Farewell, Summer.

Believe it or not, I used to despise summer. For starters, I really hate the intense, never ending heat. And when my kids were younger, it was such a chore to get them out of the house only to sweat through whatever it was that we decided to do. And swimming with two young toddlers who didn't know how to swim was far more trouble than it was worth.

This summer has been a complete game changer for me. Since we were so busy last year with school, Bible Study and other commitments, a laid back summer has been such a welcome change. We have spent a lot of time swimming and both kids have become pretty darn good swimmers. We've been busy, we've been lazy. We traveled across the United States and yet there were a few days we didn't even step foot outside the house.

With Cameron headed to Kindergarten I am realizing that the summer season truly does have a beginning and an end date- making these fun, carefree months seem incredibly short, and I'm coming to realize, incredibly special. My days at home with them are definitely numbered! Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to this summer.

 

One of our first memorable adventures this summer was picking strawberries at the strawberry patch. The kids loved this so much. We came home with about 5 quarts (some with little Kylie sized bites out of them) that we have used all summer. Its important to me to teach my kids exactly where food comes from (how and where it grows) so they don't assume it just all magically comes from the grocery store! They have asked to go back many times so I'm pretty sure this will become an annual tradition.

The kids both had a session of swim lessons (Kylie's first) this summer too. It is amazing to me how far they have come! Both can swim independently on their own now. Kylie has no fear in the water and has much more skill at 3 years old than Cameron did at that age. We will definitely keep swimming over the fall and winter. 

An evening of Riverfest fireworks, a Wingnuts baseball game, and WAY too many food court concessions. I love this picture- even though it's just a quick cell phone shot! 

Father's Day!

Summer shenanigans... I'm not quite sure what Kylie is doing here! Silly kid.

Cameron and Jon have done quite a bit of fishing this summer. Cameron has caught some impressive fish right from our backyard, and even caught sharks on vacation! We went on a shark fishing excursion and collectively we caught 22 sharks. 

 And speaking of our vacation, we went to Hilton Head Island, SC. We had so much fun there two years ago that we decided to go again. We were there over 4th of July and had a blast!

 We went on boat rides, kayaked, the kids rode horses, ate ice cream (nightly), rode bikes, and of course, spent a ton of time at the beach.

It has been an incredible summer and if I'm honest, I'm not ready for it to end! I always look forward to fall but I'm absolutely savoring the last 7 days of summer before we send Cameron off to school.