the 2009 version.
being intentional with our days.
or trying to be.
no one can claim boredom when there is all of this poster board of ideas to choose from…or can they?
they will anyway.
it's really a fun project to do together.
get your kids involved.
ask what they really want to do.
it's okay to write down silly ones that may not ever happen.
who knows…last year "get a dog" was one of our never-gonna-happen things…
and now we have waffle.
i wonder what we'll check off today….
castors - There are too many to do when summer days are coming, school is out and fun is in. Sometimes you just want to earn money with these extra time.
Walid - I have MANY books on my summer adneirg list I had an especially busy spring, and I have a lot of catching up to do!In no particular order:DEAD LIKE YOU by Peter JamesTHE TWO DEATHS OF DANIEL HAYES by Marcus SakeyTHE LAST CHILD by John HartLEARNING TO SWIM by Sara J. HenryTHE HELP by Kathryn StockettAnd several young adults:ROT AND RUIN by Jonathan MaberryTHE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES by Carrie RyanACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth RevisUNWIND by Neal ShustermanRecent reads:SPIRAL by Paul McEuenBURIED SECRETS by Joseph FinderDIVERGENT by Veronica RothAnd of course, I’ll be bringing LOTS of new titles back from ThrillerFest! Can’t wait!
Claudia - I’m glad others have ticoned this trend!! I was riding my bike the other day and it seemed there was a chipmunk every 2 or 3 feet!! I’ve never seen so many!!! and a coworker mentioned seeing many the other day .Interesting!
מאפרת - Wow.. Great list of the summer. I like planned and manage it. I like studying your posts. Stay up the good work!
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Briton - I shared the link to this post with the readers at alittlegreat.com. Great post!
Jacob - This is why i visit you site daily. Great read thanks. Incidently http://www.rapidmediafire.com has a similar topic.
PS~Erin - I just put mine up for this year, using yours for inspiration. Thanks!
Alisha - I found out about your blog from A Soft Place to Land. And I am glad I did. I just wanted to let you know that we made our own list…except ours is stuff to do before my son turns two this fall (A One Year Old Bucket List) You can check it out here if you are interested:
http://www.snugasabugbaby.com/?p=1139
Thanks for the Great Idea! I love being intentional about doing fun stuff.
Jodi - What a great idea! I’m doing this for myself. ;o)
Jennifer - What a clever idea! The kind where I go… now why didn’t I think of that? I am definitely going to do this with my kids. Thanks for the fantastic idea 🙂
Kelly G in ATX - Just found you through Clover Lane and I thought “take waffles on walks” was pretty silly…until I read that your dog’s name is Waffles. Our cat’s name is Snack. Huzzah for weird pet names and fun summer lists!
marlowe@comehometoroost.blogspot.com - So cute! Gotta try this with mine.
PS~Erin - What a great idea… Even though the summer is winding down, I think we’ll make a “before the summer ends” list. Going to check out your link to the other list too. Thanks!
Nancy - Meg ~ email me direct RE: Chase Co.
3blondesandthelaw@live.com
Nancy - Meg ~ I see the Chase Co. waterfall made your list again this year. Have you gone yet? I still want you to do photos of my family at my childhood home in Chase Co. I have to be intentional…and make it happen. We’ll be in Chase Co. on Aug 30….any chance you’d be available too?
Marie - We just did our own list and the kids loved it and are looking forward to checking stuff off…thanks for sharing.
silvia - One thing that i´d like to do this summer is fly a kite!!
JOY - Gonna Start my list now! Thanks for the great idea!
deanna - Here’s my list add-on for the summer: I hope to have at least one organic bee hive thriving in my lavendar garden:-)
Sally Ann - Michelle, Quite awesome and inspiring, only a little intimidating, but yes, making goals for summer/year round inexpensive fun is very important–especially for grandmas! So my granddaughters and I spent a ‘day in the city’ riding the trolley; and the TRAM; (finally-third time was a charm–it had been closed due to weather and holiday–call before you go! But disappointment is part of life, too.) Splurged with Italian sodas at OHSU coffee cart; played in Jamison Park Fountain–in the rain. (Can’t always wait for sunshine in Portland!)
My really fun project in the summer, by myself, is recruiting, interviewing and matching AFS host families to their peace-making ambassador AFS exchange students. Peace, person by person for Peace in our World! Everyone with a heart for peace should have “Host an exchange student” on their list of things to do! You can find all you need to know about AFS by searching for “AFS USA” Happy hunting!
nisa - This is a brilliant idea, life does seem much busier in the summer although the days are longer. I shall make a list also..so many dreams that can come true in time.
turnitupmom - I love that you can use this list as a reference when you hear those little whiney voices. I’d really like to stop by on your homemade ice cream day. What a fun family!
