If you want to have a summer that becomes part of your family's mythology, the type of summer your children carry inside their hearts for the rest of their lives, all it takes is a little planning and a little spontaneous magic. The magic happens not because you spent a lot of money or went somewhere impressive, but because you made something awesome happen (messy and imperfect still counts as awesome).

This list has fifty summer bucket list activities–some big, some small, some brave, some silly, some delicious, some quiet. Pick the ones that resonate with your family, make an epic bucket list poster, and then start crossing them off one by one. I like to actually put the items on my family calendar and preorder supplies the week before–if you plan ahead you are way more likely to actually do the thing (and this summer we are doing all the things).

Your epic summer starts now.

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