Summer in Review

Today marked the end of summer for most of our fair city, as all the schoolchildren headed back to the classroom, despite the fact that summer is definitely hanging on here. It's still weird for me, after all these years, that school reconvenes while it still feels like summer. Growing up in New England, I associate the advent of school with a September nip in the air and new, long-sleeved clothes. What do you buy for back-to-school clothes around here? New tank tops, just because?

Anyway, even though today was no different for us -- in fact, my kids all slept in until 8:30 a.m. -- it seems like a fitting occasion to review the highlights of the summer. Sandwiched between times of trauma and of travel, most of these moments never made it onto this blog, but they wove the fabric of a season in our family.

Summertime was ...

Picnic dinners at Zilker Hillside Theater, to see evening performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Annie:

Playing in the creek with friends:

Making mudpies in the yard:

A (mostly free) trip to Six Flags:

Swimming at Barton Springs, an Austin landmark:

A Saturday night at the ballpark:

Running the go-cart around the driveway: 

Succumbing to insanity by joining the crowds at the Lego store's Grand Opening:

Playing excessive amounts of Toontown with the neighbors (at least they collaborated!):

Sending the boy and his buddy off to sweat it out at McKinney Roughs Day Camp:

And visits from beloved friends from far away:

It wasn't my favorite summer ... not a ride I'd like to take again. Mostly, it didn't begin so well. But scrolling through the photos tells a better story.

"Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, 

But to be young was very heaven!" 

                -- William Wordsworth