Peavoy Summer Bucket List

With Bill in the production Les Miserables this summer we decided that we needed to do a bunch of fun stuff so that we wouldn't miss him so much. Some stuff he is able to join us for, but mostly it's the Boys, the Girl and the Mommy. The ones that are purple we have already done.

1. Make homemade ice cream in a bag. Here’s a great recipe! WE DID IT!!! So yummy, so fun. I thought I took pictures, but I can't find them anywhere! This is the first thing we did, so maybe I spaced the photo. Oh well. It was good. I suggest adding fruit or candy. Use the really good ziplock bags with a double zipper. Little kids hands get cold fast (okay, mine did too). Use a towel or oven mits to hold and shake. Ours took a little longer than what we saw on the website.
2. Make your own Bleach T-Shirts. Here is the tutorial (this is fun and easy for all ages!).
3. Make a bike obstacle course using chalk and other “obstacles”. Here are some great ideas to get you started!
4. Go to all the parks within a 10 mile radius and choose which one is your favorite. Make a “Park Passport” and check each park off as you visit it. We went with our friends the McKay's and Lindy had the idea to make this. She is so cool. You can see how awesome she is here or here.

5. Make a PVC Kid Wash and you will be the most popular family in the neighborhood! This is one of my kids’ favorite summer activities! Unfortunately it is near impossible to find the pvc needed here, so I might be bumping this to next year's list. 
6. Have a camp out in the backyard and sleep outside in a tent. The boys got to sleep over in the McKay's backyard. They had a blast.

7. Make homemade Popsicle's. Here is over 100 recipes!

8. Make nature bracelets- wrap a piece a duct tape around your wrist with the sticky side up. Take a walk around the neighborhood and stick leaves, small pebbles, sticks, and other treasures onto your bracelet.
9. Make your own Super Giant Bubbles and homemade Bubble Wands.

10. Make simple Indoor S’mores and your own campfire (there are even rainy days in the summer- this is perfect for inside or outside).

11. Host a neighborhood movie night. We combined this with the picnic idea. It was so much fun! The better pictures are on Bill's phone, but this will do for now. This was actually taken a few hours before the party, we had 18 kids in our living room, we added blankets and 7 adults.... oh and food. So Much Fun.

12. Paint the sidewalk with water! (This is great for kids of all ages!)

13. Host a neighborhood reading party and invite kids to bring their favorite book to read outside in the shade. Serve lemonade.
14. Make homemade edible play-doh. Here are 10 recipes to try out (and you can decide which one tastes the best!).
15. Have a “Movie Picnic”! See # 11 Liam is in the white shirt near the middle of the room. Look at his head. I tried to do a panoramic view, but Liam was moving.

16. Go on a “Stay-cation”- find a local hotel and book it for a night. Make sure there is a pool! We stayed at Daddy's hotel for a week! On our first night Liam fell on the pool deck and broke his tooth! It's all fixed up now! We are set for another "stay-cation" next week!

17. Put on a play. Make and pass out tickets for people to come.
18. Visit the pet store. Liam's favorite part was checking out the baby Beardies. (bearded dragons)

19. Become a Pen-Pal with a missionary or Soldier
20. Volunteer at a nursing home or skilled nursing facility. We sang "Come, Come Ye Saints" for a special Relief Society lesson, and then we went for a walk around the temple.

21. Play flashlight tag and night games.
22. Play Outdoor Twister. It’s not hard to make your own!
23. Have a cupcake decorating contest. Bake some cupcakes and then set out all different colors of frosting, sprinkles, and other toppings. Pick a couple of people to be the judges and have fun!

