Nutshell

Liam's first day of kindergarten is tomorrow. I figured, what better way to end the summer than by thinking about all the stuff we did? So here's our last three months in a nutshell:

Damon turned one.

We drove to the Outer Banks for a week of vacation.

Liam spent almost a week and a half (during two separate visits) at the farm in southeastish Ohio with the grandparents.

Carrie spent a week in Pennsylvania at church camp for Owl Patrol.

We drove to Cleveland for a graduation party.

We drove to Columbus for Dada's triathalon.

We went to Oglebay Zoo in Wheeling, West Virginia; to the Aquarium in Manteo, North Carolina; to the Toledo Zoo here in Ohio, and to the Pittsburgh Zoo in Pennsylvania.

We went to Woodland Park and Side Cut Park.

Carrie attended two VBSes and Liam went to one.

We attended my grandfather's memorial service in Pennsylvania.

We (the Royal We) hung out countless loads of laundry, washed zillions of dishes, ate way too much junk food, and caught plenty of fireflies.

We tried to stay vigilant about watering the herbs out front and the blueberry bush. Some of us were more vigilant than others.

We also tried to stay on top of picking produce from the gardens. Some of us were more successful at that than others, as well.

We tried to be good dog owners, but we secretly think Triskal loves our neighbors more than us. They borrow her and walk her regularly. We owe them big time for all the times they've kept an eye on her so we could be where we needed to be without 100 extra pounds of Newfie tagging along!

Liam had gymnastics classes on Thursdays through the Y. He loved it and is registered for a new class this session. He's convinced that if he's at gymnastics, it must be Thursday. Never mind that class is on Mondays now...

We headed out for sun and sand at Maumee Bay a few times, too. Damon can't get enough of the water. Even in the yard, he heads for the dog dish, the bird bath, anything wet he can find.

We even made it to the Farmers' Market several times this year, which is more than we can say for last summer. We even went to the June First Friday Night of fun downtown!

We did NOT host Christmas in July, because we ran out of July. We're tossing around the idea of a fall festival of some kind. Muggin suggested Kurth Cornucopia, and I think it has promise...

Whew. Is it any wonder I am pooped? Cheers to a new school year and autumn!