Chaos-Jamie - We made a list this year also, though it was late enough in the summer that I listed things we’d already done. (I need to feel successful, also.)
When you come up to Deanna Rose, give me a call. I’d love to bump into you there! You don’t have to spend all day with us, I promise. 😉 My kids will drag me off to another area after four and a half minutes.
andrea - I got here through the Inspired Room. Your list caught my eye because the minute I saw “Deanna Rose” on your list, I knew where you lived! Or at least close to it! I spent 7 happy years living in Olathe and spent a lot of time at Deanna Rose. Miss it like crazy! Thanks for tipping off a memory!
Jocelyn Stott - Jumped to this site from The Inspired Room and I love it. Your photography is beautiful!
In terms of your list – great idea. I don’t have kids, but when I do, this will be a great thing to do. I noticed your number one item is “Worlds of Fun.” I am from Portland, OR but I have family in Nebraska. One summer when I was about 7 or 8, we went to visit the Nebraska family. During the trip, my grandparents rented a van and we all made the trek to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. It was a blast and I have always remembered that as one of the best vacations. Hope you guys make it there this summer! Take care.
Michelle B - I bounced over here from Inspired Room. Love the summer list – I got to do that! Love your blog – very cute. Amazing pictures 🙂
patsy - this is a fantastic idea!!
I’m putting one together TODAY
thanks for sharing 🙂
Karen B - Oh, I forgot! When I was a kid (long before you) we would ride the Zambizi Zinger! It was the best!
Kim - This is great. My husband is from Olathe, so we will be driving out to Kansas this summer and doing many of the things on your list. I really hope my kids get to see fireflies. It is so strange to me that these little bugs I grew up with are so foriegn to my children.
Anyhoo…great list!
Karen B - Such a cute idea. What caught my eye first was “World’s of Fun”! You must live close to Kansas City. Then the clincher, Royals game! Definitely. This great idea makes me wish my girls were little again. Sort of. Very fabulous and fun idea. Hope your summer is great! Karen
lauren - i LOVE this! my boyfriend and i make a summer to-do list also! it’s fun to write down all that you want to do or aim to do and then get to check them off when you do em! so fun. hope summer is treating you well!!
Rach - My favorites are – Jump in puddles (which is so hard to do in LA), outdoor movie, and catch fireflies (again, hard to do out here where they do not exist). Can’t wait to see the posts that document the completion of your list. So much fun!!
michelle allen - I LOVE your list!!! I really love lists in general but I love the way you write your list and the fun things that you include. You are an amazing woman Meg!
kasey - ha.
love it.
and look at you…i bow to you blog queen!
Traci - i just love your summer list. I remember it from last year and thought it was an awesome idea.
alicia kristine - you rock! I’ve been reading you for a while, never comment… admire the way you inspire me… and I’m going to get my old, delicious house one day;)
Kristi - I am so doing this this summer. love it.
Angi - We made a list this year…I copycatted (probably not a word) yours from last year! My girls have been having lots of fun with it. Thanks for such super ideas!
Susan - Did a list at the beginning of our summer (before Memorial Day), lost the list in the backyard somewhere discussing ideas, and am now happy to have made another list tonight that I’m going to post for safekeeping! Thanks for the much needed incentive to redo our list and refocus our summer.
Steph @ Problem Solvin Mom - I’ve been a total copycat ever since I saw your list last year – we do a much better job of making time for the important (and of course fun!) things when we have them written down and visible. I did one for Christmas last year too, made into a countdown chain with something on each link.
Aubrey - This summer I copied you (from reading other summer lists). One of our not-gonna-happens is “have Mom’s baby early”. It would be nice, but I don’t want to spend the summer in the NICU. Hopefully the rest of the list keeps ME on target.
Lori - Great ideas as usual! Is it stupid to feel that this is so much harder with teenagers? I wistfully remember the cute things they wanted to do over the summer. Now it would probably include “see boyfriend as much as I can” (bleh) and “hang out with people other than mom and dad”. Sigh…
Debby Graber - I had a coffee can when the kids were little and we wrote out ideas of “things to do” on little slips of paper and put them in the can. When the kids said “I’m bored” I would have them draw from the can. They could do what was on the list. They were not allowed to say they were bored if they chose not to do that activity.
kate - this is such a great idea. i have one for my summer on my blog, and it is a great motivator to actually do the things you enjoy.
and i’m definitely adding catching fireflies to mine now. can’t believe i forgot that one.