24. Make fruity Jell-o Roll-ups.
25. Run through the sprinklers. We set ours up on the Trampoline!

26. Wash and detail the car (which will probably turn into a water fight!).
27. Write a summer journal. Go here for this cute free printable full of prompts to get you started! I think this blog is becoming our summer journal! We are taking lots of pictures too. At the end of summer I will show the boys this post and ask them what their favorite parts were, and write them down.
28. Come up with a family summer exercise program and do it! Check out our 8-Week Challenge.
29. Make a “Dirt City”. My husband used to do this for hours when he was little. They would find a patch or dirt or sand in their yard and build mountains and rivers and streets and then use their matchbox cars, dinosaur toys, and other plastic toys to play for hours. Or just dig in the dirt. That’s fun too.
30. Make your own PVC Pipe Soccer Goal and plan a tournament. Yup, still have the pvc problem.
31. Go on Daddy-Daughter/ Mother-Son date! Let the daughter or son make the plans for the date.
32. Go on a hike. Look online for hiking trails close to you and in your level. We climbed Bears Hump! Daddy stayed with Rosena and Hyrum at the bottom.

33. Build a fort in your house out of blankets and tell ghost stories inside of it. We do this all the time, so instead we built forts out of our left over parade decorations and (almost) slept in them.

 34. Make you own Monster Puppets with interchangeable parts.
35. Have a watermelon speed spitting contest.
36. Spend a day at a National Park. Here is a link to help you find a park near you! We went Geo-Caching in Waterton! They let you use their GPS for free, and then you get a prize when you are done. We also did the Bison Loop and found a baby snake!

37. Call your grandparents and interview them about when they were your age. Share the information that you found out with your family at dinner.
38. Write someone a thank you note and deliver it (or mail it).
39. Have a Family Game Night and play board games or charades.
40. Have a sock puppet show (and make some of these cute puppets!)
41. Do a secret act of service for someone in your family.
42. Visit the fire department (and take them some cookies! These ones require no baking!)
43. Make your own outdoor obstacle course. Here are some great ideas!
44. Make a rain-gutter race track for Matchbox cars. Have races with different cars and award trophies.
45. Make a bird feeder with a pinecone rolled in peanut butter and bird seed. Hang in a tree and watch for the birds.
46. Do some Potato Stamping.
47. Go bowling!
48. Make your own Photo Booth, complete with props! Check out this fun post for tons of ideas.
49. Make your own telescope and look at the stars. Here is a great DIY tutorial that is easy enough for kids to follow.
50. Go fishing... oops. Same as 128!

51. Make your own treasure hunt. Make a map (burn the edges to make it look like an old pirate map) and show how to get to the “treasure”.
52. Visit a local splash park. Our closest one is in Waterton.... so we went again! We also went over to the beach and saw a deer. We played with our new friends, Adrienne and her kiddos.

53. Make your own bean bag toss. Here is a fun tutorial to make your own!
54. Have your own “Drive-In Movie”. Give each child a large cardboard box and let them make their own car to sit in and watch the show.
55. Play croquet. You can purchase a set for fairly cheap and it’s a fun game to play as a family!
56. Decorate your bikes and have a bike parade, or enter your decked out bikes in a parade! Instead we made our own float and entered it in the parade. Why ride your bike when you can ride a float?

57. Write your own book.
58. Make S’mores Marshmallow Pops- perfect for even the smallest kids to make!
59. Make a lemonade stand. Here are some cute printables for your stand!
60. Make a movie. Have someone record it and then watch it all together while you eat popcorn.
61. Play post office. Make your own mailboxes and write letters to each other. It’s fun for mom and dad to get involved with this too!
62. Bring Angry Birds to life with this life-sized Angry Birds backyard game! There are actually other things on this site that I would rather do.
63. Make your own pizzas. We like to use English Muffins and let the kids put on their own sauce and toppings. Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for a few minutes and you have quick and delicious dinner!
64. Make a necklace out of an old T-shirt and beads!
65. Go on an “Alphabet tour”. Bring a camera(s) and a notebook. Head into town and walk around. Beginning with the letter a, find something that starts with that letter (i.e. Adams Street). Take a picture of that item and write it down in your notebook. Continue with each letter and when you are done, each child has a personal and creative alphabet memory book.
66. On rainy days, my kids love using these Window Markers to decorate the windows. They draw pictures, practice writing letters, and play games. They have been a lifesaver for us!

