Like we do every year, my kids and I have come up with a list of activities we hope to get done before the summer is over. We always tend to overshoot just a bit, which is fine, but at least our list gives us some focus on those days where we may not have a clue as to what to do. I love the lazy days of summer, but I love also having our bucket list to go off of so we can make sure to have as much fun as possible in the next couple of months!

You can check out our 2013 Summer Bucket List here and our 2012 Summer Bucket List here. We always carry some favorite activities over from summer to summer. Make sure to follow our Summer of Fun Pinterest boards too to see things that might get added after today! Without further ado, here is our Dine & Dish 2014 Summer of Fun Bucket List!

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It’s Summer Bucket List time again!

Our family had such a great summer last year as we worked through our first ever official list of things we wanted to do over the summer. Of course, after doing the first one we knew we’d want to do another one for 2013. So, here you have it… the Dine & Dish 2013 Summer of Fun Bucket List!

Like last year, I pinned all of our plans on to a Pinterest board. You can find our 2012 board here and now our new 2013 Pinterest board full of summer plans is here….

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This time of year is always overwhelming. I haven’t figured out a way for it not to be, yet. Don’t get me wrong though…I LOVE the holiday season! It’s the time of year where my mind starts racing and I think of tons of things I really want to do with the kids before it slips by.

I decided, much like my 2012 Summer Bucket List, I’d make a similar list for the Christmas / New Years season and then I thought I’d share it with you!

So, without further adieu, here are some of the things I’d like to do with my family this holiday season.

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I alluded to my Summer Bucket List in my last post. My Summer Bucket List is the list of things I hope to accomplish with the kids by the time school resumes in August. 99.9% of the time, I don’t accomplish most that’s on the list and then I feel really bad about it when they go back to school. (Well we do try to cram as much as possible into that week before school starts to ease a bit of my guilt :).)

This year, I decided to take things a bit more seriously and follow the lead of amazing blogger and mama, Amy Clark. Amy created a “100 Days of Summer” Pinterest board last year and I watched, enviously, as she checked the items off, one by one. She’s doing it again this year and I can’t wait to see all the fun she has with her kids.

I decided to make my own Summer of 2012 Pinterest board, thinking something more concrete might be exactly what we need to make the most of our time this year. My list is fairly large, and I can guarantee we won’t get everything done on the list, but I’m hoping we can cross a lot of the things off! So, without further ado, here is our Summer of Fun Bucket List for 2012.

• Go on a Nature Scavenger Hunt
• Go on a Family Moon Walk
• Make homemade Waffle Cones for Ice Cream
• Have a water balloon fight
• Watch the 4th of July Fireworks
• Make inexpensive chalkboard message boards for each kids room
• Have a neighborhood squirt bottle water fight
• Paint Rocks
• Teach the kids how to play tennis
• Go to a Kansas City T-Bones Game

• Make homemade pretzels
• Have a watermelon eating contest
• Have at least one date night with each kid individually
• Build an awesome indoor fort and live in it for the day
• Make artwork placemats
• Find a good book to read a chapter out loud of every day
• Make homemade Coke Icees
• Have an overnight staycation in our town
• Make homemade bagels using the bread machine

• Make funnel cakes
• Teach the kids to follow the FlyLady Daily Kids Challenges
• Decorate water bottles and drink lots of water all summer long
• Watch the sunset, preferably near the water
• Make and eat sno cones
• Make treats and take to the fire station
• Have an outdoor movie night
• Go to a production at Theater in the Park
• Make a PVC pipe sprinkler car wash
• Plan and do several Acts of Kindness for others

• Have a pajama day (at least one!)
• Take the kids to the Independence, KS park and zoo
• Make homemade musical instruments 
• Play flashlight tag
• Go on a road trip / day trip with no destination in mind
• Go to a small town festival in Kansas
• Visit the Omaha Zoo
• Go to the Tonganoxie Rodeo
• Go on a picnic in the park

• Go fishing in Iowa with the cousins
• Have a Shrimp Boil
• Go to Happy Valley Farm to pick berries
• Take the kids on an ABC Photo Walk
• Make a Cookie Cutter Bird Feeder
• Participate in the Great American Backyard Campout
• Play miniature golf in Parkville
• Make Flubber
• Make Glow Stick Lanterns

• Make Old Fashioned Egg Cream Floats
• Go to the Missouri State Fair
• Send handwritten notes to friends and loved ones
• Have the kids write in journals each day
• Create a summer music playlist and listen to songs from it each day
• Go hiking at Shawnee Mission Park
• Fly a kite
• Sharpie Dye T-Shirts

• Make and eat homemade ice cream for breakfast
• Ride in a canoe or pedal boat
• Make a jar and catch lightening bugs (then release)
• Have a summer solstice party
• Take a family vacation to Rocky Mountain National Park / Estes Park
• Visit my niece and Aunt and Uncle in Branson, MO… go to Silver Dollar City
• Have an old fashioned, outdoor play party – play Red Rover, Red Light Green Light
• Go on a photo scavenger hunt

• Make homemade, glazed yeast doughnuts
• Jump in puddles
• Make regular trips to the library and load up on great books for summer reading
• Play back yard frisbee golf
• Make word cloud about me portraits
• Find pictures in the clouds
• Paint with water
• Make Sidewalk Chalk Paint

• Make homemade bubbles
• Make water bottle bubble blowers
• Make and play Balloon Ping Pong
• Do glow stick lawn bowling, at night
• Make an outdoor Twister game
• Make homemade root beer
• Go bowling

• Make homemade popsicles
• Make Summer Sponge Bombs & play splash tag
• Do giant canvas finger painting
• Play hide and seek with glow sticks outside at night
• Go swimming at the pool as much as possible
• Go see a double feature at the Drive-In movie theater

and one final thing…

• Make an Instagram Photo Album at the end of the summer that captures all the fun we had, no matter what we end up doing!

