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Friday Favorites - Summer Bucket List Update & Week 1 Edition

A few weeks back I wrote THIS post about our summer bucket list which is a fun thing we started a few years ago and we bring back yearly just to help us plan some fun activities during the summer... But we made this list back when we thought we were having to forego our travel plans for this summer. Then, we were provided a way to see our initial travel plans through and so when we went to print the bucket list to put on the fridge for the summer, we realized that we had a few things that would likely not happen because of our plans changing and we realized that we wanted to add one big thing. So... I give you our updated bucket list.


Our biggest change was adding visiting Mississippi, Louisiana, and the panhandle. This is part of our travel plans this year. We may be posting a blog about that in the upcoming weeks as we nail down some of our plans. It's set to be a whirlwind trip as we have never really "traveled" with the kids before. We are doing 6 nights in four hotels which is a lot for us. We have done similar types of trips to the Keys but that is only because you don't have a lot of choice when you travel down the Keys and you have to stop along the way so we stay in various hotels but we don't have as much going on. We take it fairly easy on our Keys trips and this year's travel plans has a lot jam packed into a week... and it's almost double the miles one way to get to our farthest destination of New Orleans (but that doesn't even include the side trip into Jackson to see family). All of that is coming in a future post more than likely.

Also, recently the kids experienced Rebounderz for the first time. I thought Will may be iffy on the entire thing but he LOVED it. And I think Kenzie loved it more. We realized that the kids have grown up on us without noticing. So, although they would still like Lucky Monkey... they are getting older and Rebounderz is more their speed. So we switched it.

We added one other thing that a mom of one of Kenzie's friends in class mentioned. There is apparently this thing called Milk Money Movies at a small theater nearby. Every Tuesday in the summer they show a kids' movie (albeit from last summer or before usually) and the ticket includes a small popcorn and juicebox for $3. The kids will love that and we have plans to meet up with at least that school friend there but I'm sure we will be able to have some others join us, too. =) The Winter Garden fountains are just outside and there is a pizza place nearby so I think it will be a fun day whenever we can do it.


So, there it is. Our updated list. And this week, we finally started checking off some items on it.

Technically, we started last Friday. We met up with Daddy at his office to go to lunch. We like to visit him because we get to go in and see some of his coworkers. They LOVE the kiddos and always give them little toys and stuff. We had to wait for Daddy to get off a phone call though at first so I had to sit in the lobby of his office with the kids for almost 20 minutes. Finally, he finished what he was doing and we were able to visit with Steven's coworkers. Then we headed out to Chick Fil A for lunch. The kids just enjoy meeting up with Daddy for lunch. It's a nice treat because we sometimes go days without the kids seeing him because he works late often and leaves before they wake up in the morning.






After we met up with Steven for lunch, we immediately headed down to Hollywood Studios. We wanted to get in one last day before our blackouts start (which have now been lifted for the month of June but we didn't know that at the time). When I say "we" I mean the kids and me. Steven had to finish out some work stuff and had plans to meet us later. I was a bit nervous to do this alone. I had to not only sunblock the kids and get them into the park in one piece, but keep an eye on both of them around a huge crowd of people without back up for a while. They did great though! I think they knew they needed to cooperate with me. We ended up making it into the park and taking a few pics before catching the Indiana Jones show. Both kids really like that show. Kenzie randomly "ruined" the show for some people nearby us when she announced loudly which person from the audience is the stunt man. Haha! She didn't mean to and I don't think most people noticed, but I had to shush her just in case. We then headed over to Frozen and Steven met us in the park at the point. We ended up going over to Toy Story immediately after that and then racing to Disney Jr. because Will was adamant that we see the show. Kenzie is growing out of a lot of that, but Will is still into it. We skipped our last Fastpass of the evening which was The Little Mermaid show and had the dinner we brought before taking Will on his first ride on Star Tours. He is finally tall enough! He LOVED it. I remembered why I don't like it. It seriously makes me nauseous. Both kids think it is awesome though. My favorite part though was when we got off the ride and Will asked if we were still at Disney because he was convinced we had flown somewhere else. So cute! Although not bucket list related, it was a great afternoon/evening. 








The next day started early and fulfilled a bucket list item. This year Kenzie's girl scout troop decided to use some of their cookie profits to take a trip to Gatorland. We made it a family trip though so everyone could participate. We met up with the troop and their families on Saturday morning at Gatorland. It was so much fun! We did a scavenger hunt and walked around the park with some of the scouts and their families. Then we had a personal Upclose Encounter show for just our troop. Each girl (and any adults that wanted to) got to hold a small gator. Will refused to hold him but did pet him when Steven held him. Kenzie was all for it. I think I passed on my love of gators to her. Haha! We had lunch and then managed to catch the wrestling show which the kids all liked. We rode the train and got back just in time to see the jumparoo show when the gators leap out of the water to grab chickens. Gatorland has a splash pad too so the kids spent some time in that before we left. The only downside to that was that it was heavily chlorinated and all the kids were complaining their eyes hurt. After some play time, the kids were obviously tired so we headed home.


















This week we started checking off the start of another bucket list item. Kenzie attended her first (of three) VBS. She loved it. This one was at the school she used to attend and Will attends now. Or rather, the church that they are associated with. She had a great time. She came home telling us about the stories she learned and singing some cute songs. Will and I spent a lot of time at the library. We did our usual story time and then attended a Mr. Harley concert one day and an ice cream sundae event another day. So we are keeping busy too.

So, there is week one in a recap. We only checked off a few things but we plan to start working on some more. Summer is only just beginning, but it is starting out as a fun one!

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