Gretchen - Okay, that’s it. You got me. I’ve been talking about doing something like this for the past three weeks, but I finally just pulled out the poster board!
BTW, I’m glad you mentioned that your dog is named Waffles, because I thought y’all just wanted to take a walk carrying along some waffles in your pockets or something. Which seemed odd. But who’s to judge?
Jennifer Dawn - I do this every summer! Love it! Another idea is to put each “boredom buster” in a jar and draw one out each day. Each day you wait with great anticipation…What will we do today?
simply stork - what a great idea :o) we might just need to do the same.
~simply~
ps…love your dogs name :o) so cute!
Tricia - Love this! Tomorrow is the first official day of summer break. I think we will do this.
Thanks.
*Tricia
LissyLou - love this!
Mary DeTurris Poust - Hi. I’m a new fan of your blog. On my blog today, I linked back to you. I used your summer list to illustrate the post (with a link on rollover). Hope that’s OK. Let me know if it’s not. Here’s the link: http://notstrictlyspiritual.blogspot.com/2009/06/to-do-list-worth-keeping.html
the wild raspberry - we went to deanna rose last week and the zoo yesterday {ugh it was sooo hot} but we had lots of fun!
xo
chasity
tinycandi - What an awesome idea! The girls come home in about an hour…I think we’re going to copy this idea! I hope you don’t mind! It’s such a wonderful idea!
Sheryl - I just had to share that while I was going through my favorite new preschool blogs (I am also a preschool teacher), I recognized Annie on one of them! I finally put two and two together and realized this was your Annie’s preschool! What a small world. And now I realize why you’d say that her preschool is wonderful. Wow, what an amazing blog her teacher has! Anyways, I thought it was too funny and wanted to share.
Sheryl
Patti - i’m totally copying your idea. hope you don’t mind. that’s a compliment, right? like on ni hao kailan – sing it with me… “when someone copies you, it just means that they really like it too!!” have a wonderful week! 🙂
Anne - I love reading your blog, you are such a creative and cool person/mom. I found you blog through an interior decorators and thought it was so neat, i’ve been reading all your old post. I don’t mean to sound like a stocker, but I have found myself reliving childhood almost through your daughter Annie, because my name is Annie. I was born with a heart murmur, luckily after a lot of tests throughout life (i’m 24 now) and found out it isn’t harmful. (I just have to drink twice the amount of water and stay away from unusually large amounts of caffeine) I had to go to the children’s hospital in columbus ohio and was scared like she was..so many things about your little Annie remind me of myself.. especially the independence, and the nesting thing she does in bed! I don’t know if that’s a common thing or not but I still do it.
Anyway, just wanted to say hello and tell you again that you are a very creative and cool mom, if you don’t hear it enough.
have a wonderful evening–Annie
Jo Paulino - I’m such the type of person that loves to have my goals set out in front of me, and I like this idea. I do the mini notebook, but I don’t have it out in front of me! So creatively well done 🙂
pve - What, no fishing, no making of mud pies, no fort building, no skinny-dipping…shame on you.
Jane - I’m so glad you did this because Waffle is my *favorite* blog dog!
Marjorie - great idea!
Starnes Fam - Really cute idea. Fun to see some stuff we do, too….I always think blogger friends are in another world….and then I see stuff I know!
Kelly - Brilliant! My kids are still in school. They go to year-round. But their “summer break” (6 weeks) starts Friday and my list of things to do is long. I already have a boredom busters list to hang up in the playroom. I think I need one of these too!
sassafrasanne - what a fab idea. 🙂
rachel - Such a good idea, I’m going to get cracking and organize a list on Saturday which is the first day of my holidays….. roll on weekend…. 😀
Marcie Bowman - Looks like you’ll have a great summer!! I totally stole this idea from you from last year (and gave you credit). I think I was more into the list than the kids, but they’ve had a ball marking things off. Here’s our list:
http://marcie-bowman.blogspot.com/2009/05/summer-list.html
Just an FYI, I’m a friend of Frank and Amy who are friends with Russ and Jen. That’s how I’ve hooked up to your blog. 🙂
gina - Last year, I complied and posted this list of 150+ things to do in summer:
http://unpinklife.blogspot.com/2008/06/150-ideas-for-summer-fun.html
I then printed it out and crossed things off as we did them- the girls loved having specific ideas when boredom hit. Each girl also made a top ten request list off of the master list and I am happy to report that each one got finished -there were some crossovers;)- ! Being intentional makes even a lazy day of lounging around less “boring”- if you can cross it off a list when it’s done. 🙂
pam - deanna rose…across the street from me. 😉 come visit.
