I swear I've been sick FOREVER. It's been more than a month since I've put up any posts and it's because I've been sick in bed. I have a cough that just won't go away. And I'm all stuffed up. But, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend and the unofficial start of summer. So, that got me thinking about all the things I want to do with my kids this summer. I made a similar list last year but only got around to completing about half of it. This year, I'm hoping we can do the whole list!


Topping the list are trips to the beach and the pool. In the past, we've always visited the Outer Banks during the week of Memorial Day. But, this year we're pushing it back to August and staying for two weeks. One week with my side of the family and the next week with my husband's family. But, I would also want to visit a closer beach, maybe Ocean City or Rehoboth in Delaware, at least once before our Outer Banks trip.

We also renewed our membership to our local pool. We've been members for several years now and while my husband and the kids have visited regularly, last year was my first visit! I intend to go more often this year.

My husband had been talking about using this old dresser that has been sitting in the garage for years and turning it into a little container garden. I thought that was a cool idea. We actually started it this week and I'll have to put up a little post about it. I'm hoping that by growing our own fruits and veggies, maybe the kids will be more interested in eating them!

A surprise road trip is again on our bucket list. It's always fun to have the kids guessing on where we're headed and for some reason, they just love staying at hotels.

This year, we bought season passes to a local amusement park, Kings Dominion. It's about a 90-minute drive and with just two visits, the pass pays for itself. The park has things for everyone to ride, as opposed to where we had passes last year -- Busch Gardens. There, the roller coasters were too intense for my kids. I also like that there's a small water park within Kings Dominion that's included in the admission.

We ended up not using our ice cream maker last year. So, I definitely want to use it this year. At least once. We buy ice cream all the time. We should at least try and make it once this summer. It would be fun making our own flavors.

Last year, we went on a little picnic to a local park. The kids had a lot of fun doing this and I'm hoping we get a chance to do this again this summer.

Finally, I'm hoping we get a chance to visit at least some of the great museums and zoos that are in the area. The kids always have so much fun and the DC and Baltimore areas have so many fun places to visit. We just need to go!

What's on your bucket list?