Get Out! Summer Highlights

With the shadows getting longer and the need to wear long sleeves outside today, I realize it's time to prepare for a new season. In places like Wisconsin, you learn to be deliberate with your free time during the warm months. And if you don't have free time, you make it, because come November, the world slows down and gets a little smaller. You see your neighbors less, you go outside less, you just do less.

We've had a pretty wonderful summer. I don't say wonderful lightly. For this mom and dad who have historically worked far too much and played far too little, this summer was a breakout. Gosh it felt like we were living and we have Bear to thank for it. Besides the fact that getting out is the best way to keep him from bouncing off the walls (!), it's also more fun than I could have imagined to show him new things. At two years old, there's no need for elaborate stuff. Yesterday he and I spent half an hour kicking an empty plastic flower pot around the yard and he LOVED it. The three of us spent a good half hour one hot afternoon walking around the school bus yard. He was astonished at an ant he spotted on a walk through the neighborhood. Besides a trip to California, we didn't go too far this summer. Right now it's about getting out and simple stuff. And it's quite wonderful.

Here are some of the highlights from our summer that I didn't already write about. Good bloggers keep up on these things with lots of entertaining commentary throughout the year. Bad bloggers have to pile a bunch of photos into a post at the end of the season. :)  (Once of these days I will try to write about something interesting, but for now just sharing photos is about all I've got!)





Technically this was Spring, but the visit from Grandpa and Grandma Miller kicked things off.

  



At Immigration waiting for fingerprints



Our 8th overnight package to AGCI and finally on the waitlist!



Helping in the yard, planting herbs and tomatoes...and Bear can always find a rock that needs moving.

Visiting Little Ethiopia in LA

Meeting Nathaniel and swimming in his pool

Meeting Great Aunt Dianne



Bear's first trip to the ocean. Go Pacific!



"I go ocean (with) Turtle (the) doggie"



Sea weed and sand castles with Aunt Jonelle





Visiting Great Great Aunt Rose









High flying on the trampoline with the Fietz Family

I love this photo. Bear breakfast sandwich. Auntie MB and Uncle Kevin.


 

Watering Grandma's Flowers











I love this one too. Love and an IPad with Grandpa.

 

Lots of pool time this summer, lots of splashin'

Bear standing on the spot where Dodd and I met....22 years ago! Yikes!

Perhaps the most stunning wedding I've ever attended



Bear's first suit



What Bear thought of his first suit

Turning two with Panda room friends



Uh oh...



"I wide Kamuhl (with) Dada." Bear reminds me of this remarkable event every few days.





The joy, of a boy, on a tractor



Watching lions at the zoo with Abram



Enjoying the fruits of his labor. Raw rhubarb early in the summer was not bad. Eating tomatoes off the vine even better.

Riding a "cycle". Learning to pedal.



The joy, of a boy, and  "Big Trucks!"



Bear's first election was a recall election. Wisconsin politics have been a little crazy this year.



Fulfill your constitutional duty, it's cool

Meeting new friends at a picnic with other Ethiopian adoptive families.  This little guy named Micah also lived at Hannah's Hope. The poor dads usually watch the kids while the moms talk about hair and other (more important) things. I really look forward to these gatherings.

 My Best Summer Memory



The next two photos are of my best memory of the summer. We had just enjoyed a nice dinner with my parents, my sister and her husband in a rustic old goldmining town near my parents' place. It was a warm night and a guy with a pretty good voice was singing old standards on the sidewalk while people walked leisurely along. 

My dad bought everyone ice cream and all of us sat out on the sidewalk eating our ice cream while Bear jumped around dancing to old songs like Mack the Knife. We were all laughing at his exhuberant dancing and enjoying eachother's company. The guy started singing Louie Armstrong and I felt like he could have been singing it specifically for us. For the first time in a long time I heard the words of It's A Wonderful Life and cried. Thankfully I don't know that anyone noticed the slightly sappy tears leaking from my eyes as Bear kept everyone entertained with his moves.

Bear and I after meeting the sidewalk singer



Bear's Best Summer Memory

The concrete truck that showed up to pour our neighbor's driveway. Yes, a "crete truck!" Across the street! In our very own neighborhood.

He was captivated.



Happy Labor Day!