Alright – that’s about it! There are some fun new ideas I’m excited to try and some tried and true fun summer favorites that we do each year. I hope you’ll stop by Pinterest and create a summer fun board of your own! Let me know what your plans are for the summer. Whatever you do, I hope it is a safe, happy and fun one!

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By the time my brother was diagnosed with cancer, he was too sick to be able to mark some things off of his bucket list. I do think he lived with no regrets, but if he had to do it all over again, I bet he would have not put off the things he “hoped to do someday” and instead would have embraced the opportunities as soon as he could. He wasn’t given that chance, but guess what? Each and every one of us do have that chance. I’ve partnered with the organization, Just Ask, to help you start thinking about what’s on your Bucket List.

Our friends at Just Ask want you to stay around for a good long while so you can cross activities and achievements off that bucket list of yours. That’s why they’ve developed a test that could save your life—the BRACAnalysis test—by warning you about your chances of getting breast or ovarian cancer.

My Bucket List

I plan to be around for a really long time, which is a good thing because my Bucket List is quite lengthy. Here is my ever-evolving, always changing Bucket List:

1.  Travel Route 66  2.  Go to the airport, buy a ticket to the 1st place that tickles my fancy  3.  Host a summer solstice party  4. Host a winter solstice party  5.  Spend one on one time learning hands on photography from someone I truly admire  6.  Ride a train through the mountains in Colorado  7.  Take kids camping in the mountains  8.  Own a house with a wrap around porch  9.  Own a house with a screened in porch  10.  Leave Kansas  11.  Eat bread and drink wine at a cafe in Paris  12.  Spend St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin, Ireland  13.  Take a road trip with no destination in mind  14.  Travel by car along the west coast  15.  Travel by car along the east coast  16.  Take more backroads  17.  Take a picture every day  18.  Have a vacation home on the beach  19.  Re-live our honeymoon (including our friends we met along the way!)  20.  Go para-sailing  21.  Be a mentor to someone  22.  Adopt a grandparent (spend time weekly with a local elderly person)  23.  Send someone a “just because” card or email each week  24.  Participate in more acts of kindness  25.  Significantly change someones life  26.  Take each child on a mom / kid trip when they turn 13  27.  Learn how to grow a garden  28. Go to Camp Shutter Sisters  29.  Become a runner  30.  Watch the sun rise and set in Maui  31. Tell the story of 50 people in 50 states  32.  Achieve zero debt… live cash only 32.  Achieve the art of taking really moody photos 33.  Vacation with my husband at a resort like this one 34. to be continued….

Now It’s YOUR Chance to share your BUCKET LIST and Win!!

My friends at Just Ask are giving one lucky Dine & Dish reader the chance to win a NEW Canon Rebel XS 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens ($650 value)!! Imagine all the bucket list crossing off moments you could capture with this DSLR by your side. To enter to win, simply leave a comment on this post letting me know the top THREE items on your bucket list! For additional entries do any or all of the following:

• Tweet the following: “Help #JustAsk & @DineandDish spread the word about ovarian cancer screening & enter to win a Canon DSLR! http://su.pr/1dXiCY”  Leave a separate comment on this blog post when you have tweeted.
• Become a fan of Just Ask on Facebook. Return to this blog post and leave a separate comment letting me know you’ve done that.
• Share this giveaway with your friends on Facebook. Return to this post and leave a separate comment letting me know you’ve done that.
• Finally… share a separate comment on this post with three more of your bucket list items!

There are more chances to win from Just Ask below! As for this specific giveaway, all entries must be received by midnight on Monday, November 14th 2011. Winner will be chosen via Random.org. Winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email or another winner will be chosen via random.org. Must have a valid email address to win.

Do you want even MORE chances to win?

You’re in luck!! There is more!  Share your bucket list and you have a shot of winning some truly bucket list worthy prizes over at TodaysMama.  The grand prizes are:

• A family vacation of a lifetime to Universal Orlando^® Resort.
• A Las Olas Surf Camp Safari
• Ski Lessons and stay at Park City Mountain Resort

After entering to win here, head over to TodaysMama and enter the grand prize giveaway!

I’m adding this post to the I’m Lovin’ It Roundup on TidyMom

This is a sponsored post on behalf of Just Ask. I have been compensated for my time and Just Ask is providing the awesome prize for Dine & Dish readers. All opinions expressed are my own.

Disclosure: This blog post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

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