Fall Wish List [and Summer Wish List Recap]

With Fall officially started as of last Wednesday and with the announcement of our Scarf Exchange yesterday, I thought now would be a perfect time to share what we hope to do this Fall. As with our Summer Wish List, our Fall Wish List is just that... things I hope that we do. I know we will do some for sure, but the others are on there as a hope. I don't like the pressure that comes with the words "bucket list" (just like "resolutions" for the New Year) so I like to call this our Fall Wish List.

I know Fall technically lasts all the way until a couple days before Christmas, but for my Fall Wish List, I'm going to focus on October and November and come up with a Christmas Wish List a little later.

I know it looks like a lot, but I'm excited to try to accomplish the whole thing. And if all goes according to plan, we should have plans to do all or almost all of these things already. Let me tell you, it will be a busy two months!

And while we're talking about wish lists... I can't announce our Fall Wish List without a little recap of how we did on our Summer Wish List...

To recap we...

- celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday (here)

- went to Disneyland (here)

- went to an outdoor concert (July date :: here)

- did many Lowe's Build and Grows (here // here)

- went to a movie theater (here)

- saw fireworks (sparklers) and celebrated the 4th of July (here)

- went swimming (here)

- made our own popsicles (here)

- went to the OC Fair (here)

- had a family ice cream date (here)

And we also...

- went to story time at the library

- went to an Angels game (here)

- tried out a new park with a splash pad

- went to our local children's museum for an autism event

Even though we didn't get to do everything, I think we did a pretty good job! And now? I'm ready to put Summer behind us (if only the Summer temps would go away as well) and jump feet first into Fall! We already checked one thing off our list last weekend by going to the pumpkin patch and we're on to pumpkin patch #2 this weekend! I think it's safe to say... Fall is my favorite season!

[Summer Wish List] Check in #1

Happy Friday! Before I get started here... I just have to ask. Is anyone watching Bachelor in Paradise? Because holy moly, what a TRAIN. WRECK. and I can't stop watching! I didn't know it was going to be on TWO nights a week for hopefully only one hour each (but possibly two). I don't know if I can handle it and I don't know if I can stop watching. I'll tell you one thing though. As mean as it sounds, it sure does make me feel better about my life :) Oh, and if you aren't already, check out Pinterest Told Me To's recap from this week. She recaps the Bachelor/ette and she is HILARIOUS!

Anyway, back to the topic at hand : our summer wish list!

Last weekend we had a BUNCH of fun and were able to check a lot of things off our summer wish list. In fact, we've actually checked a lot off so far this summer and I realized I hadn't officially shared yet, so I wanted to do a little update.

This past weekend we...

- had a family ice cream (sandwich) date at Stax Cookie Bar

red velvet cookie with white chocolate chips

chocolate ice cream

half chocolate chip/half chocolate chocolate with white chocolate chips

HEAVEN.

(this was taken moments before that big scoop of ice cream fell on the floor :( but sweet Mason didn't care! He moved on and started eating his cone and was as happy as can be. My little carb lover!)

- went to the OC Fair (our local county fair)...

... and had the BEST time! Believe it or not, I used to hate the fair. Like I literally told Seth to remind me that I hate it when it comes back around and tell me not to go. Then we had Mason... and I convinced him that I was wrong and we should go (this was last year) and we had the best time. I couldn't wait to take Mason again this year! Last year he fell asleep before we got to really do anything, so this year I was so excited to take him on rides and show him the fair. Well he had another idea... he was so NOT into the rides (despite my valiant efforts) and was much more interested in seeing and petting the animals, eating everything he could (turkey leg, corn on the cob, and fries dipped in ranch), and playing the games. All of these were just fine with me and we all had the best day.

I also convinced Seth that we should take a photo booth picture... but clearly someone doesn't understand the concept of the photo booth yet. Maybe next year :)

But we've also...

- celebrated Mason's 3rd birthday (here)

- gone to Disneyland (here)

- gone to an outdoor concert (July date :: here)

- done many Lowe's Build and Grows (here // here)

- gone to a movie theater (here)

- saw fireworks (sparklers) and celebrated the 4th of July (here)

- went swimming (here)

- made our own popsicles (here)


Clearly I should have checked in much sooner as we are definitely more than halfway done with our wish list (which I totally didn't even realize until I started checking things off and listing the things we've done)! While summer officially doesn't end until the end of September, I kinda of feel like summer ends when the kids go back to school, so I'm hoping we can squeeze a couple more fun activities in in the next couple weeks!

Summer Lovin'

I've been wanting to share our summer bucket list for a while now, but for some reason, I was hesitant to use the phrase "bucket list". It's like "new years resolutions" for me. It's all in the wording. Though, I didn't do so great with my goals (well actually I haven't check in in a while), but for some reason when I call them goals over resolutions, they feel more attainable to me.

