Lovin' Summer

We just got home from the beach. It's not the ocean, though my kids (two of whom saw the Pacific Ocean when they were quite small) think that it is.

A few years ago, our city repurposed a quarry. They dredged it, filled it with water, and erected a splash pad, park and other buildings around it. It's free to get in. Every year, we do our best to get there more than a couple of times. It gets tough because of the kids' schedules, the weather, etc.

Earlier this week, we went later in the day, around 5:30 PM. It closes at 7:30 PM, so by 5:30, the crowds have thinned considerably. The kids had an absolute blast, though I was on my own with the kids. This makes it a little overwhelming. The place isn't huge, but it can be difficult to keep eyes on everyone. A few nights ago, I met up with a mom friend and we were able to keep our collective eyes on everyone.

Today was a busy day, as most Saturdays are for us anymore. I got up early to do my normal Saturday morning thing. Then I cleaned out the Toyota. I hadn't done that in a while. We have started carpooling to dance with one of Bekah's friends. The thought of her getting in the Toyota, that was quite full of garbage, was embarrassing.

By the time I finished cleaning the car out, I had to go get her, then Bekah, and drop them off at the dance studio. I walked a dog, Tony, for 60 minutes. It ended up being a longer walk because the poor guy, a black giant schnauzer, was really overheated. It was 90 degrees by 10 AM and he and I were both fairly miserable.

After I was done with the walk, I had a few minutes to mess around on my phone and then go back, pick the girls up and take Bekah's friend home.

In an attempt to prevent my face from gracing the walls of the library, I'm trying to be a more conscientious library patron. So we headed over to the library to return a couple of books. Back home for lunch, then I took a walk to play Harry Potter.

Back home, then Brian and I tackled the garage. We are going to inherit a freezer for the garage, something I know is usually a waste for people. We have a refrigerator that is 20+ years old, so the freezer side (it's a side-by-side) is miniscule. We love to shop at Costco, but sometimes struggle to fit all the frozen items in the freezer at one time.

Once we finished that project, we made dinner and loaded up for Three Oaks.

It's one of those days where I am feeling grateful and I'm not even entirely sure why. It was glorious to have kind of a letter-perfect summer day. I didn't take a single picture at Three Oaks. I didn't feel the need to plaster Facebook with everything we did. I just kept moving the whole day. My kids kept moving the whole day.

Jeremy is already headed off to bed, which is pretty normal but also glorious. The rest will drop like rocks. I have to say, there have been years where I couldn't physically keep going to get them worn out. Lately, even though the scale hasn't been budging, I've had a decent amount of energy. I am okay with sitting still, but I don't have to take a nap every day (I used to take at least a 2-hour nap every day).

I have dinner heating up, thanks to my dad. He volunteers with Salvation Army once a week. He goes around to local businesses and rounds up all the bread (normally *just* bread) and then takes it back to the Salvation Army church. This week, Costco had given them quite a bit of meat and other things. Nothing is technically expired, it's just at the very edge of it. We had pork tenderloin buttons last night and are having ribs tonight. No muss, no fuss.

I feel silly being so grateful when it seems unwarranted. I'm going to go with it, though.