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Our Boston Bucket List

What do you do on your weekends?  Do you drive kids around to various games and meets?  Work in the yard?  Go to church?  Relax?

 

At the end of the weekend, can you remember what you did?

 

I recently read Laura Vanderkam’s new book, Off the Clock, and I have been thinking quite a bit about intentional weekends.

 

Now, by intentional weekends I don’t mean: planning every single second of the weekend, allowing no spontaneous fun, or pushing through on a self-imposed “to-do” list at the expense of everyone’s sanity.

 

Instead I mean simply this: I want to spend time on the weekends doing things that will create memories.

 

To that end, my husband and I created a “Boston Bucket List” of activities and experiences that we want to have in our remaining two years in the city.  These are things that our whole family can do together and (hopefully!) enjoy.

 

Here is:

 

Our Boston Bucket List

1. Walk the Freedom Trail
2. Go to Vermont and see maple syrup being made
3. Camp in Vermont or New Hampshire in the fall
4. Visit to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)
5. Return to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
6. Hang out on the beach at Cape Cod
7. Climb a mountain in New Hampshire
8. Eat seafood in Maine
9. Visit the John F. Kennedy House
10. Go to the Mithrop Park and Rose Garden during rose season
11. Visit the Arnold Arboretum at lilac season
12. Hike around Allendale Farms
13. Look at the stars at the Free Observatory Night
14. Find a splash park
15. Go to Haymarket
16. Climb Bunker Hill Monument
17. Visit the Commonwealth Museum
18. Go for a boat ride around Jamaica Pond
19. Get ice cream by the beach
20. Visit the Boston Public Library
21. See an outdoor concert
22. Watch an outdoor movie
23. See The Nutcracker at the Boston Ballet
24. Go to the MIT Museum
25. Catch a Game at Fenway
26. Hike around Walden Pond
27. See the Reenactment of the Battles of Lexington and Concord on Patriots Day
28. Visit the Old Church
29. Swim in Walden Pond
30. Go Whale Watching

 

 

 

What about you?  What can you do to make your weekends memorable?  To intentionally plan family activities?

 

Simple Ideas to Help You Plan Your Own Local Bucket List

  • Look online for a community calendar.  You can find great local events like concerts, outdoor movies, plays, and more.
  • Pretend that you are a tourist in your own town.  Where could you go?
  • Take a walking tour of various neighborhoods.
  • Find local hikes and hit the trails as a family.
  • Think seasonally.  Is there an apple farm you could visit in the fall?  Are there amazing cross-country ski trails for the winter?
  • Take day trips to nearby cities.  Each child could choose one activity to do while you are there.
  • Look on the websites of local museums or historical locations for any special events they have coming up. A few years ago our family went to an amazing free Christmas event at Montpelier (James Madison’s home).  I saw it advertised on the Montpelier website, and we put it into our calendar.  Everyone had a blast!

 

Take some time today to create your own Bucket List.  Then, schedule one activity for this coming weekend.  Enjoy the memories that you make!