his older brother, whose birthday is less than a week after Ron’s. But this year, Ron is turning 40 – so I think we need to do something a bit bigger and invite friends as well. I don’t know if it’s likely to happen this close to the big day, but I’d like to try and set something up, if possible.

12) Parks. Although we have been to the park fairly often this year, we seem to always end up at the same one or two of them, and by this point the girls get bored very easily with the same old thing. We are fortunate enough to have a good number of parks within close range, so I want to make sure to get to a few of them this summer as well.

13) Campfire. I don’t know how possible this one is, especially since Ron hates to camp, and I don’t think I could manage it alone with the girls. I haven’t camped in years (one guess as to why…), so don’t even have the equipment or supplies on hand that we would need. So in lieu of an actual ‘camp-out’, I’d love to find a way to at least have a campfire for us to sit around and roast marshmallows at. I think the girls are all old enough now to know to stay at a safe distance away, so it’s something that’s actually somewhat feasible.

So there you have it. We’ll have to see in the next month or so, how many of these we actually have managed to do. And some of them can still be done on the weekends, even after school starts, while it stays warm out.  I’ll keep you updated. 

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