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The following post is from Amanda of OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids: The {Relaxing} Summer Bucket List

The week before my daughter graduated from Kindergarten (*gulp*), I told my husband, “I am so excited about summer because I want Lydia to stop growing up!” I felt like every single day last year, she grew up a little bit–with the new experience of school, reading, and friends.

I was just holding out till summer so we could have a quiet little respite to stop doing and learning so much and just BE. Of course, I don’t want a stagnant, lazy, couch potato summer, I just so want my kids to stay little. I want to see them enjoy home, their siblings, and their parents. I want them to be bored (yes, I do) and be creative in playing and entertaining themselves.

This summer, I have purposed in my heart to enjoy the lazy days of summer with a bucket list of activities!

So, here’s my {RELAXING} Summer Bucket List:

1. Go to the pool all day! (Pack a lunch!)

2. Have breakfast on the back porch, and don’t go inside till lunch.

3. Bring shampoo to the pool and wash in the showers there.

4. No extra ballet or sports classes.

5. No shirt, no shoes? No problem!

6. Have a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

7. Ease up on bedtimes.

8. Pretend we’re on vacation for the day and be a tourist in our own town.

9. Wear pajamas all day.

10. Have outdoor playdates.

11. Take a morning bike ride.

12. Don’t make any plans for the week.

13. Baths can be fewer and farther between.

14. Have my husband take half a day off and surprise the kids with an outing!

15. Get ready for bed, but watch a movie snuggled together on the couch instead of sleeping!

16. Do chores every other day.

17. Pack up all but a week’s worth of clothes.

18. Read.

19. Read some more.

20. Start a long project like redecorating a room, a family blog, a 1000-piece puzzle, or building a clubhouse outside.

Create your own summer bucket list.

It’s a balance because, at one level, I want to be the super-fun-mom who does every single thing on the summer bucket list.  On the other hand, I don’t want to have our days so full we aren’t actually being refreshed.

This 18 Summers post by The Nester has been in my heart and mind for a few weeks–I want to make the most of my kids’ summers. I want them to have adventures of a lifetime. But at the same time, I want them to enjoy the cocoon of home and family. I want them to have time to hang out with their siblings or connect with us as parents. Our kids thrive on and crave instruction, relationships, and time with us.

I want our summer to be empty of stress and restrictions but full of love, freedom, and laughter. For us, that means slowing down, stopping to smell the tomato plants in the garden and the bug spray on our legs.

How do you relax during the summer?