Under the Blue Umbrella

I'm under my blue beach umbrella watching my children splash in the pool. I've been here in this very spot almost every day since June. We'll stay until we've had enough of the afternoon sun and then we'll go have popsicles on the porch while we wait for Dad to come home. Dinner will be late, and though I know I should probably enforce bedtime, I won't. I'll let them stay up and play - it's still light outside after all. The long, slow days of summer ironically seemed to fly by this year. It feels like it should be July when it's well into August. We're making our final check marks on our list of goals ( Summer Goals 2008 post). We did pretty well, all things considered. We visited This Is The Place, the petting zoo, and the aviary, along with the Children's Garden and Wheeler Farm. Madeleine worked on riding her two-wheeler until an high-velocity encounter with a tree squelched her enthusiasm. Uncle Chad came over and gave Beth her first soccer lesson. Mary spent many a blissful hour with her little friends. Luke improved his golf score significantly.

As for my goals, I did ok. If you only count the first and last week of the summer I get credit for the goal of keeping the kids on a routine. I thoroughly enjoyed our little pioneer adventure. Mary is in fact potty trained - it was the lipstick incentive that did the trick. As far as my blog goes, well, what you see is what you get. I also read a few books and started learning to play golf. Some day I may even be good enough to have a score. And of course, I've been here, under the blue umbrella, watching my children laugh, play, and sometimes cry. I forgot to bring my camera this year. I usually video them swimming and doing tricks so that the next year we can see how much they've learned and how much they've grown. But they grow so fast. With or without the videos I can't keep up.

I already miss them, the ages they are right now I mean. I miss the thought of waking up in the morning and having the whole day open to spend with them however we want. I miss the freedom of sending them out the door in nothing more than a playdress and sandals. I miss the anticpation of all the fun things we'll do together over the summer, because now summer is over. But, there's always next year. We'll make new goals, and have more adventures, and we'll be here, splashing and playing almost every day. Come join us - you'll find us under the blue umbrella.