Summer Celebrations: Volume 2

It finally – really and truly – feels like summer.

The weather has been glorious this week. Glorious. I feel like breaking out into the chorus of Angels We Have Heard on High just so I can sing an elongated Glo-ri-a. Not only has it been sunny and warm during the day, the evenings have been deliciously cool. I suspect Anne of Green Gables would heartily approve of this weather combination.

The week had its regular share of ups and downs and I was not always able to embody, as they say, the “best version of myself”. The biggest down was the fact that A’s final dose of (strong) antibiotics was given without food resulting in some unpleasant side effects. She ended up coming home a day early, but was so enthusiastic about the training experience. She has a fun summer ahead.

And, thankfully, the good outweighed the hard.

In lieu of a Happy Things Friday post, I’m coming at you with a decidedly summery version of things I’m celebrating.

ICE CREAM

We’ve gone out for ice cream three times this week. Even though my second cone was a bit of a fail (pretty horrible soft serve at a roadside stand), it was still decadent in a way only ice cream eaten in the full sun of summer can be. For his part, L is favouring one scoop of coffee and one of sea salt caramel which seem like decidedly adult flavours. Most of his friends are still very much in the Bubble Gum! Cotton Candy! Anything Neon! season of life. Apparently, we have moved on from that stage.

Or have we? Yesterday, I took L and a (different) friend to a local farm market. I had just finished reading an article about the flavour Moon Mist. It’s a staple in the Maritimes and now one of the most popular flavours in CANADA. The ingredient list sounds bizarre, if not overtly disgusting: banana, grape, and bubble gum. Anyone who has been reading here long enough could likely surmise this is not my typical flavour combination. But when in Rome, er, Nova Scotia… So I tried it for the first time in my life. And it was shockingly delicious.

SWIMMING

I went swimming. Swimming is on par with 5 am wakeups. I grew up swimming. I spent countless hours in the water each day of summer vacation. I know how to swim. But I have blossomed into a delicate orchid of a human being who shrivels up and dies a slow and miserable death in cold water. Very little in life feels worse to me than being cold and wet simultaneously.

On Wednesday we trekked to a local waterfall. I wore my bathing suit underneath my outfit, but didn’t realllly intend on going swimming. Once the kids had braved the water, they asked if I was going to join them and I surprised even myself by saying Yes. It was cold, but refreshing. I enjoyed it enough that I went back in for a second round.

We had one of L’s friends along for the ride and the boys had a great time alternating between splashing in the bone-chilling water and sunning themselves like string-bean lizards on the hot rocks.

I love these long exposure shots John captured of the waterfalls.

STRAWBERRIES

I drove by our local U-pick field daily this week and each time felt a little twinge of guilt/regret I hadn’t gone to pick strawberries this season. I wanted to eat fresh strawberries, but I didn’t want to pick them. Of course I could buy them in the store, but everybody where we live seems to take a requisite trip to the field.

One morning, a retired neighbour couple popped over to see if our kids would like to join them on a trip to the U-pick. Both kids were gone, so we declined…but a few hours later our doorbell rang and it was our neighbours delivering a box of fresh-from-the-field strawberries!

I’ve now had my fresh strawberries. Guilt and regret duly assuaged.

BBQ

John is king of the BBQ and we’ve been having it several times a week. I love not having to cook, he loves to BBQ, and we all love the food. Win, win, win.

AIR CONDITIONING

I feel like I’ve mentioned this recently, but what a gift it is to have air conditioning. While the nights have been cool, the house still gets warm during the day. We pull the blinds and do what we can to mitigate the heat naturally…but it is a joy to come inside from intense heat and feel the welcome embrace of cool air.

FRIENDS

I fit in a walk with Joy (my best not-married-to-me friend) where I brain dumped the contents of my caffeinated squirrel brain* and a bike ride with John (my husband and best married-to-me-friend). A came home from camp raving about friendship bracelets and all the new connections she made that could, potentially, last a lifetime. There was the day spent canoeing out to an island for training exercises, and Wacky Tacky Tuesday, and late nights in the Craft Cabin. And L’s days were filled with mornings of sports camps where he declared he knew Every single person there, and afternoons of playdates and adventures. Splashpads and waterfalls and ice cream and water fights and driveway basketball and eating supper on the deck off paper plates and Hot Wheels and LEGO. Basically, we’ve been living our best summer life…in lowercase letters.

*courtesy of Kendra Adachi

SUMMER FEET

Yesterday at supper, L came to the table wincing a bit. He had just come inside after two hours of being outside in bare feet. He had played basketball in the driveway and raced around the house and on flagstone pavers playing hose tag with friends. He looked at me and said two words, with a wry but contented smile: Summer feet. And I thought it was the perfect summation of his day and this season. I remember those early weeks of summer, tiptoeing over rocks and around spiky weeds while my feet adjusted to their new freedom. By the end of August, those same feet were calloused and tough as old boots.

Summer feet.

We’re jumping in with both…

Your turn. What are you celebrating this week (aside from July 4th for all my American friends!). Do you enjoy swimming, regardless of the water temperature? Do you ever pick your own fruit? Bare feet outside in the summer – yes or no? Inside your house: bare feet, socks, or shoes?