So, today, I'm linking up with Stephanie and bringing you my summer 2015 bucket wish list.

Some of these things we already have plans to do and some of them will require planning as the summer goes on. BUT regardless of if they are planned or not, I do hope to accomplish most, if not all, of them.

Here's to a fun summer!

[Summer Bucket List] Family Walk

This past weekend, we went to the fair.

The fair that I say EVERY year that I hate.

And I don't want to go back next year.

And remind me that when I say I want to go, that I really don't.

So, the time came again and I said I wanted to take Mason to the fair.

Seth rolled his eyes and then of course we went (happy wife, happy life, right?).

And you know what happened?

I HAD FUN. I did!

My only wish? That Mason didn't fall asleep so soon and we got to go on some rides.

Not the upside down, scare the *beep* out of me rides...the kiddie rides.

The other rides? Scare me half to death because why do I trust something that just came off a truck and got re-assembled for the one millionth time to take me upside down? No thanks.

But that lady bug ride that goes in circles twice at 2mph. That's my style.

Turns out we had to skip the rides this year, but we did get to enjoy the animals and the food and the entertainment!

chile relleno burger // bacon wrapped pickles

To sum up the fair... 

It was suuuuuuper hot and humid and we were all super sweaty.

We ate some fried food.

We saw some animals.

We took some cheesy photos.

We walked around. A lot.

We took the shuttle in to avoid paying for parking and it didn't have AC on the way back.

And that's pretty much all.

And - to be honest - I'm pretty excited about the fair next year!

*********************

Today was our last Summer Bucket List Link Up... I can't believe it's already over! I feel like it was just yesterday that we were sharing the news about our link up.

I want to thank everyone who has linked up with us every week (or even just a few weeks!). I've really enjoyed reading each of your posts and I've definitely gotten some inspiration for some fun things to do with Mason!

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Desiree with Macke Monologues | Jenny from The Chronicles of We

Becky of bybmg | Courtney from Sweet Turtle Soup | Elizabeth at Chasin' Mason

[Summer Bucket List] Park Discovery

Or more accurately titled... park un-discovery. I would have titled it that, but that is improper English :) More on that in a minute.

Normally, Sunday night is family dinner night. We go over to my mother-in-law's house and have dinner with everyone. It's our one day a week to actually see each other.

But this past Sunday was my niece, Addison's, birthday and most of the family was at Disneyland (wish we could have gone but we let our Disney passes expire in April - boo!) so we decided to do our own thing.

I had read about this really awesome looking park online a few months ago and had been wanting to go check it out but we never got around to it. I was still in the "celebration mode" since it was Mason's birthday weekend still so I thought, hey, why not???

We had a gift card to a local fancy grocery store that we don't normally shop at so we thought we would head there to get some dinner since it was by the park and because... the gift card was like three years old and we should probably use it sooner rather than later. (Thankfully gift cards don't expire in California!) So we packed up our blanket and our stuff and headed to the store to buy some food. 

We stopped by the deli and got some goods and then headed down the street to the park. Upon arrival at the park, I noticed it was a lot bigger than I expected. Of course, this made me extra excited!

The park itself was a little ways away from the parking lot so we carried our stuff and explored a little. We first came up upon this really nice rose garden and I wasn't surprised to see some people just sitting there reading. What a beautiful place to come read a book.

And then it happened.

Seth : I think the park is closed.

Me : What??? Why???

Seth : Do you see those green fences around the play area?

NOOOOOOOOO!

Yes, it's true. The park was CLOSED! I was soooooo bummed. Doesn't the park look fun? And this is only part of it! It's HUGE. And has so many play areas! Even I was excited to play.

Luckily Mason didn't know the difference so he wasn't too upset, but we will definitely be going back once it's done being renovated!

Either way, we didn't let the park closure get in the way of our night! We had our glamorous picnic dinner of chicken strips with BBQ dipping sauce, broccoli salad potato salad, and fruit on our picnic blanket... on a park table.

After dinner we had cookies and Mason and Seth "played" soccer and we used our new bubble machine.

Good bye amazing park. We will be back to play soon!

Even though we didn't get to play on the playground like I had hoped, we still had an amazing night just being together, eating outside, and playing.

And when we got home... Mason sat down to blog about it :)

*********************

Thank you to everyone who has been linking up with us each week! I've been really enjoying reading each and every one of your posts and getting some great ideas of things to do this summer! Don't forget to link up with us again next week (the final week!) , sharing the fun activities that you've been up to this summer!

Stephanie at Wife Mommy Me | Desiree with Macke Monologues | Jenny from The Chronicles of We

Becky of bybmg | Courtney from Sweet Turtle Soup | Elizabeth at Chasin' Mason