Tuesday, May 14, 2013

To Do

     Last month, during my final week in Rwanda, the Evil Genius was on school vacation.  That Monday, those two twisted brothers planted homemade bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  My Personal Chef's office is within a few blocks of there.  Our home is within an hour of there.  Needless to say, it was a rather stressful week for my family.  The high emotions culminated on that Friday night.  While my group was flying from Africa towards the US, the bombers went on their internationally televised rampage, finally ending with one brother being killed and the other captured only hours before we landed.
    Because of the tension of that week, my son frittered his vacation away in front of screens.  No bike rides across town, no pick up basketball games at the park, no climbing rocks at the gorge, no trips to the ice cream shop or library, no hanging out with his neighborhood friends... nothing but sucking his brains out through his eyeballs going from the computer to video games to the tv.

   " Life is too short to suck your brains out," I told him.  So we started talking about fun things we like to do. We talked about fun things we used to do, but haven't for a long time. We talked about how there was no good reason that we didn't do those fun things.  And in no time, it evolved into a  list.  Now it's a work in progress that we are calling the Official Summer of Awesomeness To Do List.  It's been shared with the rest of the FabFam who have all chimed in their own ideas.  This past weekend, as my circle gathered to mourn the loss of our two dear friends, I told them about the list. We laughed.  We cried.  We laughed until we cried.  And we added more ideas to the list.

     And then this morning I read this:  Are We Having Fun Yet?  Lisa Rosenberg over at Smacksy has been right up there at the top of my blogger crushes for a while now.  And here she is confessing that she is as lame as I am?  Well, damn, if she and her friends need help having fun, then I don't feel so alone.
    In fact, I bet there are a lot of us out there who are scaling the mountain of laundry, but haven't made it to REAL mountains in a long time.  Or went on an actual date, because, no, going to the grocery store together is NOT a date.  Not even if you are married to a chef.





So, here is a sampling from my FabFam's list to help inspire you and yours to make your own fun:

1. See every minor league baseball team in New England play a game.
2. Start a "watershed moment"* wine collection with at least 5 bottles of great wine.
3. Take the Boston Duck Tour.
4. Start a garden gnome collection.
5. Have a meteor watching party on the beach during the Perseids this August.
6. Go zip lining.
7. Buy cowboy boots.
8. Take the kayaks on the ocean this year.
9.  Build and fly a really beautiful kite.
10. Sleep on a boat.
11. Skydive, because my Personal Chef promised he would.
12. Take the kids' to Niagara Falls.  Because apparently, the Evil Genius has ALWAYS wanted to go there.
13. Visit all those "we've got to get together soon" friends.
14.  Have professional family pictures taken.
15. Make gallons of bubble stuff and go crazy with giant bubble making bubble wands.




Right now, our Official Summer of Awesomeness To Do List has over 50 items on it.  Someone adds to it every day.  There are even dates scheduled for more than a dozen of them.  I'll be sure to share some of our stories.  I'd love to hear yours, too.  How are YOU going to make this the Official Summer of Awesomeness?



*wine that we set aside for toasting milestones and other great moments in the upcoming weeks, months, years such as Thing 1's acceptance in pharmacy college, Thing 2 starts his first job, the Evil Genius makes his first outfield hit, etc.

   

3 comments:

  1. This is great, Kristen. It's going to be a wonderful summer. xo

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  2. It sounds like you and your friends are gearing up for some great summer memories, too!

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  3. Me and dad HAVEEE to go skydiving. It is a definite.

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