Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe that summer is almost over for us! I keep trying to remind myself that really we have 3 more weeks before school starts (yes, we start the Wednesday after Labor Day), but it seems like the time is winding down much too quickly. Even worse, I feel like we haven't done any of the things I had hoped to do during this time. We've never gone to the zoo yet (will try to fit that one in soon - maybe Friday?), we haven't gone on the ferry ride we talked about, we haven't ridden "The Duck", we haven't gone to one of our favorite parks to play, and we haven't even been to the beach! I also owe Alyssa a ride on the local public bus, something she's so eager to do. We did go to the splash pad at the local park for the first time yesterday, but that was completely spur of the moment.

I'm not sure why we haven't done as much this summer. To be honest, I think the weather has had a lot to do with it. (Or maybe I'm just a lame mom?) It seems like it's been either cold (in the 50's and low-60's) or too hot (upper-80's to 90's). We don't do "hot" well in this house. I guess those would have been perfect days for the ferry ride or the beach, but for whatever reason those things didn't happen. Now, we are faced with the end of the summer looming and we still haven't even camped out in our backyard or gone to Jetty Island, both things we were determined to do this summer. I guess I still have a few weeks to get those in.

What have we done? Well, we've had some playdates, had swimming lessons, T-ball ran into July this year, we went to Lake Chelan for a few nights, both kids were sick for a few days which slowed us down, and we've had a few neighborhood gatherings as well as some friends come to visit from out of town. Not much and yet it's felt busy to me. Still, not at all like last summer when we seemed to be discovering so many new things each week.

It just makes me rather sorry that school is starting so soon again. I guess we just have to make the most of the next few weeks and cram a lot of fun in!

A Great Start to Summer

Yesterday was one of those rare days that you wish the day would never end. It was also our first full day of summer vacation and a perfect way to start the summer!

We started the day with a breakfast playdate, with our good friends and neighbors coming over and joining us for breakfast. Our children happen to be the same ages and Tristan and their son, N, were in the same Kindergarten class. Best of all, our children play wonderfully together and really enjoy one another and so do the moms! We enjoyed some homemade blueberry pancakes and play/chit-chat time until they had to leave to run errands.

Then our sweet teen-aged neighbor girls came over and played kickball with Alyssa and Tristan in the back yard. My kids adore the girls and had so much fun. They also ran around so much that they were pretty warm despite the overcast, cool day, so the kidlets insisted that I turn on the sprinklers so they could jump through them. They had a good time getting wet while I made them some lunch.

After drying off and eating lunch, we headed over to the library to pick up books Alyssa had put on hold (she can do that all by herself now). We picked up all her books (she had a stack!) and then played on the new play structure in the library park for a while. (All day the kidlets had been playing so nicely together, so that alone helped make the day a good one for me.) Then we headed to the Central Market and bought our first flat of local strawberries, fresh local corn and then the kids were allowed to pick out some ice cream for dessert.

When we got home, Michael was already home from work, so while I unloaded the groceries, put them away and started dinner, Michael mowed the lawn and the kids sat at the patio table and colored. We had our first dinner outside on the patio and told Michael all about our day, then we finished off the day with some ice cream and watching Wipeout and laughing together.

All in all it doesn't sound like an extraordinary day, but all the small enjoyable moments added up to a wonderful day and a great way to start the summer.