Where did it go? Suddenly we are at the end of our first month of school and summer seems so long ago. For a travelin' girl like me, our stay-around-home summer was much better than I expected. N. & E. are old enough now (7.5 & 4) to be more fun than challenging at museums, playing games, and creating unfathomable numbers of random crafts. The boys went camping, to swim lessons & bible camp, and had friends over to play on the humongous water slide (purchased out of desparation in Aug. when I ran out of brain cells and things to do). Cousins Melanie & Samantha visited from TX and cousins Alyssa & Xander came down from MA a few times. N.'s favorites? The water slide and Lazer Tag camp (life is rough) and cousins. E.'s favorites? Was it soccer camp? Swim lessons? Everything was exciting for him - he's 4!
D. & I were "parents" of our church's teens for youth conference at the Joseph Smith birthplace in Vermont. The theme was "The Life of Christ" and we shared revolving moments of craziness, annoyance, and awesome spirituality. In July D., the church Young Men's group president, had more of the same leading his troops on a 150 mile bike ride throughout the islands of Lake Champlain. The reward? A wild and wooly white water rafting trip on the upper portion of the Hudson River. He (D.) only fell out of the canoe 3 times... ya, ONLY! Oh, and we both also got to take the youth tubing down the Farmington River here in CT. Do ya think we all LOVE the water?!
My summer favorites....hmmmm, was it the beach in RI? Always, and this year I taught N. to boogie board. How about the overweight, forty-something mom and her skinny 7 year old catching the waves together - ya baby! Was it picking and canning every fruit and vegetable that grows in New England? Naw, that wears off pretty quickly, however I am thankful for a great harvest and my good friend DM who slogs through it all with me. Was it the million eggs I picked up in the stinky, fly-infested hen house? Naw, but I like the chickens and love the eggs. No, I think my favorite thing this summer was learning that it was okay (and even mostly fun) to hang out with my guys, work in the garden, read a bunch of books, and put up food that will will be so yummy and fresh tasting in the middle of winter.
We hope you all have fun memories of your slowly fading away summer days too!
D. & I were "parents" of our church's teens for youth conference at the Joseph Smith birthplace in Vermont. The theme was "The Life of Christ" and we shared revolving moments of craziness, annoyance, and awesome spirituality. In July D., the church Young Men's group president, had more of the same leading his troops on a 150 mile bike ride throughout the islands of Lake Champlain. The reward? A wild and wooly white water rafting trip on the upper portion of the Hudson River. He (D.) only fell out of the canoe 3 times... ya, ONLY! Oh, and we both also got to take the youth tubing down the Farmington River here in CT. Do ya think we all LOVE the water?!
My summer favorites....hmmmm, was it the beach in RI? Always, and this year I taught N. to boogie board. How about the overweight, forty-something mom and her skinny 7 year old catching the waves together - ya baby! Was it picking and canning every fruit and vegetable that grows in New England? Naw, that wears off pretty quickly, however I am thankful for a great harvest and my good friend DM who slogs through it all with me. Was it the million eggs I picked up in the stinky, fly-infested hen house? Naw, but I like the chickens and love the eggs. No, I think my favorite thing this summer was learning that it was okay (and even mostly fun) to hang out with my guys, work in the garden, read a bunch of books, and put up food that will will be so yummy and fresh tasting in the middle of winter.
We hope you all have fun memories of your slowly fading away summer days too!
