Summer Bucket List

Trevor and I are both working full time and getting regular overtime opportunities. This is great and all but it's not really helpful when it comes to spending time together. Most of the time, if I've just worked a 12.5 hour shift, I want to come home and relax until I fall asleep. Heck, half the time I don't have the motivation to clean up from dinner! Trevor is the same way - he likes to tune out while he winds down.


It also doesn't help that we are basically connected to our computers when we're at home - whether it's working on the online classes we're taking, checking email, or Facebooking, we often end up sitting next to each other on the couch doing our own things. We know we need to unplug and spend quality time together more often but it's proving to be difficult when neither one of us has the energy to do anything except lounge around :)


Enter: our summer bucket list.


I'd seen these floating around Pinterest this spring (like this one!) but didn't think about making one for us until just a couple of weeks ago. Here are some of our ideas of how we'd like to spend some quality time together this summer:


1) Go on a picnic. We got a picnic basket as a gift at my work bridal shower and we haven't used it yet. This will be a perfect excuse. Plus, there are some beautiful parks around the city we live in so we won't have to go far!

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2) See a drive-in movie. We've been saying we should do this for the past few years and haven't gotten around to it yet. The closest drive-in is a bit of a drive away but that just means more time together - even if it is just in the car.


3) Take a long bike ride together. We also live near some nice biking/running/horseback riding trails. The nice thing about this idea is that we could go for a whole day or just a couple of hours depending on how much time we have.


4) Take a trip to Chicago. It's been a couple of years since we've been there together and we're overdue ;) I love the city itself and have been there enough that it's easy to navigate as long as we stay in a 3 mile radius of the loop. We have planned to go to Chicago in July to hang out with some friends we met on our honeymoon last summer. *Update* Read about our trip to Chicago and time with friends here.

Ok, how can you not love that?! (via)

5) Have a campfire. This sounds relatively simple but since we don't have a place to have a fire at our house, we have to go to my parents. So far we've tried to have a fire twice this summer and both attempts have been squashed by the wind. Here's to hoping we are over there some night this summer and the winds aren't too bad! *Update* Read about our fire and s'mores here!


6) Go strawberry picking and make some freezer jam with the berries. I made jam last year with berries that I didn't pick. This summer we live close to a pick-your-own strawberry place that is pretty affordable. I've been there once already but only got a pound and a half because the berries were so small and I was sick of picking! Hopefully I'll get back there before they're picked out for the season. *Update* Read about my berry picking adventure and the jam I made here!


7) Visit the Farmer's Market. This one is harder than you'd think. See, the Farmer's Market is bright and early on Saturday morning... and we usually have a hard time dragging ourselves out of bed before 8:30. Last summer we went a couple different times - both alone and with some family - so hopefully we can do the same again this year. *Update* Read about my first trip of the summer to the market here!


8) Enjoy a minor league baseball game. This is another one of those things we keep saying we should do and then never actually do! We can get tickets to a game for a dollar or two because we're students... and this is the last summer that we can both say that, so we better go now and take advantage of the opportunity! I wouldn't mind going just the two of us, but I think this could be even more fun if we got some siblings/friends/coworkers to go with us :)

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That's what we've come up with so far. Hopefully we can start checking things off our bucket list and in the process spend some quality time together making memories!


We know this summer is crazy busy and that next summer will be better without summer classes but there's no time like the present to have fun together!


Do you have a summer bucket list? Whats on it? Maybe you have a suggestion for more fun date ideas for us! Share away :)