My ‘Before School Starts’ Bucket List

12

August 27, 2014 by Katia

I was never a fan of hot and humid weather, which tough luck and good luck with that frizz, if you live in the Middle East! Then I moved to Canada and instantly became not a fan of icy and slippery. After last winter’s polar vortexy antics I was Team Summer all the way.

but then came summer.

 

Well, let’s just say it’s been interesting.

Yes, I AM wearing a watch. Carry on.

Now that there’s exactly one week left, I’m down with some nostalgia, while frantically trying to cram activities we’ve been talking about all summer long into this one remaining week. Here are some moments I’ve enjoyed with my kids this summer and thought you might appreciate as well.

1. Have a Picnic -Nature. What better way to connect with food? Tweet
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When Five Year Old and I picnicked earlier this summer, I brought Spanakopitas from my favourite bakery and a giant cookie I bought in a coffee shop. Quiches also go well with nature. My personal favourite is Quiche Lorraine.

2. Speaking of food – Try Something New and Make it Blowtorched Sushi – and by “try” I mean YOU. Kids and blowtorched sushi may not go so well together. I, on the other hand, go really well with blowtorched sushi and will probably erect an altar and start sacrificing to the God of Sushi to make sure that Ja Bistro in Toronto never closes down.

3. Open a “Special Something Stand” With Your Child – And I don’t mean that in the Agrestic-type-special-something-stand sense. Since the beginning of the summer, Five Year Old’s been asking me to open a fruit salad stand. Yesterday we finally went for it, converting his Melissa & Doug tool bench into a stand and an old box of Max Brenner chocolate into his cash register. We also sprinkled little marshmallows on the salad. At one point things got too pretty and Five Year Old went to scooter leaving me in charge of a converted Melissa & Doug Fruit Salad tool bench with marshmallows.

4. Buy a $3 Graphic T – Take advantage of end of summer sales. Some of the best children’s clothing stores are offering insane prices. Last week I bought super cute Ts for my boys at Carter’s for $3-5 and shorts for $4 at Target.

5. Do Something You’ve Never Done Before – On Sunday I saw my very first snake in nature. Sure, it wasn’t planned, but some firsts could be. Feel free to have a different one.

Bonus:

6. When Things Get Too Summery Let Them Watch TV – Netflix offers some adventure titles. You little ones may enjoy Wild Baby Animals Explorers, A Turtle’s Tale or Tubb’s Pirate Treasure. Older kids will definitely enjoy The Adventures of Tintin and Tad The Lost Explorer. The really old kids may enjoy Chew On This from the TED Talks series. I’ve mentioned before that some TED Talks titles are available on Netflix. Chew on This will give foodies a “taste of truth about food” as the description on the Netflix website states. There are also titles dedicated to exploring mother nature (TED Talks: Into the Abyss) and archaeological discoveries (TED Talks: Ancient Clues). Watching this may spark some ideas for other “end of summer” activities with your kids.

Enjoy and hallelujah.

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This is a Netflix Stream Team post.