It is nearly time to wrap up our summer in a sand-dusted beach towel, put it on the shelf next to the numerous bottles of sunblock in various states of emptiness, and close the door. Though we’re always ready for the summer break to begin, no one is ever quite ready for it to end. The weather remains in good health, the beaches still wave us over, the ice cream stands keep their windows open and cones fresh, and the list of activities to tackle never gets completed. How can we possibly think about beginning the next school year when we haven’t gone mini-golfing yet? Or made use of “Free Fridays” at local museums? Or lit sparklers after dark? Or taken that long-desired boat trip up to Camden? Or made it to NS to see family? Can we even call it summer if we don’t have a jar of dead lightning bugs to show for it?
What have we done this summer?! Thankfully all my pictures tell a pretty okay story of what we’ve been up to in the last few months since apparently my brain is just along for the ride like the rest of you. What I do know is that our summer seems to begin when Jake returns from school.
I wouldn’t presume to know exactly what one learns in class as a mechanical engineer, but there’s nothing like real world examples to solidify the knowledge. For instance, Jake learned that his mother and sister will beat him and his brother in a game of basketball when the boys’ team is wearing rollerblades while playing. Maybe that’s a last semester kind of proficiency…
The four youngest had their first in-person piano recital since 2019 this June. After having one less-than-optimal online recital last year, this was a refreshing way for them to be terrified and nervous in public. It’s always nice to see my labors of yelling, “Go practice!” come to fruition. I mean, they all did great.
James gained another new experience by way of his flag football team making it into the Superbowl. As one of the youngest and shortest players on his team, it was fun to watch him ‘grow’ as a player and be relied on to make catches, gain yards, earn points, and snatch flags. Their team took the victory and James now only has six more rings to go to catch up with the GOAT. 🙂
Father’s Day weekend brought a unique opportunity for Danny and the girls. Ellie and Anna had signed up for a 2 v 2 beach volleyball competition that ran over several weekends in early summer. The league offered a Father/Daughter afternoon of games in which the dads could join their girls and play other familial teams. No prizes were handed out, but if there were, we would have received first prize for having the most spectators for our team. Oh, and also they won every game, which is less surprising to most people than the fact that there are eight persons in our family.
When they’re not playing sports, sometimes the kids are just being sweet, silly, or sassy.
Danny and I celebrated 23 years of marriage this July. The good news is we love each other very much. The bad news is we’re terrible at taking photos, and out of the two that we took over the whole weekend of us together, this was the better one – believe it or not.
Now we are in the last month of summer vacation. Jake left for school, via MI camp, which means the house is emptier and quieter. Then we left for MI camp. Due to the scheduling and age gap, we never saw the kids again! I think it’s safe to say they had a great time. It’s hard to accurately portray how much is packed into a day at camp, but the kids falling asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow every night was a pretty good indicator that they were busy all. the. time.
What’s not pictured above are the rest of the teen challenges, tubing, fishing, kayaking, craft time, Derby car making, the David and Goliath skit for the kids’ Sunday school class (guess who played the part of Goliath?), Capture the Flag, ping pong, carpetball, softball, pickleball, and my youngest boys enjoying unlimited soda from the fountain.
Looking back over the last three months, it seems we did, in fact, pack in a lot this summer. Maybe I don’t need a jar of dead bugs after all.
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