Highlights of Summer 2013

The Summer of 2013 has certainly been one to remember, and while you're probably thinking "It's only August 6th, summer isn't over yet", I wanted to get these thoughts and photos put down before I have to return to my reality called work and memories fade-as they all too often do.  First and foremost, I have to give a big shout out to my boss, and employer, without their willingness to let me find the balance between work and family, I would have never gotten to experience what I like to call the highlights of Summer 2013:

Mom/Son Sleepover
Alex/Mom trip to the Milwaukee Public Museum
Our church provided this wonderful opportunity for Alex and I to spend the night at the EAA museum.  The night included a guided tour of the museum, supper, activities: egg drop, kidventure, and a movie.  We got to lay out our sleeping bags and sleep among the beautiful plane displays in the museum.  We also road tripped down to the Milwaukee Public Museum at the end of July, this is a trip that we try to do annually-Alex loves looking at all the exhibits, as do I.  We finished the day off watching a movie in the dome theater called Flight of the Butterflies.

4th of July Up North

Night out with Laura

Our time up north is always great; however, one particular night stands out in my mind and that is the evening Laura and I went into Minocqua ourselves.  We went to ride go carts, play mini-golf, had dinner at a nice restaurant, and then went out for ice cream-ALL BY OURSELVES.  Laura and I's birthday are two days apart, so this year we used it as an excuse to go out alone, my fondest memory of this evening is Laura asking if she can drive the go cart while I give it gas, the smile on her face and the way she beamed at me was a memory that I hope is forever burned in my mind.  

 Ainslee writing her name alone for the first time
Ainslee swimming unassisted for the first time








I know, you're all thinking really, that's one of your fondest memories?  Like most things with subsequent children, you become more lax and things like teaching them to reach a milestone before everyone else's kid becomes overrated.  Alex and Laura were able to write their names without help by the time they were 4 years old.  I can honestly say I just haven't made it priority, but given she's going to start preschool this year-I figured I better get our butts into gear.  She has the Ain down, but she resembles Billy Madison writing Z on the blackboard after that. . . . It really didn't take much persistence, but rather my attention and a little time-just for her, and she did it (also before she turned 4).  Ainslee is pretty quiet and reserved, she doesn't like to draw much attention to herself, so it came as no surprise when she gracefully pushed off our bottom step and swam to the shelf in the middle of our pool when nobody was expecting it.  Obviously I would have preferred a warning from her, but I wouldn't expect anything else from our little fish.

Laura's 1st friend birthday party, Alex attending the 1st Brewer baseball camp, daytrip to Madison, 2nd baseball season with OYB, first summer with our pool, Alex's first cub scout camp, supper at Ed and Ardy's, lots of playdates with  friends-young and old, and the list continues.

These are all your ordinary, every day memories; however, I am extremely fortunate that I was able to be present for all of these moments.  It really put having a summer bucket list into perspective, it wasn't the amount of to-do's on my list but rather the quality of the few things that I really wanted on the list.