Oh, SUMMER. I yearn for you all year long and you’re HERE. Your manners are occasionally questionable…Sometimes you arrive late to the party (do you realize it’s rude to make people wait on you?). Other times, you grossly overstay your welcome, selfishly hanging around and annoying everyone when we’re all ready for your buddy, Autumn, to move in. (He’s our favorite, you know.) You withhold rain for weeks on end, teasing us with dry thunderstorms and freaking us out with lightening strikes in the neighborhood. But I can overlook these things, because there’s no one like you. Your presence is special.
Summer 2017 will be remembered for rainbows and peonies, for naked water-loving babies on the patio and in the bountiful flower garden, for weekly Oden/Mama hikes through the wildflowers, for impromptu family dance parties, for much-needed date nights and glorious toddler naps, for dinosaur water tables and playing in the hose and squealing around the splash pad.
Oden enjoyed some “firsts” this summer: his first tastes of watermelon and corn on the cob, hosting a gaggle of friends in the kiddie pool for Father’s Day, the madness of Park City’s 4th of July parade, blowing (hundreds of) dandelions while making a wish, a ride on Grandpa’s boat in Colorado, the simple joy of digging in the sandbox, leisurely floating in a blow-up lounge chair around a pool, chasing a gaggle of quacking ducks. There were, ahem, interesting road trips and camp outs in Willie the Trailer and fun visits with Grandma and Grandpa.
Oden will never be this age again, gleeful and mobile with so many new experiences, which makes every day an adventure and this summer a particularly magical moment in our lives. So thank you, Summer, for your generous gifts.
Stick around a little longer, won’t you?
More favorite things about summer (including my favorite summer meal!)
the usual bliss 