When Sam’s birthday rolled around last month, I decided we were way better off gifting her an experience than giving her more stuff. She’s got so much stuff. I knew that anything she wanted would come from family members and the friends who came to her birthday party, so we decided to plan a special family day instead of getting a ton of things for her to unwrap.

When my brother-in-law’s girlfriend mentioned a puppet show in Central Park, I knew I had to look into it. Samantha watched Labyrinth with my husband recently and loved all of the behind-the-scenes footage that showed how the puppeteers worked all of the puppets. Add that to the fact that a puppet show isn’t too old for a three year old to enjoy and I thought we might just be in business.

And I have to say, we had a pretty awesome day.

After being cooped up indoors after a long winter, the endless possibilities of outdoor fun sound amazing… and maybe the tiniest bit intimidating. If you need a little help coming up with fresh ideas to keep your kids busy through the summer, this list of 50+ outdoor activities for kids is for you. And for them. In fact, it’s guaranteed to make the whole family happy!

Spring has finally sprung and I can already feel summer vacation breathing down my neck (especially when my youngest keeps me up-to-date with a daily how many days are left of school countdown). My feelings about the situation can be described as a mixture of excitement and pure panic. While there are a bunch of fun things on our to-do list, my girls are so used to having all of their days totally planned out—back-to-back activities and friends and learning. Being home with none of the above spells trouble.

I think there’s a lot to be said for boredom and having to figure out how to entertain yourself, but there’s even more to be said about saving momma’s sanity. And being able to work. And maybe vacuum once or twice. Or at least being able to think about vacuuming without having my thoughts interrupted by the incessant drone of how bored everyone is.

So I looked to some fellow bloggers and compiled a list of things kids can do—outside. You’re welcome.

My soon-to-be eight year old is straight up obsessed with mermaids. It started with the Emily Windsnap book series (which are really well written, by the way), expanded into watching Mako Mermaids and H2O and exploded from there.

When it came time to talk about a birthday party for her this year, I was anything but surprised when she said she wanted a mermaid party. Since she thought the boys might not be as into mermaids as the girls, she decided to make it a mermaid and shark party.

This Pinterest loving momma immediately went nuts pinning anything and everything that could possibly fit under a mermaid or shark party umbrella. Since late June is always a busy time of year, I decided to focus on invitations first. I’m usually a totally last minute girl, so I’d like to take a second to pat myself on the back right here. GO ME. (Truth be told, Samantha climbed so far up my ass about getting these invitations done, I had no other choice. I feared she’d get lost up there).

I found a bunch of cute invitations on Etsy, but there was always something missing from them in Samantha’s mind. She sort of wanted a combination of all of her favorites. That’s when I turned to Google, deciding I’d design what she was looking for myself with the help of some free clip art.

I was spending way too much time sifting through mermaid and shark Google image results when Sam had an idea. “Mom? Why don’t I design them?”

I think and talk a lot about not pigeonholing girls into what are typically thought of as “girl” categories. I’m the mother of two girls, so that makes sense, no?

I know that making girls believe they belong in certain categories (whether on purpose or by accident) can be seriously stifling. And I think the same thing is true for boys.

The whole gender neutral toy thing is sort of a hot button issue. There’s this whole should girls toys all be pink and purple battle that people spit fire over. I have a difficult time falling on either side of the argument because I don’t think either side is completely right.

Should girls only have pink and purple marketed to them while boys have darker more “masculine” colors aimed at them? No. You know why? Not all human beings are the same. Some girls (like mine) really like pink and purple. They have a pink and purple bedroom and I routinely joke about the fact that it looks like someone vomited pink and purple all over our house. There’s nothing wrong with that. They like it. Some girls really don’t like pink and purple. There’s nothing wrong with that either. They’re colors. There should be a variety available for the variety of personalities out there.

Then there’s the whole debate about boys playing with dolls and girls playing with trucks. As a mother whose three year old can frequently be found hammering away at her work bench while wearing high heels, I think it’s ridiculous that this is even a conversation.

I’m going a little crazy lately. Have I made that clear enough yet? Like, seriously considering ripping my hair out crazy.

Samantha came home from school the other day in full-on, in your face, non-stop energy mode. Most days, I can deal with this. But on this particular day I knew my husband would not be home to grant me a reprieve and I had spent the entire day (and the better part of the last week and a half) tending to a baby who felt like total crap.

I did not have the energy or patience to come up with an elaborate activity for her to do (the only kind she seems to accept) and I couldn’t imagine holding onto my sanity if she remained bored.

Luckily a package arrived in the mail addressed to Samantha at the absolute perfect moment. With all that has been going on lately, I had totally forgotten that Little Passports had offered to send us a trial package–and I’ve never been happier to get a package addressed to Miss Samantha.

In case you’re not familiar with Little Passports (I mentioned them in my roundup of experience gifts), it’s a subscription box service for kids that follows two characters on an adventure and teaches about geography, culture, and history in the process. Pretty cool, right?

She was a wee bit stoked.