I'm the Out and About editor at ParentMap, which means, not surprisingly, that I spend much more time writing up fun/educational/outdoorsy/really cool things to do with kids than actually doing those things.

It also means that I have a very long wanna-do list. And now that we're in the middle of August (how did that happen?), I thought I'd share my top 15 for the end of summer.  I'd love to hear yours, too!

1. Go blueberry picking at one of these farms with my berry-obsessed kid (he still hopefully wades through our raspberry bushes every day looking for a lone red berry), buy some peaches at a farmers market, then make this blueberry-peach crumble.

2. Go blackberry picking in the city (probably around this park), invite friends over, make a blackberry pie and, for the adults, whip up this luscious-looking blackberry drink.

3. Splash in the shallow waters of magical Jetty Island, off the coast of Everett. (This adventure is planned; some friends have gathered a group and made reservations for the free ferry, a highly recommended strategy to avoid lines.)

4. Do a day in Tacoma, visiting the baby animals at Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium, and the awesome new outdoor wave pool at Kandle Park.

5. Go to Kruckeberg Garden, a unique public garden in Shoreline, possibly on a Friday so we can do the garden tots program.

6. Spend a few hours at Mercer Island's Adventure Playground program, where kids use real tools to build forts and tree houses. (Actually, my son is not old enough for this, but I may either bring a neighbor kid, or see if they'll let me build a fort!)

7. Walk the new 150-foot suspension bridge at Bellevue Botanical Garden.

8. Hike! My little boy is just old enough for short hikes. Tops on our wanna-do list are Twin Falls and St. Edward State Park in Bothell.

9. Spend a day with the driftwood, seashells, seastars, anemones and tides at Dungeness Spit near Sequim (#4 in this list), which was a favorite pre-child spot of mine.