Summer Bucket List, Week 8

We have a Summer Bucket List, thanks to Kelly over at Little Wonders' Days.  This is simply a list of fun things we want to do or accomplish this summer.  We just completed our eighth full week of summer.  


Our previous weeks can be found here: 
week one, week two, week three, 
week four, week five, week six and week seven.  


This week was a busy one.  The county fair was going on and we were busy preparing for Colby's birthday party.  


1.  Visit 10 parks to play and picnic:  It was a hot one (heat indices in the 100s) so I'm counting our trip to the fair.  We ate hot dogs and lemonade (care of American State Bank) and all three boys played on the playground.  We were going to try to picnic, play, and have a scavenger hunt at the upper level (and trails) of East Lake, but it was just plain too hot.  We did enjoy our picnic and play at the fairgrounds and we will have to remember that playground in the future.


14.  Creek stomping at my brother's house:  Well, we didn't hit the creek at Chris's, but Ron and the boys did go creek stomping near Winterset on their way back from retrieving the lawn mower Saturday.  They enjoyed cooling off in the water and discovered a walking stick that had been trimmed by a beaver--very cool!


15.  Homemade Ice Cream:  As part of Colby's party the boys made their own ice cream using this recipe.  It was so simple and I had nearly all the ingredients on hand (just had to buy ice and rock salt).  Very easy and very tasty!


18.  Wii night with friends:  Again, I'm changing this one from what I had intended when I wrote it.  Colby's friends cooled off inside during the party with a little Wii action.  They played Mario Cart and passed the paddles to give everyone a turn.  This was a great chance to cool off and settle down in between outside activities.


29.  County Fair:  The past few years we have only made it to the county fair during Family Fun Night.  This year I wanted to try to go multiple times, but the hot weather slowed down our outdoor activities.  We did make it for Family Fun Night and enjoyed the free hot dogs and lemonade.  The younger two boys participated in the Pedal Pull (didn't place, but had fun).  All the boys watched the Tae Kwon Do demonstration and then played on the playground.  I wandered through the arts and crafts displays and was so impressed with the talent in the community.  Someday I'm going to get around to entering some of my baking, maybe next year.  We did not go through any of the livestock barns (though, living in a rural community and in a farming family we have seen lots of livestock) because we were getting grumpy by the end of the day.


41.  Colby's Birthday Party:  Colby had five friends over on Saturday evening.  This was our first sleepover and I think it was successful.  We went to my parents' pond to fish and roast hot dogs and marshmallows.  The s'mores were a big hit.  We played Wii games and computer games to cool off.  We made ice cream to eat with the cake.  The boys slept in tents in the front yard.  I slept on the couch.  At about 6 am the boys ran into the house and up the stairs (the wind had picked up) and I heard them say that Chase was in here.  I had a brief moment of panic as I had not heard him come in and he wasn't on the floor in the living room.  However he was on the chair in the living room, fast asleep.  His mom had warned me that he had happened upon a Bigfoot program on Discovery recently and was a little worried about sleeping in the tent.  We had breakfast casserole and monkey bread for breakfast and then before long the boys headed home.  


Other things we did that were not on the original list:
*Family camping trip with Pack 101 at Nine Eagles (last weekend):  It was a hot weekend, but we made it (and I even slept in the tent).  The older two boys participated in the fishing derby and Braedon won a new fishing pole for catching the biggest fish (a ten inch bass).  This was his first event as a scout and he was all smiles.  The boys and Ron swam in the lake.  We had walking tacos for supper and the Webelos made McMuffins for breakfast.
*I took the boys to see Cars 2 in the theater on Wednesday.  Ron ended up getting off of work and joined us right after it started.  Fun movie!  I love our local theater.  It only has one screen and plays movies about 4-6 weeks after release, but it is owned by a local family and the seats ($5) and concessions are reasonable.  
*Friday Fun Tour to Osceola Vision Center.  We toured the local eye doctor's clinic and their staff treated us well.  The boys got to try out some of the machines.  It was a low key tour and I believe it will help the boys be more comfortable with they have to visit the eye doctor someday.  They have two parents and lots of family history of eye conditions that require glasses among other things.  So far the school vision screenings have shown no abnormalities though.  :)


What a busy week!  This week is not quite as busy, but busy enough.  It's also not supposed to be as hot, which will be a relief!