My Summer Bucket List

Long before bucket lists became a cultural phenomenon, my daughters and I would plan out our summers by consulting with a family of bears.

I should explain that these bears live in a children's storybook called First Comes Spring, written by Anne Rockwell, which follows them through the course of a full year. For each season, we see a double page spread covered with darling illustrations, showing the bear family doing all the things they love to do during that time of year.

When they were very young, my daughters adored this book. We spent countless hours pouring over these detailed drawings, marveling at all the bear family's fun activities and seasonal pursuits.

After a lot of wishful thinking, we figured that what was good enough for the bears was probably a good idea for us too. Using these pages as a sort of illustrated bucket list, we used bear family's game plan to map out our own seasonal fun, and found it to be a fun and satisfying challenge.

Many years have gone by since we started this fine family tradition, and honestly, I see no need for change. These activities, simplistic and childish though they may be, represent the best of summer for me. I may take on more complicated projects, like ripping out my upstairs carpets or memorizing the countries and capitals of Africa. But if I manage only to accomplish this list, I will be quite satisfied with my share of summer fun.

So without further ado and just a few tiny tweaks, let me present to you my personal bucket list for Summer 2012:

go swimming in a lake

read in the hammock

mow the lawn

water the rosebushes

paint the house 

watch ants

buy an ice cream bar 

weed the garden

blow soap bubbles

buy lemonade from a lemonade stand

wash the car in the driveway

eat corn on the cob

cook on the grill 

go sailing

dry clothes on the line

play in a pool

camp out

play baseball

fix up the house