Summer Bucket List

So this is a big summer for the McIntoshes. Obviously my last post explained the big news that we have been matched with J - EXCITING!!! But this is also our last summer when all of our children are heading back to school in the fall. K & T are both graduating high school in 2013.  So when I got an email from one of my favorite blogs All For the Boys about The Happy Family Movement I thought this is just what we need - a summer bucket list. We will be having visits with J so we get to know him and he gets to know us.  We want to keep things as normal as possible so I'm hoping for some really great and fun things that keep us away from most of the Florida theme parks and to keep from setting expectations too high.  Honestly we usually avoid the parks in the summer months - too hot and too crowded.

As our girls have gotten older we have had to entertain them less.  K is very happy with a great big book, biking, or swimming. T is busy with her summer babysitting job, a week at camp and this year she is adding volunteering for the month of July. R will be attending Middle School church camp this year for the first time... "Mom, promise me you won't sign up to chaperone." I know she loves me. I know she loves me. I know she loves me.

But putting J into the mix this year will require an effort for more family time. It makes me think about when the girls were little all the days spent making play doh from scratch, making crafts and painting rocks.  They really did think it was fun to hang out with mom and my ideas (yes, painting rocks) were amazing. :-) They still enjoy our family game nights and family movie nights, we just don't have them as often as we used to. T spends a fair number of nights babysitting now so unless we want to start offering to pay her to stay in for family night I'm not sure we can compete with that. I can't blame her and I can't complain. As I mentioned before she graduates next year and every dollar that is banked or spent on her own clothes is helpful.

So I'm now inspired to return to memory making mode for the sake of J and what an awesome excuse to revisit some favorite childhood pastimes with our girls.  Of course new "boyish" games and fun times will be added into the mix. So I think I will revisit my Pinterest boards and create a new Summer Bucket List board.