Bye bye Summer!

It's official. Like really official, summer is gone. I'm so sad about it, I am definitely a Summer Gal. Spring is my second favorite season followed by Fall and then, the dreaded Winter. I would do great living in a place that was all summer, all the time. While others look forward to the turning leaves, long pants and cozy sweaters, I miss the hot sun, humidity and skimpy swimsuits. (Ok, my swimsuit isn't exactly skimpy, it's a "Mom Tankini" with a skirt but next year...)

We had a great summer, we went to the pool at the Y, a lot...


We had lots of fun and learned or taught at summer camp...

We worked out a lot and...

ran races with loved ones...


We spent time with family in the beautiful state of Maine...


And went from looking like this last summer...


to this...

this summer and while I know neither one is an ultra-flattering picture, I'm feeling so much better and can't wait to see what next summer brings.

Bye bye summer... we'll miss you!

Life Changes...

Sometimes life can be a little bit rocky...

Sometimes they say, "Life's a beach!"

Sometimes it's a little bit of both...

This is one of those kinds of weeks for me, Today begins the last full week of summer for our family with big, BIG changes ahead. SO much is going on. I have off from work for the next two weeks because our Y is having it's annual shut-down for maintenance and the week after that, the indoor pool is still shut down for extra maintenance. Fortunately, the outdoor pool will still be open so I imagine we'll be spending a good deal of time there. No swim lessons is a nice break but we'll still be plenty busy getting ready for next week, next Monday will be The Son's First Day of Kindergarten!


The Husband and I have a meeting on Wednesday this week for The Son's school and then he has a "Sneak-a-Peek" meeting on Thursday where he'll get to see his classroom and meet his teacher. He's feeling a little bit apprehensive about it all but I think as soon as he meets the teacher and sees the classroom, he'll be excited. I think he's ready, he's been in preschool since the age of two and a half. He loves to learn, he loves to make friends... he's definitely ready in all those respects, but I know he feels it as a big change as well. A real milestone in his relatively short life so far. I'm pretty confident, he'll adjust well and quickly. Me... I'm not so sure. Part of me is ready and SO excited for him, but as so many of you know, it's hard to "let go," to let him enter the "real" world of education. He's only attending half day kindergarten, I still haven't decided if that's going to be a good or bad thing for us. I guess that all remains to be seen. I do know that it will be an adjustment for both of us, my little shadow for five years will be missing for a couple extra hours in the day and that's going to be hard.


I too have changes ahead for me as well, hopefully, they'll all turn out to be good. I'll keep you posted on them. For this week, it just means that I have to go work out at a different YMCA, nothing major. I know it's a nice Y, nothing like the little rinky-dink one I visited in Maine last week. I'm looking at it as a nice change of pace. It will be nice for The Son to check out a new Kids' Corner too. I'm hoping it will help him realize that change is good and that Kindergarten won't be so scary.


I'm currently uploading the hundreds of pictures I took on our vacation to Maine. I'll share some more of them with you this week. Have a great Monday everyone! Stay healthy! We're going to work on enjoying this last week of Momma/Son time together.

Fun at the Gardens!

Longwood Gardens that is. 

I could show you pictures of our "last" day at the pool yesterday but I realize I've shown lots of pool and beach pictures this summer and really...let's face it...they all start to look kind of alike at some point. As much as I like to look at pictures of The Son splashing in his swimsuit or rocking his shark goggles, I'm not so sure all of you find as much pleasure in it, at least not over and over and over again. 

So I decided to save those pictures for later in the week when I'll surely need to have something to blog about and instead, post a few pictures from our Saturday evening trip to Longwood Gardens. 

If you're not familiar with Longwood Gardens (and most of you probably aren't) it was originally land owned by the duPont family (yes, the chemical company duPonts) It has a really rich history and it's just a gorgeous place to go. Check out the history on their website if you're really interested, I found it quite intriguing myself but then again, I am a history geek. Today they have over 1000 acres of "gardens, woodlands and meadows" to enjoy when you visit. I am really looking forward to visiting at Christmas time. I hear it's especially beautiful then. 

We had a really nice time in spite of the brutal humidity that night. You'll notice there are no pictures of me. It was far too hot for that. 

We started out at an area where they were releasing lady bugs. The Son had a ball with this and he was very popular with the ladies (bugs that is) that day. They were all over him. At one point he had them up in his shirt. It was quite funny. We also got to see a praying mantis and a working bee hive. The Son was in his glory as he really loves bugs! 

My handsome little bug.

He found this log and instantly told us it was an "ancient African log" he cradled it in his arms and sat on this chair ready to pose for a picture... my kid is programmed I tell ya! All I could think of was "Twin Peaks" and the log lady...remember that? 

This age just cracks me up! "Look how HIGH I am Momma!" So cute that he's hardly even a foot of the ground but still oh so proud of himself. 

Here's the main conservatory at Longwood Gardens. It's really beautiful but on a humid day, it's also REALLY muggy. We didn't stay in here for too long on this trip. 

The fountains of Longwood. They have musical fountain displays daily and fireworks for special times of the year. Even without the special events though, it's really cool to watch.

I love this picture! Because The Son is such a poser, (for pictures that is) It's difficult to get him to NOT look at the camera. Here he is playing in an area in the Children's Garden and he just looks so genuinely happy. He's such a sweet boy. 

More fun and he's not looking at the camera!

This was a little area in Longwood's "Idea Garden" (my favorite place) The Idea Garden is the area where they show you ways to incorporate things into your actual garden at home, they have lots of beautiful fruits, veggies and herbs. (next year) The Son liked the compost box that was full of worms and slugs and we could barely drag him away from it. Leave it to him. 

Anyone know what this is? Usually everything is really well labeled but we couldn't find out what this was. I don't think it's edible but who knows. I'll "google" it later. It sure was pretty though, don't you think?

My sweet guys...

Time to go...

We stopped by a local Italian place for dinner and The Son had it in his head that he HAD to share a noodle with Daddy and then as he said, "kiss at the end". I think the kid's watched too much "Lady and the Tramp". LOL! 

Oh! In case you were wondering...these are shark goggles.