Is Summer Half Full or Half Empty ??

That is the Question! I know that some people out there DREAD the summer home with their kids. I know that some people have to deal with Childcare issues all summer long, and can't wait for school to begin again. But I, on the other hand, don't have either of those problems. I've been spending the summer enjoying my kiddos for the most part. There are always going to be those times that they infuriate me, but for the most part, we have been having a lovely summer :) We had lots of visits from family fairly early on, all around the 4th of July. And then I had a Surprise Baby Shower that I planned for a good friend of mine, which turned out phenomenal

After that adventure ends I am hoping to be able to help my friend Kristy move her and her family across town (closer to us!). Not that our town is huge or anything (pop is less than 3,000 year rounders I would guess.) Our town isn't really set up like a typical town, with a general downtown area, though the area down by the water is generally the most populated, it's more like little islands of sub divisions divided by farms, people with acreage like us, and wetland areas that can not be developed. It's really nice, because even though we are all clustered around the beautiful bay, we all have our own space, some more than others, but really, even the subdivisions have only a short brisk walk to some sort of open space or water. Sorry, I know that I have digressed. Part of the "move" is a smallish yard sale that we are going to have here, because they are moving into a substantially smaller home so they need to purge a little extra stuff and I always have a collection going on of things I would usually just donate to the local "A.R.C." That is planned for this Saturday, so hopefully we will get good yard sale weather and will sell all of our crap stuff. Hehee :)

We also got the second installment of our "swingset" built. And, yeah, I talked myself and Jason and the kids out of the Costco one, even though is it a great playset. But, here's the cool part, we have a 20 foot double slide (for racing) going down the side of one of our hills, right off to the side of where the actual swing set is going to be built!! I am going to go take a picture and post it on here in a few minutes, but I have to go move laundry around :) Okay, here you go :)

So here is the grass almost full grown, I am so excited it looks so BEAUTIFUL out my back windows now, no more garbage, piles of blackberry brambles, fallen trees etc. Look back to May's posts to find some in progress pictures and see the change!!

Another back yard shot. You might be able to find a blog in May with Progress shots where these two trees can be located. It is really an amazing difference!

The Slide!!

Who Hoo!!

You can see how big it is compared to Cayleb! and Sarah Rose!!


Cayleb :)


Cayleb and Sarah Rose getting ready to race :)


Cayleb ready to race :)


Sarah Rose still getting ready to race :) I had to catch her, so I don't have a slide shot, sorry!

Cayleb going down the slide! Usually he's got his arms above his head in roller coaster stance!

So, either way, the answer to the question for me is the summer is still half full, though I see it disappearing ever hour of every day, which only gets us closer to the new school year that I am anticipating greatly!! I think that I need to start making some lists of materials and library books that we are going to need for the first several weeks, so that I feel "prepared." I know that for the most part, however, I am not going to be able to prepare myself for the adventure beyond that :)