What we did on our summer vacation

I can't believe my baby is starting kindergarten tomorrow! How is it possible that she is old enough to start "real" school already? I know she's going to do great because she's an amazing kid. I just hope I do ok.

We've had an awesome summer and even though school is starting, I'm not calling it quits on summer fun just yet. So long as we still have nice weather we're going to keep on plowing through our Summer Passport to Fun. What is a Summer Passport to Fun you might ask? Well, let me show you!

I got this idea from one of the local park districts when we went to one of their programs and they handed out these passports to all of the different parks in their district. There were short descriptions and addresses to each place and a small square at the bottom where you can get a stamp from each location once visited. K thought the stamping part was super cool and she proceeded to use her own little self-inking stamper to place a stamp in every single square in that little passport. Well, seeing how much she enjoyed that and knowing we wouldn't be able to make it to all of the places listed in that other passport book, I decided to make my own filled with fun summer activities that I knew we would be able to do so she would be able to stamp a great majority of the book, and maybe even the whole thing. After I spent an evening making her Passport to Summer Fun, we went out the next day and bought a rainbow stamp pad, a four pack of little rubber stamps and one big capital K stamp. Now all we had to do was get out there and start having fun!

Some of the activities are specific to a certain date, like seeing the fireworks for Independence Day or a movie at the Wednesday Morning Movie series...

...but most of them are free from dates so we can accomplish them at our own pace.

I geared several pages in her passport around our vacation to Washington, Oregon and California since I knew I had some special activities planned with her and E in mind.

If you are interested in making one of these for your little Adventurer, I just used Microsoft Word and the clipart that comes with it (except for the picture of the train above which was from their actual website). Then I hole-punched the pages and bound them with silk cord. If you're looking for ideas on what to put in your own Passport to Summer Fun, check your local park district website. I listed all of the playgrounds in our area as well as all of the splash pads near us. You can also check your local library for special events, the Kids Bowl Free program or movie theatres that host a kids summer program. Here are a few of the non-location-specific activities we have:

Ride your bike
Take a walk with Great Grammie & Grampie
See a fireworks display
Get ice cream with Nana and Papa
Give Delmar (our van) a bath
Visit a farmer's market
Build a sandcastle (this was while we were at the beach on vacation but it doesn't have to be location specific if you have sand near you)
Fly a kite (again, this was while we were at the beach but any location with some wind will work)
Ride on a carousel (if you have one near you)
Play miniature golf
Visit an aquarium
Play in a sprinkler
Blow bubbles
Visit a petting zoo
Go camping (even if it's just in your own backyard, like we did)
Draw with sidewalk chalk
Go on a train ride
Have a picnic
Ride in a paddleboat
Go bowling with Mommy and Daddy
Make a terrarium
Go to a Renaissance Faire
Go swimming
Go to a children's museum
Go on a nature scavenger hike
Have a water balloon fight
Go to a local carnival / festival
Visit a car show
Make a sun print

Here's how I ended her Passport to Summer Fun:

I can't wait to hear what she picks!