Well, today's the day!  It's the last day of school for the kids here. 

As I put the finishing touches on this post, my oldest is completing his final exams and my youngest is enjoying the school talent show. 

They will both come home with light backpacks, a smile on their faces and to our familiar family tradition of yelling "We're on VA-CA-TION!" as they enter the door!

 

I'm so excited about today's post!  For a few reasons -- first, we had a great time creating it and second, it's a post about SUMMER!

For the past few weeks, we've been working on our Summer Adventure List - a.k.a. the summer bucket list. 

We've created a list of fun things to do during summer for the past 12 years.  Once my oldest turned 4, he had a lot of ideas for things he wanted to do and places to visit during summer vacation.  About the same time, my husband and I realized that we wanted to experience a variety of things with our kids while they were still young.  So, we started our annual tradition.

Most years, we just have a list, sometimes colorful or worthy of a place on the fridge, but mostly it's just a list of fun things we'd like to do (along with a few new things to learn too).

But this year, we got creative!

 

Whether you're planning a trip to the Disney Parks or are just a fan of all things Disney, we've got some fun (and free) items for you this week!

 

In our house, the Easter Bunny is a really cool Dude!  He doesn't just bring jelly beans and chocolate bunnies but also some great fun & educational items that the kids just LOVE! 

Really - they spend more time with these items than they do asking me if they can eat just one more jelly bean.

Have you ever done something brilliant (I mean absolutely amazing!) but you just didn't realize it until years later?

I recently had one of those moments last month but it didn't start as happy as it ended.

Most people think of flowers and candy on Valentine's Day - but what your kids would really love is spending some time with you! 

Here are a few suggestions for spending a few minutes together during this holiday.

 

The countdown is beginning - how will you bring in the New Year with your family? 

Kids love a celebration (although most won't stay awake long enough to see the ball drop in Times Square) so we've pulled together a list of ideas to enjoy throughout the day!

 

So, you’ve got the turkey ordered, your guest list is all set and you know what you’re making for dessert.  But have you thought about Thanksgiving activities for the kids? 

Not to worry – we’ve got a great list of Kids Activities for Thanksgiving! 

They’re creative, easy & engaging. 

 

I love the month of November! 

 

I know that most kids think it’s just the time between Halloween and the beginning of the holiday season, but for me it’s a great time to be thankful for a number of things. 

 But I hope as my kids get older, they too begin to appreciate some of the following:

 

I am always looking for ways to make things a little less hectic – because I really don’t need one more thing to remember during the holidays (watering the tree every day is about all I can handle!).

So when faced with the decision of whether to allow a traveling elf to visit our house during the holidays, I had to say no!

 

Each year since my kids were young, we've celebrated 'Christmas in July'.  A fun little day when we forget about the heat of summer, spend some time together and make a memory or two.

 

Looking for some memorable things to do this summer? Need some new ideas on easy & fun things to do with the kids?  Try a few of these quick, FREE or low-cost, have-fun-at-the-drop-of-a-hat ideas:

Do you have a child who just loves trains? 

Or maybe you're one of those parents who doesn't mind getting caught at a railroad stop while the kids try to count how many train cars go through? 

Trains are a form of travel that we should introduce to our kids - real train travel! 

A few years ago, my family took a trip by train for just a few hours.  The kids loved the idea that we could all do things together (like visit the dining car for a snack!), had lots of room to stretch out and saw some unique places on the trip.

 

As a child, I loved the idea that 'little people' might be living in our house.  Books like "The Borrowers" and "The Littles" allowed for much imagination and creative thinking on my part. 

When "The Secret World of Arrietty" was released as a movie this past year (a film based on "The Borrowers" series), I made sure to dig out some of the old books that I loved as a child so I could share them with my kids. 

Here are a few fun ways to explore the world of tiny people in your own home: