Happy Ending

Off to work tomorrow.  I can't believe that the end of summer has arrived.  I am not in any way ready to start school-- it just feels too soon!  I want another week...another week of sleeping in, another week to soak up the city in the summer, to fit in all the things that we haven't had time to do.  Another week to work on the house, to get any project at all done around here.  Another week of NOT having to deal with all of the headaches it seems that this year is going to offer.

Sigh.

End of whining.

In the face of summer's end, we grabbed on to the season with both hands and took all we could get.

A quick recap:  Wednesday I managed to sneak in two glorious hours at WOW with my little family in between tutoring and a WSC board meeting..Thursday night brought a sleepover for the kids with their wonderful Aunt Bec (complete with Kiddie Park, EZ-Bake ovens and fishing) and a night out downtown for Nat and I, enjoying the sights and sounds of the Games (complete with drag queens, tons of swag, and margaritas on East Fourth).  Friday:  a trip to Fairport Harbor with friends and then, our first night of camping as a family, at the Squire's Castle family campout.  Saturday, a quick bit of beach time, Becca's housewarming party, and a playdate with more friends.  Today:  Canine Fun Days and more time at the beach.

Oh, and time for a long run, sleeping in, and reading the paper.

Summer is so great.  This is why I want more...

Wednesday:

Remember when we propped our little babies inside this statue?

They had this really cool temporary sculpture up.  It was so cool.  So many people posing for pictures, celebrating our city..

Thursday:  Nat and I, enjoying our city some more.  I want the Gay Games to stay in Cleveland forever!  We look good in rainbows...

Friday:  Fairport Harbor.  The water quality rating was poor, so we didn't swim.  Well, except for Corydon. And Max and Jack pretended to swim in the sand.  Which was pretty hilarious.

Friday Night!  Our first camping trip!  Which was barely a camping trip and still somehow the entire fan was full of stuff.  Camping is silly.  But there is just something about waking up to the chilly morning, standing around outside waiting for the sun, about staying up til full dark and snuggling in to a tent...   This particular camping trip was a bit different than we might have chosen on our own, but it was easy, with breakfast provided as well as the chance to make a lot of new friends (all the other families were SO nice, and I even ran into another Hiram Alum and a friend from High School).  Next time, though, we want our own fire pit at our campsite!

The kids did great, sleeping soundly through the night, and they appeared to have a great time.

Except in this picture, where the girls are pretending to be princesses waiting to be rescued.  The castle was totally awesome, by the way, especially in the dark on Friday night.

Making friends on the slackline.

Saturday:  Not many pictures.  We were tired.  But we did have a great evening hosting these two boys...

Today:  Hundreds of good dogs wandering the polo fields.  Kind of tired, hungry, rangy kids being dragged amongst them.  A juxtaposition between awesome and a pain in the ***.  Of course I am glad we went.  I wouldn't miss it.  But I wish it wasn't the last day of vacation because I think that put a damper on the day for me...

Still, though, this weekend was a happy ending to a very satisfactory summer.  

I'll miss you, vacation.  You were grand.