Goodbye Summer!

Now that it’s officially over, I guess I have to say goodbye to summer. I love fall, but I just want to reminisce about what a gorgeous summer we had. It seemed to stretch on and on with all the amazing, warm, dry weather. I soaked up as much sun as I could. We traveled all over the country and our state, we had loads of silly fun with family and friends, enjoyed amazing food and drinks, and spent long, lazy days playing outside. 

We started our summer early, at the end of May, when we piled onto a plane to spend a week in Michigan. Our kids love to travel and after years of practice, they are actually good at it.

They love the airports, the trains that take us from our concourse to baggage, the planes. They are even good at waiting; Lily’s noticed there’s often a lot of waiting in travel. Here we are at SeaTac waiting for our plane to Detroit. It’s 4:30 in the morning, Jasper and I cuddled;

Lily and Greg did some math, geeks!

Greg’s mom and stepdad live on a private lake in Plainwell, MI and it’s absolutely gorgeous.

The kids visit by themselves almost every summer, but this was one of the best visits we’ve had as a family.

The weather was perfect, in the seventies with no humidity.

I got to be completely lazy and read a ton. The kids fished, kayaked, went tubing, played at the beach, visited friends, tons of cousins and their great grandpa.

It was the perfect beginning to an amazing summer, the kind of summer I dream of my kids having.

Then we got to go to Lake Erie for Bill and Caitlin’s wedding!!

We made new friends,

played in the sand, 

saw lots of cousins and aunts and uncles,

and HAD A BLAST!

The rest of our summer in Washington was hot and lazy and wonderful. We went camping,

acted silly,

had picnics,

lazed in the grass,

played in the garden, watched it grow, and harvested from it.

We enjoyed eons of blue sky!!

Had bonfires,

ate so much delicious food, including Greg Ohlin’s hash browns almost every Saturday morning,

drank tasty cocktails,

 

 

experimented with new gluten-free flours,

practically drowned in strawberries and squash blossoms,

drooled over homemade ice cream and popsicles,

took tons of pictures,

spent time with good friends,  

visited Sammy,

and played at Mukilteo Beach.

The only thing missing was a swimming pool a few blocks away, but aside from that it was a magical summer!!

Goodbye summer!! I’ll miss you when the chilly rains come and my toes are frozen and the darkness settles in around us, but I am looking forward to cozy evenings by the fireplace, big chunky sweaters and warm, comforting meals to feed my soul.