Let's talk about goals...

...and by goals I do not mean lofty ones.

Hello, summer.

Let's talk about what we want from each other.  I need you to know that since I've had three babies in five years, it's been awhile since I've truly been able to enjoy you to the best of my ability.  I've been really pregnant, or a little pregnant, or hanging out with an infant for a few summers now.  Sure, there was that one year when Toast was about one and a half, but that only served to whet my appetite for more....more time outside watching independently mobile children play. More time not sitting on a blanket trying to convince a baby NOT to eat the sticks and leaves, but in the garden while they toddled around on the grass.  In short, I've been waiting for the summer where I (and my kids) had a little more freedom and independence.

So, summer, now you know why I've called you here.  Let me talk a little about my needs....I was inspired a while ago by this post written by one of my favorite bloggers, Ali Edwards.  She is calling her list a "manifesto", but I feel a bit more comfortable just calling mine a bucket list.  So here's what I want to accomplish with you this year:

- Take the boys for ice cream after dinner...do it more than once this year
- Plant a garden
- Eat outside as much as possible
- Enjoy all three meals outside: breakfast, lunch, and dinner, at least once (dinner's easy...the other two, not so much)
- Pick up breakfast and eat it at a park early in the morning one day
- Play in the sprinklers
- Go Up North. (Not a Michigander? Here's what that means.)
- Take the boys camping
- Swim in a lake
- Have cocktails on the deck with friends a few times
- Have friends over for dinner
- Take a long bike ride, picnic on the way
- See an outdoor concert for lunch AND dinner...picnic
- Sidewalk chalk
- Bubbles
- Catch fireflies
- Stargaze
- Have a bonfire.  Roast all sorts of food over it.  Share.
- Drink a beer with family around the bonfire
- Go to a U-pick farm.  Pick berries
- Make Jam
- Do more canning than last year....a tall order!!  But we loved it all winter!!
- Eat heirloom tomatoes warm from the garden
- Attend a family reunion
- Swim in a lake
- Swim in a pool
- Visit a splash park
- Take in a parade
- Go fishing
- Teach the boys a new outside game (freeze tag, red rover, kick the can, etc.)
- Encourage my kids to play outside as much as possible and get as dirty as possible


I've listed a few things that we've already planned, things I know I will cross off, but I didn't want to list too many things that were already in the works.  Examples: we'll be visiting Mackinac Island, I'll be running a 5K (*gulp*),  we're hoping to convince our friends to take us out on the boat as soon and as often as possible.  I also left out all the things we *have* to do: paint trim in the house, buy a new swimsuit, work with Toast daily on his letters and numbers.  You know, the things that will get done because they have too.  No, summer, you and I...our relationship is all about fun.  Nothing serious.  I know you're just a fling.  The thing is, sometimes a little fling is good for what ails us.  :)