You made it!

Summer is FINALLY upon us.

Welcome to the smell of driveway campfires and fresh cut lawn. Before you know it, you may even be hearing ice cream trucks playing that one song over and over and over and over...

Never mind that, never mind that.

My family enjoys doing certain things every year, but only recently have I considered the idea of a "summer bucket list." This involves sitting down together and writing up a list of all the things you hope to do before school kicks back in. Between the nice weather and the extended sunshine, it only makes sense.

The key is to refer to your list all summer. Perhaps use a dry erase board and circle items as you do them, or write the tasks on slips of paper that you randomly pull out of an envelope every few days. You may enjoy tracking them with pictures and posting them on social media, too.

So what would be on your list?

Here are 50 summer bucket list ideas for families, listed from cheap to expensive:

1. Go for a family bike ride down a local trail
2. Camp out in the living room to play board games on a rainy day
3. Set up a blanket or tent in your backyard on a clear night and stare at the stars together
4. Visit someplace local that's free and beautiful, like a state park or nature preserve
5. Run through a sprinkler
6. Stay in your pajamas all day and eat breakfast food for dinner
7. Search for geocaching in your area
8. Meet up with friends at a splash pad
9. Play freeze tag
10. Cut the lawn of a local friend, but don't get found out about it
11. Host a neighborhood campfire in your driveway and make s'mores
12. Play a recreational game of soccer at a park, and recruit the other kids/families to join in
13. Borrow a video projector and host an outdoor movie night on the side of your house
14. Read every book your local library has from a favorite author
15. Catch fireflies in a jar
16. Hike into the woods for a couple hours
17. Turn off all your electronics for one whole day as a family
18. Buy a cup of lemonade at a kid's stand
19. Light sparklers and watch fireworks
20. Fly a kite
21. Collect sea shells
22. Dress up and film your own movie
23. Burn a hole in a leaf using a magnifying glass and the sun
24. Listen to old songs and new ones to decide which one is "the song of this summer"
25. Sketch out a family portrait on your driveway using sidewalk chalk
26. Brew sun tea
27. Consume a whole water melon together in one sitting
28. Supply the neighborhood kids with some homemade popsicles
29. Create your own snow cones
30. Chase down an ice cream truck and buy something sweet
31. Try fishing, even if you don't know how to fish
32. Bake brownies or cookies for your church or a community group
33. Hang a bird feeder
34. Volunteer to serve with a ministry or organization that serves the poor
35. Set up a scavenger hunt for your kids and their friends, including offering some cool prizes
36. Pick berries at a farm
37. Hit a deli on the way to the beach to order monster sandwiches for lunch
38. Have a water balloon fight
39. Make homemade ice cream
40. Go to a drive-in theater
41. Ride horses together
42. Sample every pizza place in your town
43. Sail on a boat
44. Ride on a jet ski
45. Find a mini-golf course that everyone can do well on and play a round
46. Shop at a farmer's market together to buy food to make an entire meal out of
47. Drive out to visit a new zoo
48. Attend a sporting event
49. Spend the day at a nearby amusement park
50. Add one of your own to the list!

Any of these can be done completely as a family or as a one-on-one time with each of your kids. The goal is to be present all summer long.

There's also a matter of making sure you don't get so recreational that you lose sight of good consistencies. It's easy during summer to turn God into recreation and recreation into God. So in the midst of it all, remember that these are not activities meant to be an end into themselves or alternatives to church but an on-ramp into Jesus-centered connections. Imagine what that could look like!

Your turn! What's on your list?