Summer bucket list

I love my lists. They make me feel accomplished and validate that I was indeed productive. 

Summer is not complete unless I get through my summer bucket list. So as not to be disappointed that I 'did not get to do enough', I make sure to get started right away. In Alaska, anything over 40F qualified as summer. In the Lower 48, I may wait until it is a bit wamer, but not much....there is just too much to do!

So what are the things on my bucket list? Lightening bugs and Shakespeare in the Park.  Ice Cream Cones, homemade popsicles and S'mores made in the chiminea on a random Tuesday night after dinner. Sleeping outside is a favorite - sometimes it is in a tent, but usually it is on my Romeo and Juliet balcony. Once I get started sleeping outside I do not want to move back in. Fresh tomatoes and basil, and dinner as many nights as humanly possible on the deck. Red wine in the Adirondack chairs on the front lawn making small talk with the neighbors walking their dogs.

No summer is complete without just one margarita. Occasionally I will make a pitcher of Sangria when I invite friends over to sit on the deck with me. Another guilty pleasure is going to Starlight Theatre to watch off-Broadway productions under the stars. Once a summer is my goal, but going three times (or more is ideal). We capitalize on the half-price military seats and can get the whole family there for next to nothing.

Those are the easier parts of my list. The next part of my list requires a little travel. So once a summer we load the dog in the back of the rig and take a road trip. I must must must swim the Delaware River at least once a summer. Being 'Up-Camp' is a genetic mandate and one I am required to instill in my children. I am blessed to know my, second cousins twice removed or third cousins or something like that, since I have been a child. And it all because we have been swimming on the muddy bank of Oliver's every summer since we have been born.

Most ideal is to spend a few days on Cape Cod with my other cousins. Now that is a real vacation! The water is freezing cold and invigorating. In the evening we return to the cape house for a New England feast while we watch the sun melt into the bay. I am not sure if we will be able to make that happen this summer, but I really would like to try.