It's August—let the end of summer countdown commence!
Today starts the month when summer vacation begins to feel endless, and paid days off and funds for camps, sitters and splashy weekend getaways are nearly depleted. In August, you no longer smell nostalgia when you break open a fresh tube of sunscreen. And yet, so much of this summer's bucket list still hasn't happened.
Whether your kids' break ends in two, three or four weeks, the good news is there's time to fit in these 5 things you still need to do this summer:
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1. Pickle something. Pickling is spherification's older, less sophisticated sister. And even easier. A trip to the farmers market, some chopping (knife skills!) with the kids. And then one of these pickling recipes. You can pack the results in their school lunches until they tell you to stop.
2. That one museum. Yeah, we've been to the old standbys—the natural history museum, aquarium, science center. But we STILL haven't been to the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles County. Until this month. In August, we will go.
3. Climb something. Wherever you live, there's something to climb. A mountain, a creek bed, a rock wall, a ladder leaning against the garage (or pulled down from the attic crawl space). The steps of a stadium? The stairs of your hometown's tallest building? Go up—and up and up.
4. Late summer playlist. "Get Lucky" is getting stale. So download 10 new songs and make your August playlist. What else are you going to listen to on your lunch road trip or while giving the kitchen a work-over in all the rest of your summer projects?
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5. Paper chain countdown. But start your end-of-summer fun by making an August paper chain. Use enough links to get you to the first day of school or to the last day before the pool closes. Make one chain per child to avoid fighting over who gets to tear the links. Make one for yourself—that last link is going to feel so satisfying.