Sharla - Love this idea – thanks for reminding me and the inspiration. If you guys DO make it to KC this summer, let me know if a photo session up here would be possible 🙂
angela conklin - Love me a list!!! This is such a great idea. Is your goal to get them all checked off???
emily - this is such an awesome idea!!! we are going to have to make a summer to do list too!
Kelly - What a GREAT idea. Thank you for sharing with all of us blog addicts :).
Kari - That’s a great idea… I remember summers of things I watned to do but since they didn’t get wrote down they never happened! I love that you have Worlds of Fun… I miss that place! I know live right down the road from a Six Flags but nothing will ever compare to school and summer trips to Worlds of Fun, it was always the best!!
Shelane - so if you get a chance, can i get the specifics on the chocolate paint color in the bedroom? i’m a paint-color-loser and need all the help i can get.
great pics, btw. hopped over from calico
andrea d. - I love your lists! Were you able to finish most of the list you made last Fall when the kids went back to school?
Sharri - Love it!
adrienneK - this is such a neat idea! i will have to get our girls together to make one 🙂
Laura Phelps - we tried something like this once…we failed miserably. maybe this summer? we’ll see. I need to put “make the list” on my list.
Vicki Archer - GReat idea, fabulous list…but where to start…xv
Tracy - What a great idea! I may have to incorporate this kind of list into our summer as well – of course, ours will only be done on the weekends and my kids are both 15 yo instead of little like yours, so our list will probably not consist of “catching frogs” – *sigh* I miss the days when they were younger and more fun and less whiney! HA!
And, sad but true, we do not have a Sonic close to our house – which is unheard of considering that I am from the South and we had Sonics all over our town where we used to live – New Jersey is just a weird place, I guess! LOL Oh well… enjoy your summer fun and I can’t wait to see the pictures of all of your adventures with the kiddos! :o)
Lisa - YOU MY DEAR ARE AWESOME!!! DID YOU GET YOUR HAIR CUT YET?
HUGS FROM MAINE
Heather @ Cookie Mondays - Fun! We’re doing something siimilar. All of our to-do items are folded up on tiny papers and will be randomly chosen from a hat each day.
Kelly - a dog was on our “never” list too… but I wouldn’t trade this silly beast for ANYTHING. 🙂
Happy Summer to you and yours!
Cath W - My goodness! I stumbled onto your blog late last week, and every day since have managed to grab a few minutes here and there to keep reading – and I just finished all the way back to your first blog! This is the first time I have done this with a blog – I promise I’m not some weirdo stalker! I have thoroughly enjoyed it all, and have seen a lot of your kids in mine (Josh is Sean and Lucy is Talby, though she looks more like Annie).
Truly lovely writing – thank you so much.
Dina - love this idea! will work on ours this weekend! 🙂
Lindy @ Glimpses - What an awesome idea! You might need another sheet of posterboard though!!
amber - That is a great idea. I need to make one for my husband. Thanks for the idea!
purejoy - i wanna play too!! of course, i have an 18 and a 19 year old and am afraid most of our list would have a little *.
*not accompanied by a parent.
making homemade ice cream is SOOOOOO on my list! (raspberry white chocolate)
i’m so happy about your list. and that you followed through on last years and got waffle. the most adorable dog in the world!!
Kathy - Great idea and list! My 15th year old would only have two things -SLEEP and SHOP! Well you know your teen probably has the same list! Have a great day!
joy c. tilton - What a great idea, you are a super Mommie!
ali - We went to Deanna Rose a few months ago before it got so darn hot. Hope you guys had fun, we sure did! 🙂
Trina McNeilly - Can I be your kid? What a fun idea!!!!!
Cathie - love that you are doing this again
I have already started mine and hope to post later this week :o)
thanks for the inspiration again
Anna Marie - Worlds of Fun has a new roller coaster this year.
I really want to go to a Royals game, too. I love going, even if they don’t win.
Do you guys go to the Omaha Zoo? Have you been before?
Shannan - I have thought about your ’08 list so many times as Summer approached! I guess it’s not too late to make our own. Thanks for sharing.
momnipotent - This is a great idea – I think we’ll try it this summer!