Summer Bucket List 2017 – Update #3

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This summer I have decided to share our family’s bucket list (and progress) with you.  We might get around to everything on this list.  We might not.  All I know is that with each thing that our family is able to check off this list, we are showing cancer who’s boss (hence my unofficial title for our summer bucket list – – the “Cancer Can Suck It” list).  Click here to check out our other Summer Bucket List 2017 posts!

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last bucket list update post and we were able to get several things checked off our list in that time.

MAKE SLIME

Since I didn’t feel too well the week after my last chemo treatment, we did several quiet things at home.  One was making slime (which the kids have been asking about almost everyday since the beginning of summer).

I decided to try the slime recipe that uses Elmer’s glue, saline solution, and baking soda.  Since I had never made slime before, I wasn’t sure if this was a good recipe or not.  It was ooey-gooey enough for the kids, so I was satisfied.

MAKE HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

Another activity that we did at home one evening was make our own ice cream for dessert.  Since I am still debating if I want to buy the ice cream attachment for the Kitchenaid, we just made ice cream in a bag.  I didn’t love the recipe that we used…it had too much vanilla.  Once I try it again and tweak it a little bit, I will share a recipe with you.

The kids had a lot of fun shaking up their bags and feeling the cream mixture gradually turn to ice cream.  We did some mix-ins…mine was Butterfinger.  Yum!

In fact, my Butterfinger ice cream was so good that Ladybug not only ate half of it, the sneaky little thing found my empty bowl when I set it down to do something else and this is how I found her.  Licking the bowl clean…that’s my girl!

GO SWIMMING AT THE PUBLIC POOL

The kids have been swimming multiple times already this summer, but they had their hearts set on one public pool in particular.  They had never tried our local public pool and its water slide, so we were excited to find out that Mr. Blue Eyes’ employer had rented out said pool for their manager’s retirement party one evening.

The Professor and Mini-Me loved the water slide.  In fact, they spent an hour and a half going down the slide…over and over and over.  Since we had the place to ourselves there wasn’t much of a line for the slide, so the kiddos took full advantage.

As I mentioned before, this was the night of a big milestone for me (the first time my new body squeezed back into a swimming suit since my diagnosis), but it was also a big night for Ladybug.  She has been fearful of water for a long time now.  It has only been in the past few months that she will sit in the tub!  But for some reason, she let us take her into the pool at this party and she had a blast.  We had a very fun evening at the pool.

GO TO A MUSEUM

Just like the trip to the public pool, we had another opportunity come up that helped us with our bucket list.  The Professor is a Cub Scout, and for a recent pack meeting they did a service project at a local museum.  Afterwards, we stuck around to tour the museum and watch a raptor show.  The Professor loved the exhibit with all of the fossils, while Mini-Me loved looking for interactive displays.

MAKE JAM

Once I started feeling better, we ventured out to find some wild blackberries for jam.  After finding a blackberry OASIS (more on that here), we hit the jackpot and picked enough wild berries for a batch of freezer jam.  This stuff is delicious!

The kids had fun helping me prepare the berries for the jam – washing and crushing were their specialties!  I had to chuckle while I was stirring the pectin on the stove because Mini-Me kept asking me (while my hands were busy, of course) to fix the fastener on her apron.  The kids’ easy-to-use aprons are packed up, so they had to use aprons that my mom had on hand.  { If you haven’t read about the change I make to apron patterns to make the perfect no-fuss child apron, you can check it out here. }

So, with five more items checked off this week, we have completed 12 out of 30 summer activities from our bucket list. Almost halfway finished!  Here is what our list looks like now.:

1. Family Bike Ride

2. Make Slime

3. Go to a Museum

4. Go Swimming at the Public Pool

5. Visit All of Our Town’s Public Parks in One Day

6. Photo Scavenger Hunt  {Read about it here}

7. Water Balloon Fight {Read about it here}

8. Make Homemade Ice Cream

9. Have a Backyard Campout {Read about it here}

10. Go to the Movies {Read about it here}

11. Go Ice Blocking

12. Do a Science Experiment

13. Outdoor Movie Night

14. Go on a Hike

15. Ice Skating

16. Make Jam

17. Create and Bury a Time Capsule

18. Make a Fort (our little trampoline tent/fort might count…I’ll see if we come up with anything better later on this summer.)

19. Go to the Beach

20. Fly a Kite {Read about it here}

21. Go to the Zoo

22. Go Camping  {Read about it here}

23. Ride a River, Lake, or Creek

24. Take a Tour

25. Have a Family Read-Aloud

26. Go Bowling

27. Have a Good Old-Fashioned Picnic

28. Help Someone {Read about it here}

29. Movie Series Marathon

30. Active Game Night (Tag, etc.)