Farewell Until Fall

As is my usual custom, I'm taking the rest of the summer off from the blog. I've been blogging like a madwoman this month in order to get the posts done that I wanted to do before I left, and I did it, so now I can rest and unplug for two months!

This summer I'm looking forward to seeing my family and friends, to staying in our own Cape house for the first summer ever (this will be our tenth summer in a row on Cape Cod, but the first one in our own place, and it's literally a dream come true!), and to relaxing, reading good books, eating fresh seafood, swimming in the salty, refreshing ocean water, and all the other good things that come with life in summer, my favorite season.

I'm never without a To-Do List, not even for summer vacation, because that's how I make things happen in my life!
These are some of the most important items on my Summer To-Do List:  

*Do yoga on the beach with my sister(s)

*Witness and capture a beautiful sunrise or sunset over the ocean 

(let's be realistic--it's a lot more likely to be a sunset) 

*Go on a whale watch for the first time 

*Find the perfect little owl made entirely out of seashells
*Try out stand-up paddle boarding. I think this looks so fun!

*Read a book on the beach for longer than two minutes without feeling the need to keep an eagle eye the whole time on both kids. Enlist family members to help so that this fantasy of mine will finally happen! 

I hope you have a wonderful summer, whether it involves beach days or not. 

See you in September!

Summer 2013 Redux

Instead of trying to do a bunch of posts about last summer that I never really got around to doing during this past year, I'm just going to post some a bunch of my favorite pictures from the Summer of '13.   

At the zoo that's not far from my Mom's house. 

The kids had a lot of fun there, so we'll go back this summer. 

John feeding the goats.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole summer!

This picture makes me realize how much John has grown this past year!

  

An elegant, friendly giraffe. They are one of my favorite wild animals. 

 

There were some fun kid rides there.

John had this one to himself.

 Pretty view from the parking lot at my Mom's church building.

At the beach in Rhode Island with my kids and my nephew Rocco.

Boys at the beach.

   

 Tag!

John and Rocco (and my sandal).

At The Wayside Inn and Grist Mill, one of my favorite places ever (it also happens to be the place where Peter and I got engaged). This outing and the pictures I took there probably deserve their own blog post, so maybe in the fall I'll finally do that.

And last but not least, Cape Cod!

A perfect beach day with nice calm water...

....despite the presence of that imposing cloud that rolled in for awhile.

I really liked the view of the beach and how these photos turned out, so I'll just post a few more.

Look at all those colorful umbrellas!

I might get this one enlarged and framed.

 Jellyfish at the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History.

Low tide.

Little girl in pink (my niece, Lizzie).

I love hydrangeas. They should be the official summer flower of New England. 

Hydrangeas and history, two of my favorite things about the Cape!

One of my favorite meals, Lazy Man's Lobstah (I mean, "Lobster") for my birthday. 

My sandy shoes.

Digging amongst the seaweed.

 

Flying a kite at the beach. Check out my nicely tanned legs! Ha ha.

 My mom, my sister Jennifer, and my niece Hayley.

This is the funniest picture of the summer to me. My parents have been divorced for 12 years, but they're still friends. There's my mom sitting on the bench, and there's my fitness-obsessed dad, working out nearby on the beach. He looks like he's trying to impress her (he probably was) and she's looking away and having none of it. Ha ha ha!

A wonderful sensation!

   

It was a great summer!