Hello! We’d like to welcome you all to a very special edition of summer goals. First things first – if you’re new here, we’d like to suggest you visit the “about” page to learn who we are and why we do this. Second, let us blow ya’ minds (if you didn’t sing that like Gwen Stefani, go back and try again) by announcing that for our eleventh season, we will be joined by a new team member! Baby Grimaldi is expected to arrive June 22nd and we look forward to embracing the madness.

Before getting to the official list, we’d like to mention a cool opportunity we had during the off-season. Jeff Schober, journalist, and Steve Desmond, photographer, did a neat piece on the mission of Summer Goals. We were really honored to be connected with the Buffalo Tales blog, which features pieces on local folks trying to do positive things. If you’re interested in checking out our featured story, you can visit it here.

Now, onto the goals! We wrote our list this year on a late Spring day at Allen Burger Venture. It was one of those rare sunny days, where the host asked us “inside or outside?” Not quite 70 degrees, but yeah – we’ll take the outdoor seating. Listen people – we KNOW we’ll be spending a lot of time indoors this summer, but if you’re interested in helping us get out there and accomplish some of the goals below, reach out!

Without further ado, summer goals 2019:

1. Visit three new parks.
2. Try Mooney’s Mac and cheese.
3. Make bacon weave s’mores.
4. Family trip to city hall observation deck.
5. Pay off a child’s school lunch debt.
6. Donate to a blessing box.
7. Hide ten $2 bills in books at little free libraries.
8. Make something out of drift wood.
9. Climb an eleventh mountain together.
10. Complete unaccomplished goal:

1. Meet someone famous.
2. Learn a harmonica song.
3. Have a conversation in Polish.
4. Walk from Canisius to Attica (worth 0.5).
5. Bowl a combined 300.
6. Make dinner for Earlean.
7. Pick a Buffalo street and clean it.
8. Ride a jet ski.
9. Host a clam bake.
10. See a Moth StorySLAM
11. See a movie together at the Silver Lake Drive-In.
12. Try rock stacking.
13. Climb a tenth mountain together.

2019 in review.

We’re hitting the ground running this summer season, because with Baby G due to arrive any day now, we figured it’d be best to get some goals done early!  Although it will be nice to have an extra set of hands on the team to help us out with some of these goals.

Summer Goal #3: Make Bacon Weave S’mores

Our first stop on this summer’s journey was making bacon weave s’mores.  This is something we had never tried before and when Kelly saw the idea (link to recipe) online at 37 weeks pregnant, adding this goal to the list was a no-brainer.  We loved the bacon as a graham cracker substitute, as it produced the perfect salty sweet combo.  Definitely something we will make again, and something different and easy that you should try this summer!

Summer Goal #5: Pay Off a Child’s Lunch Debt

Our favorite goals each year are when we get the opportunity to help others, and this year was no exception.  By paying off a child’s outstanding lunch balance, we hoped to make a small impact for a local family.  But since we posted our list, we have been amazed by the generosity and willingness to help shown by not only our friends but also people who we’ve never even met that reached out on social media. We are so thankful for all of you who have contributed! We are so happy to share that because of your generosity, we were able to pay off the lunch debts for not just one, but five local elementary school students! Amazing!

Unaccomplished Summer Goal #12: Try Rock Stacking

We all know it’s been a mostly rainy end to Spring here in Western New York, so last weekend, we took advantage of a stretch of dry weather to take a drive to Wendt Beach right in our own backyard to achieve an unaccomplished goal.  We were inspired to add this goal to our list last year by friends of ours who have posted amazing photos of rocks they stacked at lakes, rivers, and creeks all around the area.  From selecting the rocks to placing them in the perfect position and finding just the right balance, rock stacking really gets you in touch with the land around you.  These first stacks are pretty simple, but we’re excited to keep trying and getting better over time.  You should definitely check out #rockbalancing on Instagram to see some amazing creations right here in WNY and all around the world!

Summer Goal #6: Donate to a Blessing Box

You may remember a couple years ago we put up a Little Free Library at a local Boys and Girls Club. Since then, we’ve been noticing Little Free Libraries everywhere, and we started to see some that included groceries and other necessities called “Blessing Boxes” or “Little Free Pantries.”  We loved this idea so much and we decided to help stock the shelves of a local box.

Summer Goal #8: Make Something Out of Driftwood

We had so much fun designing and decorating Augie’s nursery, and we wanted it to be a reflection of where we live, so we made a wall hanging from driftwood that we found right around the corner from our house at Wendt Beach. A wonderful crafter we met made the felt replicas of ours hens (@lammhandmade), and we made the rest.

Summer Goal #2: Try Mooney’s Mac and Cheese

Shoutout to one of our closest friends (hey Katherine!) for bringing us two huge pans of Mooney’s Mac and Cheese in our greatest time of need (first couple days home in newborn chaos).  Those days (and every day since then) have been so much easier because of our amazing friends like KJ!

Summer Goal #4: Family Trip to City Hall Observation Deck

When Augie was 6 weeks old, we decided to take an adventure up to the City on a slow sunny weekday. Equally as impressive as the views were the numerous enormous spiders up there, but still well worth the elevator ride and stair climb to the top!

Summer Goal #1: Visit 3 New Parks

This goal took us to the waterfront (Wilkeson Pointe), Reinstein Woods, and East Aurora (Majors Park – shoutout Emily for the recommendation). We discovered so many different and beautiful places all within a half hour of our house.

Unaccomplished Goal #11: See a Movie Together at the Silver Lake Drive-In

This was a long-unaccomplished summer goal (and looking back, Kelly cannot believe that it actually was accomplished with a newborn), as we took a 7-week old on a drive 50 miles to Perry, NY to sit in the back of our car and watch the latest installment of the Fast & Furious series, then drive all 50 miles home. We couldn’t have done it without our dear friend Kara, along with the delicious food and exceptional mini golf.

Summer Goal #7: Hide Ten $2 Bills in Little Free Libraries

Getting back into the Random Act of Kindness game, we spent a sunny Saturday traveling to 10 different local Little Free Libraries and hid $2 bills in books for local readers to find – maybe one of those lucky locals was you!