I’m not quite sure why taking Son tent camping made my list of things to do before I turned 40. I do enjoy camping and I expected that Son would love it. He’s an outdoorsy kid and thrives in fresh air when he can play and have lots of independence. It was definitely a fun experience to live it through his eyes for a few days.
Category Archives: One and Done
Passport
So if you have been following this blog, you will know that the first goal I thought of was going to Paris. I’ve only been out of the country a few times but my passport was long expired. Long enough expired that I had to fill out a brand new application. No renewals for me.
Go to the Drive-In Movies
Going to the drive-in movies was a nostalgic thing for me that I want to share with Son. People my age were lucky enough to have drive-in movie theaters exist when we were young. I remember getting dressed in my pjs and bringing a sleeping bag in the car to drive and watch the movies. But by the time I turned 10, most of the drive-ins had closed down.
Create a Will
Every since I was pregnant, we have said to our financial planner at our annual meeting that this is the year that we plan to create our will. By the time our son was 6, our financial planner must not have believed us, but he was kind enough not to laugh when we made that promise each January.
Hike a section of the Appalachian Trail
Having read both A Walk in the Woods and more recently, Wild, I loved the idea of adding an epic hike to my 40 before 40 list. However, an overnight, weekend, or weeklong hike seemed a little out of reach for me. I didn’t want to buy special gear. I don’t want to lose toenails and have blistered feet. My poor feet are taking enough of a beating during training for a marathon. So in the end, I decided I would add a hike on the Appalachian Trail, or AT. I would love to hike the whole thing sometime, but that’s a life bucket list item. I knew it wasn’t realistic for this list.
Go Ziplining
Ziplining will feel like flying, right? I’ve always thought so and I’ve wanted to do it ever since I knew it was a thing that existed. It’s like skydiving, but slower and safer!
Take Photos in a Photo Booth
You know that scene in a movie where the main character jumps into a photo booth with their best friend or their significant other and make silly faces or kiss? I feel like this happens in every movie, but where do you find a photo booth? I think they have them at some amusement parks. Maybe. I have no idea. I’ve been on the lookout for one since I created this list 1.5 years ago and kept coming up short.
Husband saw one somewhere when I wasn’t with him. So imagine my glee when I found one randomly in themiddle of a country store next to our hotel in Vermont. This was the first of my list items to be completely unplanned. We stumbled upon it when shopping and I was so happy to jump in and take some photos. Extra bonus: we were away for our
10th anniversary, so a few cute photos of us being silly in a photo booth made a nice memory for that anniversary as well.
Stay Overnight Somewhere Haunted
Okay, truth be told, this list does tend to take over my life to some degree. When our 10th anniversary approached and Paris was still a ways off, we decided to plan an overnight trip somewhere. “What things can we do on my list?” I immediately thought. Granted, Husband is on board and we end up doing fun things that we otherwise wouldn’t do because of the list, but still…it does tend to take over. Our overnight trip to Stowe, VT helped knock three things off my list: stay somewhere haunted, go ziplining, and take photos in a photo booth!
1,000 Piece Puzzle
Finishing a 1,000 piece puzzle sounds easy enough, right? I chose this as my first goal to complete because I thought this would be an easy way to check one thing off my list. I even had a puzzle already!
Horseback Riding
I was at the birthday party of my best friend’s daughter that featured pony rides and realized that my five year old had ridden a horse already three times. Me? Never. Not once. Of all the years I had gone to camp and participated in Girl Scouts, I never went horseback riding!
