Retrospective summer bucket list

At the beginning of the summer, several of my friends created "summer bucket lists" and posted them online.  I absolutely loved the idea.  I also recognized that making one would probably make me crazy.  When I have a to-do list, or a running plan, or things marked on the calendar (or sometimes even just on the calendar in my head), it somehow becomes a crime if I don't get those things accomplished.  A bucket list, I was afraid, would take the fun things we do in the summer and turn them into tasks that I had to accomplish.  While this would clearly not be the case for most, I have never claimed to be normal.  That said, in hindsight, my bucket list may have looked something like this:

• Go camping
• Go to the museum
• Play at the park
• Catch lightning bugs
• Watch fireworks
• Learn to swim
• Pick strawberries on the farm
• Run around barefoot
• Ride a golf cart
• Play in the surf
• Build a sandcastle
• Watch the sunrise
• Watch the sunset
• Take a walk in the woods
• Have a playdate with new friends
• Have a playdate with old friends
• Go to the science center
• Learn to pump on the swings
• Visit a state park
• See a drive-in movie
• Learn to tie shoes
• Play frisbee
• Visit an animal park
• Learn about money
• Go to Idlewild
• Make s'mores over a fire
• Make a volcano
• Get a family picture taken
• Read a lot of books
• Ride bikes
• Taste cotton candy
• Eat fresh blackberries right from the bush
• Visit a friend in another state
• Go to the movies in a theater
• Have a sleepover
• Count by fives and tens
• Get faces painted
• Watch the Olympics
• Make cookies
• Go to a county fair
• Catch a fish
• Go down a Slip 'n Slide
• Make sidewalk chalk art
• Blow bubbles
• Blow kisses

I am happy to say that nearly every one of these things happened.
Though, we did just buy velcro shoes.