the summer list.

the 2009 version.

being intentional with our days.

or trying to be.

no one can claim boredom when there is all of this poster board of ideas to choose from...or can they?

they will anyway.

it's really a fun project to do together.

get your kids involved.  

ask what they really want to do.

it's okay to write down silly ones that may not ever happen.

who knows...last year "get a dog" was one of our never-gonna-happen things...

and now we have waffle.

i wonder what we'll check off today....

the 2008 summer list is here.

Comments

[PS~Erin]

What a great idea... Even though the summer is winding down, I think we'll make a "before the summer ends" list. Going to check out your link to the other list too. Thanks!

[Nancy]

Meg ~ email me direct RE: Chase Co.

3blondesandthelaw@live.com

[Nancy]

Meg ~ I see the Chase Co. waterfall made your list again this year. Have you gone yet? I still want you to do photos of my family at my childhood home in Chase Co. I have to be intentional...and make it happen. We'll be in Chase Co. on Aug 30....any chance you'd be available too?

[Marie]

We just did our own list and the kids loved it and are looking forward to checking stuff off...thanks for sharing.

[silvia]

One thing that i´d like to do this summer is fly a kite!!

[JOY]

Gonna Start my list now! Thanks for the great idea!

[deanna]

Here's my list add-on for the summer: I hope to have at least one organic bee hive thriving in my lavendar garden:-)

[Sally Ann]

Michelle, Quite awesome and inspiring, only a little intimidating, but yes, making goals for summer/year round inexpensive fun is very important--especially for grandmas! So my granddaughters and I spent a 'day in the city' riding the trolley; and the TRAM; (finally-third time was a charm--it had been closed due to weather and holiday--call before you go! But disappointment is part of life, too.) Splurged with Italian sodas at OHSU coffee cart; played in Jamison Park Fountain--in the rain. (Can't always wait for sunshine in Portland!)
My really fun project in the summer, by myself, is recruiting, interviewing and matching AFS host families to their peace-making ambassador AFS exchange students. Peace, person by person for Peace in our World! Everyone with a heart for peace should have "Host an exchange student" on their list of things to do! You can find all you need to know about AFS by searching for "AFS USA" Happy hunting!

[nisa]

This is a brilliant idea, life does seem much busier in the summer although the days are longer. I shall make a list also..so many dreams that can come true in time.

[turnitupmom]

I love that you can use this list as a reference when you hear those little whiney voices. I'd really like to stop by on your homemade ice cream day. What a fun family!

[Chaos-Jamie]

We made a list this year also, though it was late enough in the summer that I listed things we'd already done. (I need to feel successful, also.)

When you come up to Deanna Rose, give me a call. I'd love to bump into you there! You don't have to spend all day with us, I promise. ;) My kids will drag me off to another area after four and a half minutes.

[andrea]

I got here through the Inspired Room. Your list caught my eye because the minute I saw "Deanna Rose" on your list, I knew where you lived! Or at least close to it! I spent 7 happy years living in Olathe and spent a lot of time at Deanna Rose. Miss it like crazy! Thanks for tipping off a memory!

[Jocelyn Stott]

Jumped to this site from The Inspired Room and I love it. Your photography is beautiful!

In terms of your list - great idea. I don't have kids, but when I do, this will be a great thing to do. I noticed your number one item is "Worlds of Fun." I am from Portland, OR but I have family in Nebraska. One summer when I was about 7 or 8, we went to visit the Nebraska family. During the trip, my grandparents rented a van and we all made the trek to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. It was a blast and I have always remembered that as one of the best vacations. Hope you guys make it there this summer! Take care.

[Michelle B]

I bounced over here from Inspired Room. Love the summer list - I got to do that! Love your blog - very cute. Amazing pictures :)

[patsy]

this is a fantastic idea!!
I'm putting one together TODAY
thanks for sharing :)

[Karen B]

Oh, I forgot! When I was a kid (long before you) we would ride the Zambizi Zinger! It was the best!

[Kim]

This is great. My husband is from Olathe, so we will be driving out to Kansas this summer and doing many of the things on your list. I really hope my kids get to see fireflies. It is so strange to me that these little bugs I grew up with are so foriegn to my children.
Anyhoo...great list!

[Karen B]

Such a cute idea. What caught my eye first was "World's of Fun"! You must live close to Kansas City. Then the clincher, Royals game! Definitely. This great idea makes me wish my girls were little again. Sort of. Very fabulous and fun idea. Hope your summer is great! Karen

[lauren]

i LOVE this! my boyfriend and i make a summer to-do list also! it's fun to write down all that you want to do or aim to do and then get to check them off when you do em! so fun. hope summer is treating you well!!

[Rach]

My favorites are - Jump in puddles (which is so hard to do in LA), outdoor movie, and catch fireflies (again, hard to do out here where they do not exist). Can't wait to see the posts that document the completion of your list. So much fun!!

[michelle allen]

I LOVE your list!!! I really love lists in general but I love the way you write your list and the fun things that you include. You are an amazing woman Meg!

[kasey]

ha.
love it.
and look at you...i bow to you blog queen!

[Traci]

i just love your summer list. I remember it from last year and thought it was an awesome idea.

