Summer Bucket List Challenge!

Sincerely, what greater memories do you have from your childhood than those of summer fun?? Sure, Christmas is great, birthdays are a blast, but SUMMER?? It can’t be beat. Otter pops, starry nights, the smell of campfire, sleeping in, staying up late. . . oh. I could go on for days.

This is why it’s so vitally important to me to make summer GREAT for my family. I’m completely committed to making this summer a time of family togetherness, bonding, love, healing and rejuvenation. This is MY time. The rest of the year, my boys spend 6 hours, every.single.day, away at school. They go to an excellent school, mind you, with exceptional teachers and friends, but they are outside of my  . . . um . . . bubble of motherly adoration, love and protection?? for SIX hours a day! I see summer as my time to love on them like ca-razy, to remind them just how special, amazing and downright AWESOME SAUCE they really are. (Not that this kind of loving-on-ing is reserved exclusively for summertime, obviously not, but this is my chance to make the love and praise and sense of absolute belonging totally INCESSANT. And I plan to!)

The Norton family has joined The Happy Family Movement’s Summer Bucket List Challenge and this is our list!

I’ll be posting an Instagram image every time we complete one of the items on our list (NatalieNorton on Instagram or follow on the web here). If at the end of the summer, July 31st for us (I know, right?!), you notice that we’ve missed something on our list, email me at aloha@natalienortonblog.com, and the first 5 people to call us out will get a $25 iTunes gift card from yours truly. How’s that for committed?!

Want to participate in The Summer Bucket List Challenge with the Norton’s, the Solar’s and other awesome families across the globe? It’s easy, enter here (the Solars are giving away all kinds of exciting prizes all summer long)!

Once you’ve entered, join me in posting all your shenanigans on Instagram, be sure to tag your instagram photos #summerbucketlist and at the end of the summer, I may just decide to feature my favorite image(s) here on the blog. . . I may even decide to give one lucky family an exciting little gift. :) Lots of ambiguity here, no? I guess it’s all dependent on just how exciting all y’all decide to be! Prizes, should there be any, will be awarded for fun and creativity. . . it’s not about crazy pants activities, expense or being elaborate. I’m all about simplicity, real life and HAPPINESS!

Enough talk! It’s time to fight against TV, video games, the internet and even friends (we all know we compete with our kid’s friends for their attention ALL.SUMMER.LONG). I hope you feel as empowered as I do to  get out there and make this summer your best yet!