Scenes from Summer

Summer officially ends for us today. Payton and Jonah have their first day of school tomorrow. I LOVE having a schedule, having somewhere to be, things to do. I anticipate fall and its rhythms. But, I really loved our summer too. We had some great trips and vacations that I've written about before, but some of the real sweet times of summer have been the open, lazy days we had here at home and hanging out around Redding. I've learned that it's nice to have a seaon where there is no schedule, no have to's, and nowhere to be. My kids are all at an age when it's not just me caretaking necessarily, but actually hanging out and doing things together, playing. It's a fun stage of parenting to be at. You can do more stuff together and they're still young enough to want to do them with ME. Who knows how long this stage will last! So these are some pics of how we passed our time this summer.
Plenty of trips to Fantasy Fountain, it's the best place to be on a triple digit day.

The aquatic center for swim lessons and evening swim times with the family. It was here Jonah conquered his first big waterslide, a huge event for him.

We were at the library at least once if not twice a week for the kids' summer reading program. Payton would bring home a stack of fifteen chapter books, close up in her room for two days, and only come up for air when she finished them all. I was a bit jealous, but really I've probably had more reading time this summer than I've ever had since becoming a mom. It's a beautiful thing.

Jonah dabbled a bit with reading too, it hasn't grabbed him yet like it has for Payton, but it's sweet to watch him read with Davey curled up next to him.

We started "chores" sort of. I always try to turn over a new leaf with stuff like this and then quickly lose interest. But I'm determined to bring it back this Fall. Davey actually likes to wash dishes.

We had friends over for playdates and splashed in our blow up pool till it finally met its demise sometime last week. It served us well.

More playdates with friends from the hood.

We got into games in a big way. You have to find some way to pass the hot afternoons indoors. We're still working on sportsmanship with Jonah. Once he gets the sense he's losing, he'll get up and walk away with a muttered, "I'm outta here!" It really takes the fun out of beating him. He almost lost it with me in a game of Uno at a coffee shop last week. It gets pretty dicey!

Lots of trips to Whiskeytown Lake for hot afternoons. This is where we went today to wind down our last day of summer together.


It was a good ride, our summer. I'm ready for Fall, excited for routine, cooling weather, soccer games, drinking hot tea (lots of it), school activities, and perhaps my favorite, wearing jeans every day. But part of me is a bit sad to let go of all this hang time with my kids, I've really started to like them after all:). It makes me anticipate when summer rolls around again next year, and we get another season to just "be".