In Summer!

The weather this past week has been gorgeous, which has meant plenty of opportunities to work through items on our Summer Bucket List.

 

Plan a Beach Playdate

We are so fortunate to have access to the private beach at Lake Summerside just up the road.  It is something we do pay for by means of yearly membership fees, but it is a price well paid for the convenience.  The closest beach to the city would be well over an hours drive and this lets us be at the beach in 2 minutes!

It is a beautiful area with a playground, picnic tables and nice sand for the kids to play in.  It would be a shame not to share so we invited a bunch of our friends and ended up spending 6 hours at the beach.  I was going to leave sooner, but the kids were all having fun and the highlight of my day was finally seeing my son in the lake with more then just his feet wet!  This definitely won’t be the last of the playdates we plan this summer.

 

Catch Bugs

This list item was one we were able to check off completely by chance.

After Camden’s outdoor soccer game a couple weeks ago we decided to take a quick trip to the mall.  As we were driving, Camden goes “Mommy, what’s that green thing on your shoulder?”  So I brushed my hand on my shoulder, assuming I was wiping off a piece of leaf or grass from the park, then continued driving.  “Mom, it’s still there and it’s moving!”  EEK!  I brushed my hand around my shoulder again and sure enough I felt it and picked off a squirmy little green caterpillar.

Camden was so enthralled with it that we put it in a small container we had in the car and brought it home.  Once home, I found a different container, drilled some holes in it, filled it with greenery and we had “caught” our first bug.

The caterpillar didn’t survive long, but the kids have since found a ladybug that they chased all the way across our dirt covered backyard and managed to get in the bug container.  He’s been in happy in there for the last week or so and Keira has now happily added the word “bug” to her small vocabulary.

 

Explore New Playground

There were no playgrounds within walking distance of our old house so last summer we got in the habit of driving to various parks in the area.  We frequented a lot of the same parks, but I also tried to switch it up to keep things interesting.  I figured if had to get the kids loaded in the car anyway, we might as well take the time to drive and find something new and exciting.

We have been walking to the park near our new house quite a bit just because it is so darn convenient, but I decided to set out and find us something new the other day.

I chose the park in the subdivision over because I read it had a splash park, but I honestly wasn’t expecting too much.  It ended up being a fantastic park with plenty to climb and slide on, a decent little splash pad to cool down at and nice sand to play in.  Even though it requires a little drive, it was well worth it and I can see me packing up a picnic to spend a few more afternoons there this summer.

For those in Edmonton, the park we visited was in Ellerslie located at Edwards Drive and 6 Avenue SW.

For a full listing of all the Spray Parks in Edmonton, I found this great list compiled by the city:  https://data.edmonton.ca/widgets/jyra-si4k   I honestly had no idea there were so many!

It also had a great little treed area and fence that I am itching to take the kids back to when they are wearing more then just their swimsuits and try to get some nice photos.

And that day also happened to be 7-11’s Birthday that day so I scored major mom points by stopping on our way hope from the park to take advantage of the free small slurpees!

 

Build See A (Giant) Sandcastle

One other activity we did last week was to check out the Sand on Whyte Festival.  I will be honest and say that I was kind of disappointed that it was just the three sculptures, but the three sculptures that were there were pretty impressive.  It was free and gave us an excuse to get out of the house, so all in all it was worth the trip down Whyte Avenue to check it out.  Hopefully there will be more to see next year as the festival grows!

This week looks to be another gorgeous week weather wise so hopefully we can knock another few items off our bucket list!  It is supposed to be around 30 degrees on Wednesday so I am really hoping to swing that trip to an outdoor pool.

Remember to check back to the blog for updates on all the fun things we are doing this summer.