Posts Tagged ‘kids’

Woot!  School is out and we have one heck of a Bucket list for this summer!  This was my first year with two of my P’s in school (sort of, P2 only went two days a week) and I have missed my daily adventures with them so we are doing it up this summer!

To make it officially a ‘Bucket’ list I found this cute little bucket in the Target Dollar section (if you haven’t figured out by now, I love me some Target and I love me some dollar deals!).  We wrote each item from our list on wooden craft sticks with colored markers. (I plan on doing something with the sticks after we complete each item, but more on that later).  I like this idea because it makes it easy to add more to our list later.

So….what are planning this summer?  Here’s our list of 50 fun summer activities!  (I have to say some may not be happening, there was a little bit of over immagination/wishful thinking going on when the P’s were brainstorming).

1.   Go to the Zoo
2.   Go to the Wild Animal Park
3.   Go to Seaworld
4.   Play in a splashpad
5.   Have a picnic
6.   Fly a kite
7.   Go swimming
8.   Go to the beach
9.   Camping
10.   Roast Marshmallows
11.   Have a play date
12.   Go to the fair
13.   Take a Road Trip
14.   Join a summer reading program
15.   Read 100 books
16.   Build a sandcastle
17.   Go to a Baseball game
18.   Play with flashlights outside (flashlight tag)
19.   Have a waterballoon fight
20.   Visit the tidepools
21.   Family bike ride
22.   Try a new park
23.   Go to the library
24.   Visit a museum
25.   Look at the boats
26.   Visit Coronado Island
27.   Watch fireworks
28.   Eat a snowcone
29.   Ride our scooters
30.   Go to the movies
31.   Have a BBQ
32.   Take a walk to look at flowers
33.   Watch the sunset on the beach
34.   Go to a waterpark
35.   Play putt putt golf
36.   Collect Seashells
37.   Bird Watching
38.   Feed the Ducks
39.   Make S’mores
40.   Go on a treasure hunt
41.   Go for a hike
42.   Have a dance party
43.   Make ice cream
44.   Take a boat ride on the sea (P2′s request…one of the one’s I think may not happen)
45.   Go for a train ride
46.   Make lemonade
47.   Climb on rocks
48.   Climb trees
49.   Check out some airplanes
50.   Have a bubble party

So what are your plans for the Summer?  Did you make a bucket list?  I’d love to hear what you have planned and maybe get a few more ideas for our list!

*****We’ve added more!*****

1. Go to a farmer’s market
2. Have a Family Game night
3. Visit a Historical Site
4. Visit a Farm
5. Dig in the dirt/make mud pies

As I was putting together our “Summer Survival” end of the year teacher gifts, I got the idea to put together “Welcome To Summer” buckets for the kids!

Today is P1′s last day of Kindergarten (seriously, how did THAT happen?!), and I since she was kind of bummed to hear she wouldn’t have any school for over 2 months, I think she’ll really enjoy her little gift.

I grabbed some fun stuff from the dollar tree and put it all into a beach bucket.  Nothing is very extravagant, just a few fun things just for Summer!

I wrote on the sand bucket with a permanent marker and inside I put some new goggles for swimming, bubbles, squirt gun, water balloons, a beach ball, and fun crazy straw cup.

Today is P2′s last day of preschool (he moves on to Pre-K next year) so I put one together for him, and I couldn’t leave out baby so she has her own bucket too

I plan on giving them their buckets when I pick them up from school today (and I just may have a car FULL of beach balls!) and we are heading to the pool!

What do you have planned for the end of the school year?  Any fun “Welcome to Summer” traditions?  I’d love to hear them!

Tomorrow, March 2nd, is National Read Across America Day.

National Read Across America Day is a nationwide reading celebration that takes place on March 2nd, Dr. Seuss’ Birthday, every year.  Schools and Libraries across the country will be be celebrating the joy of reading with fun games and activities and of course BOOKS!

There is know denying that reading is a gateway to learning.  When a child learns to read it builds their confidence, opens their imagination, and educates them about the world around them.  With a young reader in our house, and one that is right behind her, we are encouraging as much reading as possible.  We keep their books readily accessible in the playroom, take them with us in the car and to appointments for entertainment (thankfully my kids don’t get carsick), and read books to each of them, every night,  as part of their bedtime routine.  With Peyton in school this year (and Reading!) she has been doing lots of activities in her classroom and I am trying to incorporate as much Dr. Seuss fun as possible into our home routine this week.  Because, you know, READING is FUN!

So, how can you join in on the Celebration?

Read Read Read:  Early in the week we visited the local children’s library and checked out several Dr. Seuss books to have on hand and today I found that Target has their hard back, Dr. Seuss books on sale 2 for $10!  We got two more to add to our collection, Green Eggs and Ham (Peyton’s Favorite), and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.

Community Events:  Check with your local library, schools, book stores, and community centers to see if they have anything planned.  There is also a list of Events posted on Seussville.com.  Most Libraries and Barnes and Noble book stores host weekly story times for the kids, by doing a quick online search I was able to find several options for story time in our area.

Activities:  There are so many fun ideas over on Seussville.com.  Check out their activity section for lots of printable word finds, mazes, and color sheets.  You may want to jazz up your wardrobe and make a paper Cat in the Hat tall hat or cut out Stars to wear on your belly like the sneetches.  Maybe a Daisy headband to wear like Daisy Head Mayzie.

