Summer Days, Driftin' Away

School has begun here in North Carolina and that means that summer is over. Even the weather has gotten the memo and provided us with low humidity, low 80's during the day, and high 50's at night (I can hear my Florida friends and family gasping as they read that). If we have to endure some snow and ice in the winter, the least Mother Nature can do is give us a break from the humidity as the calendar turns to September!

Anyway, we tried to soak up those last few summer days with some fun. The kids and I took many trips to the park, ice cream shop (or is it shoppe? - Sounds too high end for me), and the Y. I guess the Y isn't exactly a "fun" summertime destination, but the kids did spend more days there in the summer because they weren't in school! One of our favorite outings is always Reynolda Gardens. It's such a beautiful place and we're so lucky to live right around the corner. We always have such a great time inspecting the new flowers and gardens and splashing around in the fountains.

Isn't it beautiful? This is the Children's Garden section ...

We love traipsing around the paths (or through the plants, but who's watching, right?) and "smelling" (read: "picking") the flowers. My kids are serious flower stalkers. The inside of my van is littered with dried up flowers that they have picked and stashed in their car seats for safe keeping.

The groundskeepers at Reynolda were also generous enough to line their garden paths with lots and lots of very fine dirt. My washing machine thanks you, groundskeepers.

As previously stated, my kids are masters at finding any bodies of water. Thankfully no one fell in (this time).

I am just noticing the sign behind Adah in the previous picture. I'm pretty sure we didn't follow many of the rules that day. I'll chalk it up to the kids' illiteracy at this point in their lives. I may have a hard time claiming the same excuse for myself though.

We did take a little time-out to practice our acrobatics along the way as well. Nothing goes together like a forward roll on a slab of concrete.

We cooled off after our jaunt in (yet another) fountain. The kids entertained themselves by diving for pennies and I got to take a nice rest in the shade. Sounds like a win-win to me!

Just last weekend Matt took the kids down to Charlotte for a fun day with Mimi, Ken, Bogey, and Marmee. They had a blast visiting the Nature Museum. I'm not really sure what was happening in this picture at the museum, but I love that Adah looks like she is seriously tattling on Luke. Can't wait for THAT to start soon ....

After lunch there was a lot of fun to be had at the park. Give my kids a couple swings and a slide and they'll be pretty happy.

The park they went to in Mimi's neighborhood has a neat splash area in it. So cool! I want to live in this neighborhood! I don't see any adults in Matt's pictures of the splash area though, so does that mean I wouldn't be allowed in?

Apparently they got pretty wet (no kidding) and Sam took off his shirt because it was soaked. Peyton decided that SHE wanted to take HER shirt off too, so her request was obliged. I guess if we let Sam wear princess dress-up clothes with the girls then we can let Peyton take off her shirt with the boys. I just hope this desire of hers rectifies itself within the next couple of years. I don't want Joe Francis and Girls Gone Wild knocking on my door in the near future.

And what could be a more perfect ending to a day of fun in the sun than a good old-fashioned Rocket Pop? The answer ... Nothing, my friends. Simply nothing is better than that.