Late summer bliss

August is winding down, people are talking back to school, stores are selling Halloween candy and pumpkin spiced nonsense… and I’m here, pretending to be immune to it all, soaking up some late summer bliss.  

This has been a summer to remember.  

Fortunately I have an Instagram feed and recently acquired old school journal to help with that remembering… (most days I forget where 90% of the things we need are… and then there was that one time Grace announced, “Mom, one of your children is missing!”… it was Nicky.  And he was in the driveway.  And yes, I was sure to write that down because it seemed both hilarious and intensely terrifying.).  

The kids and I have spent nearly every day of the last 2 1/2 months down the Cape, free from the rush and routine of our city lives, which has been both exhilarating and disorienting.  We’ve missed Nick terribly while he’s been at work during the week, and packed as much adventure into our weekends with him as possible.  

We put quite a dent in the summer bucket list we made as a family back in June (which I wrote on the first page of the aforementioned journal… I am basically a middle schooler trying to have the best summer ever).

FAMILY SUMMER BUCKET LIST 2017

• Take an airplane ride (Grace) — LOL. NO.
• Cape Cod Museum of Art (Elizabeth)
• Feed the ducks at the lake (Nick)
• Go on adventures (Grace) — I’m going to make an executive decision and call this done
• Go to Provincetown (Elizabeth) — We took an impromptu drive up last weekend, but I sort of want to go back again immediately, if not sooner.
• Farm visits (Elizabeth) — We’ve been to the Taylor-Bray Farm a few times this summer
• Get a library card (Grace) — One of my favorite days!  We’ve made good use of that card.
• Drive a race car (Grace)… this hasn’t happened yet, but we are taking her to the go-carts next week, so… that must count?
• Plant a garden (Elizabeth) — Nick upped the ante (and kept things alive) by adding a drip irrigation system 
• Play in the sprinkler (Grace)
• Pirate museum (Nick) — We went to the Wydah Pirate Museum in July to see treasure from the Wydah, a pirate ship that wrecked of the coast of Marconi Beach in 1717 (the dive site is still active)
• Berry picking (Elizabeth) — Blueberries!
• Mini golf (Elizabeth) — I think we accomplished 3 holes before Nicky tried to go swimming in the decorative water feature thing
• Bowling (Nick)
• Eat at Hangar B (Elizabeth)
• Band concert (Elizabeth) — we made it to 3 of Harwichport’s Music in the Port nights
• Play in the pool (Grace) — No pools, but lots of “underwater diving” in Nantucket Sound
• Make a safety plan (Grace)… can you tell she’s my daughter? Safety first, fun second.  Also, a safety plan would have really helped on a day like this one… so maybe I should get on this.
• Go to the playground (Grace) — and not just any playground, legit the best playground
• Fireworks (Grace) — Maybe this weekend in West Dennis?
• Make tie dye shirts (Grace) — She made one for herself, Nicky and all of the cousins
• Go to a “baseball concert” (Grace)… I think she meant a game… and I totally blew it (the Cape League season ended two weeks ago)
• Bubbles (Nicky)… a solid contribution to the list
• Drive in movies (Nick)

There’s still time, people.  THERE IS STILL TIME.

I knew this would be a fun summer, but I hadn’t anticipated that it would be more significant than that.  My time alone with Grace and Nicky truly has been something special.  Something to cherish.  Something to reflect on. Something to miss when they’re older and can drive themselves to get ice cream.  Something to learn and grow from as a mother (and, like, a regular person). 

Late summer is perfect for this sort of thing (learning, growing, reflecting).  

As the season begins to shift, we inevitably do too.  

Soon we will fall back into our routines.  We’ll spend more time actually doing things, and less time counting boats and birds.  We’ll have more structure to our days, and less sand in our shoes.  We’ll have a little time apart (likely important for the sanity of everyone involved) while the kids are in school.  And we’ll eat less ice cream (again… important).

But for now, for these last few weeks, we’re going to live in our late summer bliss.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Eating 100 cherry tomatoes from today’s farmers market
• Making organic frozen ring pops (instead of doing the dishes… YOLO)
• Don’t know what foods are in season? There’s an app for that from Food52

How are you living your best late summer life?