Summer Bucket List Wrap-Up

I can't believe it's Labor Day weekend- the official end of summer. It's the last day of August. Tomorrow is September! I'm a little sad (the summer went quickly, and when summer is over it's hard to not think about how frigid cold is just around the corner), but I think I'm ready for a change of season. I definitely helps that I LOVE fall.

As you recall, I set out a Summer Bucket List at the beginning of the summer. I don't think I mentioned it at the time, but the list was certainly not an exhaustive list of all the must do things for the summer (if it was it would have included a trip to the State Fair, Renaissance Fest, a trip or two to our favorite lakes, etc.). This was simply a list of NEW things to do...things I haven't done in a long time...or haven't EVER done that I've wanted to do for awhile.

As much as I HATE to say this (overachiever here), I didn't quite finish my list. I missed two items...one completely...one less so (keep reading). Here's where everything ended up...

1. Stand-up Paddleboarding Hooray! This is in the green. I tried stand-up paddleboarding with the WOWZAs as part of our cabin weekend. Even with a little "incident," I had a great time. I hope to try it again next summer...and maybe even get my own some day!
2. Go to AT LEAST one parade Another one in the green! We went to two parades this summer - the Edina parade on the 4th of July and the Art Car Parade by Lake Harriet. Read more about the experiences here and here. 
3. Eat at Sea Salt This one made it into the green, but just barely. Stay tuned for a full report.
4. Eat at Sand Castle We enjoyed a rather impromptu family dinner at Sand Castle a few weeks ago. Read about it here. 
5. Family trip to a Twins game This was a highlight of the summer for me. We took Linnea to her first Twins game in the middle of July and we had so. much. fun. Linnea exceeded our expectations of her, and genuinely enjoyed the whole experience. Here's a recap. Here's to many more years of family trips to the ballpark!
6. Bike to ice cream - at least once or twice We made it twice, I believe - both times just to Dairy Queen. I wish we would have gone further...or to someplace a little nicer, but we still had fun. And hey, there's always next summer, right? Read about one of our trips here. I hope to post about the other one at some point, but haven't yet. 
7. Go to at least one Tuesday Music Nights at the MN History Center  Here's where we go a bit down hill...and I'll explain why I'm marking it as yellow. So mid-August the Okee Dokke Brothers were playing at the History Center. The stars aligned...I had switched my late night that week because of Linnea's 3-year doctor's appointment...meaning that a little later Tuesday would be okay because we'd have a little more time the next day. We ate an early dinner, and got into the car and headed over. I was so excited. I had wanted to check out the Okee Dokke Brothers, whom I had heard good things about. I knew Linnea would love it, and it would be a nice night outside. Except that as we drove towards St. Paul the sky got darker...and darker...and darker. And by the time we pulled into the History Center it was raining. And it was mobbed, meaning we would have had to park a ways away and then walk...in the rain. So we scrapped it. I was really bummed, but I'll just have to add it to the list for next summer!
8. Mini-golf at the Walker This one is just in the red. No excuses. We were just too darn busy for too many weekends. We might have been able to make it work today, but we didn't try. I hope that they will recreate it next summer...add it to the list for next year!
9. Go berry picking Another one in the green! The three of us had a great time picking blueberries at Blueberry Hills of Stillwater. And I'm happy to report that we managed to use ALL of the blueberries we picked. Stay tuned for a couple blueberry recipes (that are part of my endeavor to make 20 new recipes in 2014). 
10. Go to the beach Although I haven't recapped this (yet), Linnea and I hit the beach together for her birthday. It was a shorter trip than I would have liked, but we had a good time. Add "more beach trips" to the list for next year!

So there you have it. Mostly a success...but not quite. We still have a really great summer accomplishing the above (and doing lots of other fun things). Now...bring on fall!! (Maybe another list is in order?)