67. Make your own kites and try them out!
68. Make your own glow-in-the-dark slime!
69. Feed the gophers in Waterton. We went with Arlene, Neil and Mattea, and also with our friend Jared and his daughters Chrissy and Aubrey. It was awesome both times.

70. Jump in Mud puddles
71. Go garage sale shopping. You can find great games, toys, movies, and so much more for great prices!
72. Put on a magic show. Here are some fun and easy tricks to learn!
73. Make a time capsule as a family. Put things in it that are happening right now and then open it next summer and see how things have changed.
74. Set up a “color corner” in your house and let the kids work on it all week (or maybe all summer?!).
75. Go to a Farmer’s Market. The boys bought Hotweels, a tutu fro Rosena, a pot scrubber for Mommy, and a yummy baked treat to share with Daddy.

76. Plan and perform in a talent show. Invite friends and family to participate. We participated in a talent show, and we have future plans to at our family reunion. We used our phone to play music for Liam's dance and didn't take pictures. Bummer.
77. Have a Hula-Hoop contest (I loved when we did this as a family growing up- my dad was the funniest to watch!)
78. Make your own Bathtime Puffy Paints.
79. Plan a picnic/tea party for all your dolls and stuffed animals.
80. Bury little plastic army men (you can get them at the dollar store) and little plastic animals in the dirt or sand, then let the kids dig to find them.
81. Put together your own joke book. Here are some fun jokes to get you started!
82. Make these Sponge Balls and then play Sponge Ball tag (great alternative to a water fight!).
83. Make a collage using pictures from magazines.
84. Have a backwards day- breakfast for dinner, dinner for breakfast, dessert before your meal, wear your clothes backwards, etc.
85. Go collect rocks and then come back and paint them; make them into Rock People! Add googly eyes and yarn hair.
86. Play hopscotch. Here is the way to draw the perfect hopscotch!
87. Make your own melted crayons.
88. Paint bag writing.
89. Make these popsicles

90. Make these strawberries.
91. Make this  ball maze.
92. Visit the library. Most local libraries have summer reading programs, special craft project times, puppet shows, teen clubs, and other fun things organized specially for the summer. Check the schedule at a library near you.
93. Build with Lego. Kids can build free-form projects, or modern art pieces. If they run out of ideas, challenge them to build a spaceship, a plant, or a robot. We've all been building with Lego since we could hold up a 2×4 brick. Give them a tub of Lego and let them go.
94. Experiment with cooking. Even very young children can try their hand at cooking or baking. They can help to measure ingredients, stir, and arrange the final result. Older kids can cook on the stove, or use the oven. Contributing to the family meal is a very rewarding experience for kids of all ages. And the more that they learn how to do, the more they can help out on a regular basis.

95. Throw a BYOB party. This is cheap, imagination-driven fun. You wield cutting implements and supply lots of tape. Guests are charged with one simple task: Bring. Your. Own. Box. Together kids can construct a fort or spaceship or whatever they please out of the boxes, then spend hours playing in it. There are plenty of other ways to amuse kids with cardboard boxes too.
96. Take late-night walks. Kids enjoy this even more when they are in charge of the flashlights. The boys walked with Grandma around the temple. It was very dark when they got back.

97. Make shuttle launchers using an empty plastic bottle, tape, and paper.
98. Make a squishy, water-filled play mat for cool sensory fun.
99. Make tin can lanterns
100. Write postcards to your friends/family and mail them
101. Make soap with the boys, for the boys.
102. Send kids a handmade card in the mail with a coupon to go get ice cream with you.
103. Gather all the home movies that feature them as the “star” and have a movie night complete with popcorn and treats.
104. Write them a poem using the initials of their name.
105. Make tye dyed t-shirts

106. Make freezer jam
107. Go mini golfing

108. Roast hot dogs and marshmallows in a fire pit

109. Glow in the Dark outdoor bowling
110. Huge painting canvas
111. Water balloon fight. We found out that our new faucet isn't water balloon friendly, and the water balloons broke when we tried to fill them with the hose, but we got wet anyways!

