Seven Quick Takes

1. I always mark the start of new seasons by holidays, rather than their official date. I think summer is after Memorial Day, fall is after Labor Day, and winter is after Thanksgiving. Of course, spring is tricky.  Definitely not after Valentine's Day, unless you live way down south. And Easter is so variable that you can't really go by that. Maybe just when things start blooming again?

2. I feel like we really kicked off summer last weekend. On Friday, we met friends at the zoo. Saturday, we spent the morning at the park and the evening at a barbecue. Sunday was church and then a lazy afternoon at home - washing the car, going for a walk around the neighborhood, and hanging out in the backyard. Just perfect. It doesn't get better than Seattle in the summer. After the zoo, I was driving over the Lake Washington bridge back to our town with two tired little girls. The combination of bright blue water, evergreens, and Mt. Rainier in the distance made feel just so amazingly happy, even with all the crying in the backseat. 

3. We're leaving for our big summer trip tomorrow morning. First we're flying to Ottawa (picking up my sister in the Chicago airport!) to see my extended family and driving to Montreal for a few days just for fun. Then we'll part ways with Allie and fly down to Orlando, where Adam's grandparents live, for a family reunion at the beach. It should be crazy, but so worth it to introduce Maggie to her great-grandparents.

4. The day after we get home, my mom and little brother, Scott, are coming to visit from China. They'll be here for three weeks, with my dad joining them for the last week. As a stay-at-home mom, I looooove having family visit. It's so great having adults to talk to during the day and a couple extra sets of hands. Hopefully they'll enjoy it more too now that we have a guest room and guest bathroom for them!

5. The day they leave (to tour colleges and visit more family), we're going to a Sounders game with Adam's work, then we have one free weekend before a whirlwind week of the Edel Gathering, our anniversary, and my parents coming back for a quick visit before heading to China again.

6. The whole month of August is blissfully free. I'm hoping to convince Adam to go hiking with some friends as a little thank-you for watching the girls while I'm in Austin. I was planning on doing swim lessons at the Y with Claire again (and using the childcare for Maggie) but the pool will be closed for renovations! We live within walking distance of an outdoor pool that offers toddler swim lessons (they're every day for two weeks) but parents don't get in the water with them and I'm not sure if Claire's ready for that. Maybe if one of her little friends goes too? We might just do the summer session of music class instead.

7. We're hoping to end the summer with a trip to Vancouver Island to visit my relatives there and then it's back to regular life. In the fall, I'll be taking over as the leader of our parish mom's group, which mostly just means sending reminder emails and making sure I arrive at the meetings on time. But what would be your idea of the perfect church playgroup?  

I hope your summer is off to a swell start! Go see Jen for more, more, more.