It seems everywhere I look -- including the handwritten list in my own kitchen -- I see a list of awesome things to do with your kids before summer ends, usually given a jaunty title like Ultimate Summer Bucket List.
Favorite must-dos that I see appear over and over again on these lists include:
- Catch lightening bugs
- Make s'mores
- Go out for ice cream
- Have a sleepover under the stars
I will note that these activities involve late nights and disrupted bedtimes, sugar overloads, and me needing to light a real-live actual fire.
In short, while these may be great, memorable activities for my kids there's not so much in it for me.
Which is why I've decided to spend less time making sure we check everything off a kid-centric Ultimate Summer Bucket List and spend more time getting to the items on my newly created Mom's Ultimate Summer Bucket List.
In no particular order, here are 20 things I plan to do before summer 2013 kicks the bucket:
1. Sleep-in to 9:00 a.m. Just once.
2. Pee alone. This includes not talking to me through the closed door.
3. Shower alone. Again, I'm not alone if someone is talking to me.
4. Drink one full cup of coffee, while still hot, completely uninterrupted.
5. Read a novel in the backyard hammock.
6. Eat a grown-up dinner at a nice restaurant with my husband. After 8:00 p.m.
7. Mother-daughter trip to the mall. (Note: the mother referred to here is my mom, and I'm the daughter.)
8. Eat hard-shelled crabs on the deck. With beer. Lots of beer.
9. Take a family hike. Bonus request: no whining.
10. See the sunrise -- by choice, not as an unfortunate result of getting-up with early risers.
11. Have power of selection over the TV for an entire night.
12. Ladies lunch in Manhattan with my mom and daughters. I choose the restaurant.
13. Mother-son outing to the dog park. Admire the canines, but none of them have to be taken care of by me.
14. Watch an R-rated movie.
15. One entire day when no one -- including me -- requests to use the computer or the iPad or to check "just one quick thing" on the phone.
16. Enjoy the sweet sounds of my children playing for more than 10 minutes before fighting ensues.
17. Visit our old neighborhood in Manhattan while the kids listen with rapt attention to stories about when they were babies.
18. One good celebrity sighting.
19. Spend a day at the beach and no one gets sunburned.
20. Go to sleep at 9:00 p.m. Just once.
What about you? What's on your Summer Bucket List?