112. Berry picking, we've picked strawberries from our own garden, but we still want to go to a big U-pick.

113. Make butter
114. Make little boy busy board
115. Bath tub paints – Fill a muffin tin with shaving cream. Put food coloring in each cup, mix it up. Use paint brushes or your fingers. These were fun and did not stain the tub. They did make the boys skin turn a little red, but it was gone within a day.

116. Make ice treasures - Freeze little dollar store toys in water. On a hot day put them on the lawn and give the boys little hammers and shovels and stuff to get them out. Straws for blowing, screw drivers, etc.

117. Let the boys shave with shaving cream and popsicle sticks
118. Edible finger paint – Fill a muffin tin with whipped cream. Put food coloring in each cup, mix it up. Use paint brushes or your fingers outside on butcher paper.
119. Snail mail – write /draw letters and pictures and send them to cousins far away.
120. Spray bottle water fight

121. Make jolly rancher suckers. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Put three jolly ranchers together spaced horizontally about ½ an inch apart. Repeat spacing about two inches apart. Bake at 200 degrees for five minutes. When still hot insert sucker sticks and then let harden.
122. Faries in a jar. Put water, a broken glowstick and sparkles in a jar. Shake and play in the dark. We didn't break the stick, we just threw it in the jar. Still cool.

123. Give each boy two dollars, and a brothers name, let them buy a toy at the dollar store for their brother. Instead we let the big boys go on an adventure to the dollar store by themselves, they bought toys for everyone to share, including musical instruments.
124. Camping

125. Jump off Beazer Creek Bridge - we went to Beazer creek but we haven't jumped off the bridge yet. The water was to cold!
126. Go to Wally's Beach. We went with our friends The McKays, Amy and her adorable baby Elora (here with Liam), and Stuart (he's holding Elora). 

We went again with The McKay's and the Blackmore's.

"Oh hello, I love you!"

127. Go to Daddy's Play - We went and it was amazing!!!! He plays Javert in Les Miserables.

  

Obi and I went on another night.

128. Go Fishing!

129. Make a bubble big enough to walk in!
130. Fathers and Son's camp.

131. Canada Day Parade and Fireworks! We went to the Raymond Parade.

 Great Grandma was on a float, she let the boys ride home with her.

 We had a bbq, and road on our own float. We sang O Canada and drove around Raymond!

 Happy Canada Day from Rosie!

 Waiting in line for Canada Day's "Boot Camp" at Party in the Park.

 Cardston Fireworks! Dad had to go to work, but he helped us get settled in with all our glow sticks and cookies!

132. Heritage Day Parade and Fireworks! Can't Wait! We like to watch from our front lawn! Or, we can just be in it!

133. Heritage Day Pancake Breakfast! Rosena finally met Doctor Clark!

 134. Heritage Day Pet Show. Spike the Bearded Dragon took first place in both of his catagories! Way to go Liam and Spike!

 135. Demolition Derby!

We witnessed an accident right in front of us on the way home and had to give our testimony to the Police.

136. Have a picnic at the park. We took our trusty picnic blanket and had a delicious lunch of chicken salad sandwiches. We even had ants!

137. Picnic on the Temple Lawn.

138. Sleep on trampoline. It was the perfect night for sleeping outside because there was a meteor shower!

139. Play at Henderson Park.

140. Check out 15 passenger vans. We might even buy one soon. The boys say they would rather buy a 15 passenger van and drive to their cousins house in Ontario for Christmas than get presents. Mostly, they just all want their own benches.

I will be adding pictures of our activities all summer!