[alicia kristine]

you rock! I've been reading you for a while, never comment... admire the way you inspire me... and I'm going to get my old, delicious house one day;)

[Kristi]

I am so doing this this summer. love it.

[Angi]

We made a list this year...I copycatted (probably not a word) yours from last year! My girls have been having lots of fun with it. Thanks for such super ideas!

[Susan]

Did a list at the beginning of our summer (before Memorial Day), lost the list in the backyard somewhere discussing ideas, and am now happy to have made another list tonight that I'm going to post for safekeeping! Thanks for the much needed incentive to redo our list and refocus our summer.

[Steph @ Problem Solvin Mom]

I've been a total copycat ever since I saw your list last year - we do a much better job of making time for the important (and of course fun!) things when we have them written down and visible. I did one for Christmas last year too, made into a countdown chain with something on each link.

[Aubrey]

This summer I copied you (from reading other summer lists). One of our not-gonna-happens is "have Mom's baby early". It would be nice, but I don't want to spend the summer in the NICU. Hopefully the rest of the list keeps ME on target.

[Lori]

Great ideas as usual! Is it stupid to feel that this is so much harder with teenagers? I wistfully remember the cute things they wanted to do over the summer. Now it would probably include "see boyfriend as much as I can" (bleh) and "hang out with people other than mom and dad". Sigh...

[Debby Graber]

I had a coffee can when the kids were little and we wrote out ideas of "things to do" on little slips of paper and put them in the can. When the kids said "I'm bored" I would have them draw from the can. They could do what was on the list. They were not allowed to say they were bored if they chose not to do that activity.

[kate]

this is such a great idea. i have one for my summer on my blog, and it is a great motivator to actually do the things you enjoy.

and i'm definitely adding catching fireflies to mine now. can't believe i forgot that one.

[Gretchen]

Okay, that's it. You got me. I've been talking about doing something like this for the past three weeks, but I finally just pulled out the poster board!

BTW, I'm glad you mentioned that your dog is named Waffles, because I thought y'all just wanted to take a walk carrying along some waffles in your pockets or something. Which seemed odd. But who's to judge?

[Jennifer Dawn]

I do this every summer! Love it! Another idea is to put each "boredom buster" in a jar and draw one out each day. Each day you wait with great anticipation...What will we do today?

[simply stork]

what a great idea :o) we might just need to do the same.

~simply~

ps...love your dogs name :o) so cute!

[Tricia]

Love this! Tomorrow is the first official day of summer break. I think we will do this.
Thanks.
*Tricia

[LissyLou]

love this!

[Mary DeTurris Poust]

Hi. I'm a new fan of your blog. On my blog today, I linked back to you. I used your summer list to illustrate the post (with a link on rollover). Hope that's OK. Let me know if it's not. Here's the link: http://notstrictlyspiritual.blogspot.com/2009/06/to-do-list-worth-keeping.html

[the wild raspberry]

we went to deanna rose last week and the zoo yesterday {ugh it was sooo hot} but we had lots of fun!
xo
chasity

[tinycandi]

What an awesome idea! The girls come home in about an hour...I think we're going to copy this idea! I hope you don't mind! It's such a wonderful idea!

[Sheryl]

I just had to share that while I was going through my favorite new preschool blogs (I am also a preschool teacher), I recognized Annie on one of them! I finally put two and two together and realized this was your Annie's preschool! What a small world. And now I realize why you'd say that her preschool is wonderful. Wow, what an amazing blog her teacher has! Anyways, I thought it was too funny and wanted to share.

Sheryl

[Patti]

i'm totally copying your idea. hope you don't mind. that's a compliment, right? like on ni hao kailan - sing it with me... "when someone copies you, it just means that they really like it too!!" have a wonderful week! :)

[Anne]

I love reading your blog, you are such a creative and cool person/mom. I found you blog through an interior decorators and thought it was so neat, i've been reading all your old post. I don't mean to sound like a stocker, but I have found myself reliving childhood almost through your daughter Annie, because my name is Annie. I was born with a heart murmur, luckily after a lot of tests throughout life (i'm 24 now) and found out it isn't harmful. (I just have to drink twice the amount of water and stay away from unusually large amounts of caffeine) I had to go to the children's hospital in columbus ohio and was scared like she was..so many things about your little Annie remind me of myself.. especially the independence, and the nesting thing she does in bed! I don't know if that's a common thing or not but I still do it.

Anyway, just wanted to say hello and tell you again that you are a very creative and cool mom, if you don't hear it enough.

have a wonderful evening--Annie

[Jo Paulino]

I'm such the type of person that loves to have my goals set out in front of me, and I like this idea. I do the mini notebook, but I don't have it out in front of me! So creatively well done :)

[pve]

What, no fishing, no making of mud pies, no fort building, no skinny-dipping...shame on you.

[Jane]

I'm so glad you did this because Waffle is my *favorite* blog dog!

[Marjorie]

great idea!

[Starnes Fam]

Really cute idea. Fun to see some stuff we do, too....I always think blogger friends are in another world....and then I see stuff I know!

[Kelly]

Brilliant! My kids are still in school. They go to year-round. But their "summer break" (6 weeks) starts Friday and my list of things to do is long. I already have a boredom busters list to hang up in the playroom. I think I need one of these too!

[sassafrasanne]

what a fab idea. :)