Summer is coming!

I had to chuckle that I hadn't realized how close we are to the end of the school year.  It wasn't until an old co-worker posted on FB that there were only 9 days left of school that it dawned on me that in just a few days I will have all three kids, each three years apart, at home again with me again all day for 3 months!  Holy buckets do I need to get some things planned out or we will all lose our minds!  Ha!

I'm so excited to go through the full summer here at our house.  Last year was so wild and crazy with us moving from our old house on the very last day of the school year and living out of a suitcase for the next 7 weeks until we moved here.  It's hard to believe that we are so close to being here for one full year.

Anyway, back to the three little people that I need to keep entertained for 3 months.  I'm so looking forward to not watching the clock and to have those wonderful, lazy summer mornings with the kids....but I know that I need to have some activities mapped out throughout the summer.  Here is my list of things so far -- some of these are annual events, some we have done once or twice and some are totally new.  I'd love to hear your thoughts and things you think I should add to the list.

• visit all the parks in our city - one or two parks a week and picnic lunch
• swimming beach
• make a tic tac toe board on a stump and paint rocks for play pieces
• visit the zoo and zoo farm
• geocaching
• Caponi Art Park
• Sculpture Garden and Sebastian Joe's IceCream
• Fort Snelling....I don't think I've ever been there
• Art Museum
• Minnehaha Falls
• Arboretum
• Shoots and Ladders Park
• Playdates with friends from old hood
• Hiking trails
• Weekend camping trips
• Visit to Island G&G
• Cabin
• Mini golf/go carts
• water park
• camp in backyard
• set up swimming pool / sprinklers
• make a water station using pvc pipes
• ride bikes to local farmer's market (tuesdays)
• Moms group outings
• visit the other libraries in the county
• swimming lesson camp
• golf with E
• see a movie
• go to a drive in or local movie in the park
• kids participate in a service project
• Explore local bike paths

And that's what I've come up with so far.  Let me know if you have other ideas that would be fun for an 8, 5 and 2 year old.