Simple Summer

Hi Friends! I haven't posted much because we are busy doing summer!  I love summer.  I think I especially love it because in summer we bask in a free schedule, and lots of free small town activities.  I feel like I see a lot of blogs or articles about moms who can't stand having their kids home all summer. Maybe different ages are harder, but I love that we get to spend every day together in the summer--I've been looking forward to it! 

We got a reminder of what a gift this time is this week when we heard about a local 8 year old little girl who died, after getting a cancer diagnosis just 14 days ago. Everyone is devastated for this family. It makes me so glad that I am taking time to spend playing with my kids. I know I will never regret enjoying (and teaching my kids to enjoy) the simplest things. Every single day is a gift you guys, we are not guaranteed even one more. 

Additionally, the longer I live here, the more convinced I am that we live in Stars Hollow. This is what we've been doing: 

A free hot air balloon festival, is always the sign that it's almost summer. 

Working on summer reading programs and visiting the library robot,

We're having picnics in the park, and going to free concerts in the park.

Farmers markets. This radish festival was over-the-top Stars Hollow. They had a radish piñata, radish toss (corn hole), radish stamping art projects, radish taste testing, and this radish jewelry making station. I am telling you, I'm pretty sure I saw Taylor and Human Kirk there.

We bought our yearly National Parks Pass; the one that gets you into all the national parks and monuments in the country. We already used it at a Cabrillo National Monument (lucky us!), and we have Rocky Mountain National Park, and about 5 more in South Dakota on the list for this summer. Things 1 & Thing 2 have their sights set on some more Jr. Ranger badges. 

We are starting to eat out of the garden for this season. Lots of baby greens, and several handfuls of snow peas and sugar snaps, so far. I love that Thing 1 likes going out to look for ripe veggies from the garden. He's been watching those peas like a hawk. Thing 2's favorite garden activity is eating stevia leaves, which he calls "candy plant." Some beautiful blooms from our flower garden have been brightening up our kitchen too.

That's pretty much our simple summer. I'm grateful for every day of this life, and I will not take anything for granted. I hope that you are having happy days too, Friends. 

                       "Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you will look back

 and realize they were the big things."