Fun Snacks:  You can’t have a celebration without fun foods!  Try one of these fun Dr Seuss themed treats.

• Cat in the Hat Parfait:  layer fresh sliced strawberries with vanilla yogurt in a glass.
• Cat in the Hat Kabobs:  Alternate Strawberries and Bananas on a skewer.
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish:  Colored Goldfish Crackers~that’s an easy one!
• Green Eggs and Ham:  Add Food coloring to your scrambled eggs, serve with ham, bacon, or sausage.

So before I say anything I just have to put this out there.  Does this stuff really only happen to me?  I swear I need a camera crew and my own reality TV show!

We went down to the Naval Hospital for P3′s 4 month check up tonight.  The doctor was running late, big surprise there, which put us over into dinner time.  The P’s were tired and hungry so I decided to treat them to Happy Meals.  There is a McDonald’s located in the basement of the hospital.

I just got a new double stroller so I had it with us.  It might be gigantic but it makes things a lot easier when toting around 3 p’s.  By the time we finished up with the appointment P1 was crying that she was tired and wanted to ride in the stroller and P2 was crying that he didn’t want to ride in the stroller and wanted to walk.  So naturally, I appeased everyone by putting P3 in her car seat and snapping it in to one side and P1 in the seat next to her and I let P2 walk next to me after finally getting it through his head that HE would NOT be pushing the stroller.

We headed out of the building and towards the set of four elevators in the middle of the courtyard, so that we could get to the McDonald’s in the basement.  About 15 feet from the elevators one of the doors opened and P2 made a beeline…he went in and the doors closed behind him!  I was in shock.  The woman next to me said I’ll go up in the this one and got in another one.  Meanwhile I’m still in shock.  A third elevator door opened and I get in with the two girls in the stroller.  There is another man and a Corpsman in it and all I can say is “my son!  my son got in the elevator and the doors closed!”  One of them looked at me and asked, “how old is he?”  I replied “almost 3!”  Immediately the man jumps out of the elevator and gets into another one and the Corpsman says “I’ll take the stairs!”  and bolts for the door.

By this time we can hear P2 screaming but can’t tell which floor he’s on.  All of us are peeping our heads out at every floor looking a lot like that game where you bop the moles on the head with that big mallet when they pop their heads up.  You know what I’m talking about?  Anyway, At one of my stops a man on the 4th floor yells “he’s up here!”  So we all head back into our elevators to get up there. I get to what I think is the third floor when my door opens and I hear the Corpsman yell “I’ve got him!”  My door closes and I’m heading back down, or up…I really don’t know at that point.

At my next stop the door opens and I see the elevator across from me is opening too.  There is the Corpsman holding my Bubba by the hand!  Mother’s instinct:  I run out of the elevator to get my little boy!  Guess what?!  The door closes behind me with my girls still in it in the stroller!!!!!!!!

Here we go again!  And of course we have no idea if they are going up or down but I can hear Peyton screaming “mommy!”  The Corpsman starts running up the stairs and I start running down the stairs while carrying P2.  Stopping on every floor to see if a door has opened.  I get to the bottom and there is a man and a woman (giving me VERY dirty looks) standing there with the stroller with the girls in it.  Finally we were all out of the elevators and were on ground level.

Needless to say, we decided to get in the car and just go through a drive through!

This is my son.   He is 2, just learned to potty by himself, and is very stubborn…Can’t you tell?

As some of you may know, there are two things that the commissary is full of: old people and kids, lots and lots of both of them…and apparently that combination wasn’t mixing well today!

Today, I had to run in for literally 5 items so I decided to let Peyton walk and just put Preston in a regular cart. If I was doing my normal shopping I would have gotten the big huge airplane cart that they can both sit in.

As we were in line to enter the commissary (yes there was a line, it was seriously that busy today-it didn’t help that the bus from the retirement community was there too) Peyton stopped behind me and was asking if she could go get a hand-basket to put some items in. Well as I was telling her to ‘hurry-up’ and get one that’s when it happened…

The grouchy old man behind us was very annoyed and said “I can’t believe that there are people try to walk here and you’re just standing there talking to that child!” I was speechless and let out an “oh, my god”, I was in disbelief! AND he continued with “oh, my god is right!”

My feelings were hurt, and my day was completely ruined (well at lease until I was able to get home, put Preston down for a nap and make myself an afternoon cup of coffee with Eggnogg creamer).

I’m sorry, but if you are that miserable of a person and you can’t be bothered by other people, you need to STAY HOME!

We started going to playgroup at a park on Miramar when Peyton was 15 months old. I can remember all the other moms laughing as I cringed when Peyton, dressed to ‘perfection’, in her Gwen Stefani Harajuku Girls sweat suit and white tennis shoes…after all that’s what any mom would dress their toddler in for playgroup, right?…got down and dirty, literally. She was covered in dirt in about 5 seconds. That’s when I knew my days of dressing up my baby girl were over and I needed to step into reality. My beautiful little girl was quite a ‘tom-boy’ and she was going to get dirty, whether I liked it or not!

Well, 2 years and a toddler boy later…I gave up! They are kids and what do kids like to do? Play outside and get dirty! Now I don’t cringe at the site of dirt, I actually laugh. And break out the camera to capture pictures of my kids in the middle of pure happiness, just kids being kids!