I’m not gonna lie to you: It doesn’t feel much like fall here in Los Angeles.
Sure, the days are getting shorter. And yes, the evenings are a little cooler than they were last month. But a recent string of 80+ degree days has us trying to ride out the last bits of summer just as long as we can.
Of course, the calendar reminds us that fall is coming soon – and many of you are already seeing proof of it. Which means that we’ve been hard at work coming up with our fall fun list.
 |
| Fall fun in Yosemite, 2011 |
I imagine a lot of you create a seasonal bucket list. What makes ours different?
- All ideas are either kid-generated or kid-approved (’cause sometimes I have fun ideas The Explorers may not think of on their own)
- The list is visible in a high traffic area of our home – think poster-sized butcher paper hung up in the hallway between the kids’ rooms
- We turn our want to’s into our to do’s. Instead of thinking of this list as a wish list, we make it our go-to guide for fall planning.
This strategy worked pretty well this summer. We came up with more than 30 ideas and wound up completing about half of them. Our list helped us to be intentional in making choices about how we spent our time.
Bonus: More than a handful of summer visitors spotted our list (it’s posted just outside our guest bathroom) and were inspired to make their own. Yay!
Backyard Nature Fun
- Make a scarecrow
- Create a pumpkin planter
- Decorate or carve a pumpkin
- Roast pumpkin seeds
- Bake an apple and/or pumpkin pie
- Go puddle jumping
- Host a snail race (if we can find some critter contestants!)
- Go trick-or-treating
- Set up a backyard weather station
- Build a fort
- Enjoy a backyard campfire
- Bake holiday cookies
L.A.-Area Day Trips
- Go fishing (for the first time!)
- Roll down a really big hill (probably at the La Brea Tar Pits)
- Visit a pumpkin patch
- Navigate a corn maze
- Take a hay ride
- Go apple picking
- Try bobbing for apples
- Visit the Skirball Cultural Center
- Ride the North Pole Express train
- Eat chicken from Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant (we didn’t get there this summer)
Nature Travels
- Visit the cabin in Yosemite (and maybe make it to Glacier Point since we missed going this summer)
Your turn! What’s on your fall fun list?
Our Summer Fun List really helped us prioritize the things we wanted to do. It doesn't matter if you do everything on this list, just that you decide together how you want to spend the season.
I make lists, but not these kinds of lists. I think it's a wonderful idea to start when every season we find ourselves saying…"We missed this, or we forgot that!" If it's up for all to see I think we'll be less likely to miss the fun!
Welcome, Ellie! It's lovely to meet you. 🙂 Hope you & your little explorer have fun creating your own Fall Fun List!
I absolutely LOVE that your kids helped create the list! And I love the concept of making "want to's" into "to do's." Isn't that what life is all about?! 🙂 I'm so happy to have stumbled upon your site (via Bonbon Break). My 5-year-old is an avid nature-lover, so your page will be great inspiration for us!
I'm glad we can help provide some inspiration, avance! 🙂
Winter is Yosemite is simply magical. Every view is breathtaking. And you have the place practically to yourself. Can't wait to hear how your trip goes, Josh! 🙂
What a great list–I've saved the page and like your idea of making a big list and hanging it where everyone can see it–fun!<br /><br />We hope to go to the California Science Center sometime this fall. Aside from that, we'll be stealing a lot from your list. 🙂
Dang that is quite a list! Especially awesome that Yosemite is on there again! I am planning on going in the winter as well. I have never been there in the winter, I would expect the views to be breathtaking. Also the hill by la brea tar pits is great to roll down. I may have done that last time I was there 🙂