Summer break is more than halfway over. It’s slipping away really.

The last time my kids were inside their school buildings was March 13, 2020. Although they were technically in school until close to the end of May things were pretty loose, fluid, and in a lot of ways, school from home was a faint shadow of actual school. Basically, what I am saying is that even though summer break is halfway over it actually seems like in many ways summer break has been going on and on for-ev-er. For-ev-er.

It feels like we’ve been at this summer thing for a really long time, and also only a blink.

2020 has brought us a weird spring followed by a strange summer, and surely it will bring an odd fall. We’re all adjusting to what life in a time like this requires.

One of those adjustments is on our yearly summer bucket list. The usual “see a live concert,” “watch cartoons at the local movie theater and eat cereal from the all-you-can-eat cereal bar,” “ride rides at the county fair,” and “sleep away summer camp” are all out, along with all the other fun public outing type things we might include from year to year.

All of our summer camps are cancelled and the county fair won’t have any rides. Our music festivals and concerts, and even library story times are not happening. 2020 is weird.

Even with all of the uncertainty and unknowns I decided, back in May as the school year officially came to a close, to go ahead and make up a summer bucket list on a big old sheet of bright yellow poster board to hang in the kitchen as a way to keep a piece of our normal summer vibe this year. We’ve had a summer bucket list every summer for years.

Things are weird. We don’t know what the school year will bring. We aren’t able to see friends and family in our normal ways. Even with all of that we’ve decided we’re still having fun this summer. Or possibly in spite of all that, we’ve decided we’re still having fun this summer. The 2020 summer bucket list looks a little different, but also in a lot of ways the same. The goals of enjoying time as a family and doing fun and creative things with our summer are the same.

We’re doing what we can to find some normalcy in a weird time in our lives. This time will pass, but we’ll do our best to maintain simple traditions and face our struggles with a smile if we can. My kids need that amidst a year of small and big disappointments, and I know that I do too.

How has your summer looked different this year and how are you still managing to find the fun despite of how different it looks?