The last day of summer. What a sullen feeling that leaves me. I absolutely LOVE fall!!! But, I never like to see summer go. Also, I'm not particularly too thrilled that fall brings winter -- living in the midwest, I'm sure you can imagine why.
This summer was the best we'd had in years. I reached my 100 lb weight-loss goal, and subsequently comfortably finally fit into a size 8!!! Still have more to lose, but reaching that number was a true accomplishment for me! We witnessed the son of one of our closest friends get married to the sweetest girl on a perfect summer day, (and I even wore an actual dress for the first time since Donny was a baby - he's almost 18 now!). The boys and I started going for walks around Lake Storey, on the bike path, and the hidden trails. We love to explore and take pictures, so at first, we did more of that on our Lake walks, than the actual walking for exercise. Toy Story 3 came to theatres, that was a real treat, and brought me to tears. Actually, let me clarify, I was kinda bawling, lol!! The boys and I decided we were going to see as many movies at the theatre as possible, and we had the best time going to the theatre! Twilight's Eclipse also debuted, and thankfully my friend Alanna was willing to see the midnight premiere with me again (she also went w/me to see New Moon last November!)
Donny finished his driver's ed summer course. And, he played his trumpet for the orchestra in the Prairie Players Civic Theatre production of The Sound of Music. Sammy did NOT have to attend summer school this year. Joshua turned 12, and Austin turned 16 (I was informed when Donny turned 16, that only girls celebrate their "Sweet 16", and boys only like the fact that they can legally get their driver's license at 16, lol!!) Don's parents came to visit for the first time since July 2009. Donny celebrated his 1 year anniversary w/his girlfriend-Brittany. We spent many nights outside watching the night sky. Stargazing is one of our favorite summer traditions. In August, we caught the Perseids and managed to see 28 meteors in about a 1/2 hour or so, before we got too tired and called it a night. We missed the Northern Lights, although we were out there waiting and watching. And.....our little chihuahua-Tiny finally got fat!
The highlight of our summer: our FIRST summer vacation, EVER!!!
Let me back-track a little bit.......Don & I have been married 19 years this December. And in those 19 years, we never really went on a family vacation. We've had many trips to Chicago to stay w/his parents or mine. Or mini-trips to Chicago museums, etc. But, never really did much while we were up there. My parents retired winter of '09, and after living in the house they purchased together when they got married in July 1967, (that's 42 years in the same house --- the house my sister & I grew up in), they FINALLY moved out of that sinking hole of a town called Park Forest, sold their house, and moved down to the Ozark Mountains in Lakeview, AR, right next to the resort town of Bull Shoals. My mom's younger sister, and her husband, and their 6 children all still live there. In fact, they're all w/in a couple blocks of each other. My parents, sister and I used to drive down there every summer to visit them, and my fondest memories from my teen years are of our trips to Bull Shoals, and all the fun we'd have fun w/my cousins, their friends, their church (which my uncle is the Pastor of), and all the different things we used to do for fun/recreation on the lake, or driving to Branson, or Dogpatch USA (now an abandoned amusement park). Just so many fun, wonderful memories! My last time visiting there was June 1991, just 6 weeks before Don proposed to me. And I have missed that place, and my family down there sooooo much all these years!!!
But, for the first time, we finally did what I've been wanting to do since we started our family. We took a family vacation down to the Ozark Mountains!! We stayed w/my parents in their beautiful, spacious new house (literally, it's only like 12 years old or so!) But, I think at this point, I'm just going to make a whole other blog to describe it. I will say, our vacation was the icing on the cake for this summer! Memories our family never-ever forget!
Also we taught the boys how to target shoot down at the outdoor gun range this summer. And we've all discovered a fun new pasttime!! Shooting rifles, and trap shooting (aka "Skeet") w/the 20 gauge shotgun, is sooo much fun!! It's been a real great experience and bonding w/the boys by taking them down to the range.
Then, we spent a day at Fun City waterpark in Burlington, IA. Sammy, Joshua and I met my best friend, Kimm, her kids, and her parents out there for the afternoon. Unfortunately Donny & Austin had to miss out, they were in band camp all day, every day for 2 weeks. So, I spent about 20 min in the pool, and about 3 hours on the lazy river, lol. (Even ran into one of my other Galesburg friends while we were there!) Meanwhile the boys spent all afternoon either in the lazy river or going down all the slides. I should put pics in here....but that's time I don't have to spare right now, considering I haven't even figured out how to do that yet, lol.
But, all in all, my family and I had a wonderful, full summer. We had more warm days this summer than we've had in years, and that's awesome as far as I'm concerned!!! Most of the summer the temps were in the mid-upper 90's and even got into the 100's. The heat indeces were in the 100's many times. And yes, I'm really going to miss that heat!!! I welcome the fall. I LOOOOVE fall.....I just don't like the wintery weather it brings come November or December. I could do w/o the temps falling into the 20's and lower, the ice storms, the deep snow to try and plow through, etc. I would much, much rather keep my summer. But, the nature in the midwest just doesn't agree w/me.....and I don't see any plans of moving further south anytime soon, lol.
So, farewell my precious summer, I shall miss you....but look forward to meeting up with you again in May (when "MY" summer actually begins, lol) Welcome fall, even though with apprehension. You're already here, so what can I do? Make you leave?? LOL!!! ;-)
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