What a year so far! I truly cannot believe it is the summer and we have already been at home for over 4 months already. 2020 will be known for the year of muddling through for sure. So we have finished home schooling, breathed a sigh of relief not to have people to answer to and lessons to juggle into our already crazy busy life yet here we are also staring down the barrel of more time at home. So much of the same right?
Make It Count
I have written a summer bucket list for a few years now. It isn’t usually extravagant and often full of the simple ordinary moments, mostly free or inexpensive but just a little reminder to enjoy that event. To be present, make time and make it count. Not to mention the simple fact of having an actual physical list for the girls to tick off or for me to refer back to when I either run out of ideas or the children say they haven’t done anything (you know the days when you thought you had birthed and raised grateful children and they act like that is not the case at all?) I now have the evidence on the contrary!
This year of course, whilst still in some sort of lockdown haze, will be even more stripped back than usual. However I still thought it was important to write one, if not even more important to ensure we all switch off, enjoy the family time without the big expectations or home schooling guilt and make quality time purely together.
We have also been sort of loosely keeping a ‘until tomorrow’ board (remember when lockdown felt like a novelty and we all took up these new things and then we just felt exhausted by life and they mostly all fell by the wayside along with PE with Joe? (sorry Mr Wicks truly it’s not you, it’s me)) so I thought adding some of those in was as good as a reason as any.
So here goes summer 2020 lets see what you’ve got…
- Visit a new National Trust (if we can EVER get tickets that is, like gold dust!)
- Toast Marshmallows
- Stargaze – Sleep Under The Stars
- Have a BBQ √
- Watch the Sunset
- Watch the Sunrise
- Climb a mountain
- Read a book together
- Summer Dance Party
- Make ice lollies
- Visit a waterfall
- Random act of kindness
- Bake cookies
- Visit Aunties
- Unplugged day
- Watch a movie at home
- Pillow fight
- Skim Stones √
- Pyjama day
- Play board games
- Take a road trip
- Visit a beach
- Swim in the river
- Pond Dipping
- Collect Shells √
- Have a water fight
- Spot shapes in clouds
- Climb a tree
- Make up a dance
- Wash the car
- Play cards
- Children choose dinner
- Visit a photobooth
- Make Pizza
- Stand Up Paddle Boarding
- Stay up late
- Camping
- Explore the woods
- Body Board
- Learn to swim
- Learn to ride a bike
- Go on a bike ride
- Fruit picking √
- Make mud pies
- Fly a kite
- Chalk art contest
- Plant our own vegetables
- Make friendship bracelets
- Sleepover at Grandparents
- Have a picnic
- Face painting
- Read a book in the park
- Write a story
- Splash in the rain/watch a thunderstorm √
- Paint our nails
- Have Fun
I am usually one to at least try and plan a couple of things or a holiday at least for the dauntingly long yet realistically short 6 weeks and I have to admit to feeling a little out of my depth with none of the above due to the fact not much is going to change from the last 18 weeks of being at home together. Though I do hope we can book a break for the 1 week that Eddy has off too. Fingers crossed for a quiet beach somewhere.
But I won’t let that stop me feeling like this is a new start, a light at the end of a virus covered tunnel and whilst it might look different, we still don’t feel fully confident to join others in their visits to places and there is still alot of unknowns at the end of that tunnel – is it the end; or merely a break as we are plunged back into schooling at home come a second wave! I will be positive and make it one to remember for all of us after the strangest school year and Roma’s start of her learning journey.
I know this summer will also be different for a lot of people. Some still going on holiday, abroad, making their own choices within the lockdown rules and there is no judgment here to what you feel is right for your family and circumstances. Right now for us it will be all about keeping it simple. Still mostly at home because that is right for us and because we are still navigating what parts of this new slow living way of life we would like to continue to infiltrate our ‘normal’ life. Trying not to rush back to an existence that is definitely the epitome of ‘grass is greener’. I don’t know about anyone else but I am hoping this is a catalyst to change in our way of living as a whole and not merely a blip we look back at fondly (or otherwise) as we return to a busy packed schedule.
This list is a guide, an ideas mat to inspire our next adventure, I certainly don’t feel the need to tick all of the above off, nor do I intend to!
I do however hope the sunshine returns and we did not in fact already have ‘summer’ in May! Ultimately I would really like to enjoy some time together, feel less stressed and want to look back and smile on the summer holidays that were.
And hey we got to the end of the year with at least a whole term at home, if that is not something to be celebrated I don’t know what is!
Happy Summer
