Summer gearIt’s the last day of school…and I can’t help but wonder where the school year went. It seems that as my kids get older the school years just keep going faster and faster. Is it just me? Or have you noticed this, too.

It was a great year which I’m sure added to the speedy passing of time. Both of my kids were at the same school, which somehow I found very comforting. And both of my kids had great teachers, which obviously I found very comforting. It was a good year indeed.

I’m a bit distracted today, with summer right around the corner. I keep wondering how the last day is going for them. I know my daughter is going to be really sad to say goodbye to her teacher. I hope she’s doing okay. My son is more than ready to go onto Middle School next year—so I’m pretty sure today is just a fun day for him. Nothing more; nothing less.

I guess it’s time to shift gears and get into summer mode. I have just over two hours until it is officially here! We don’t have anything big planned for the summer. I’m hoping that my parent’s will each come for a visit. But other than that and a few summer camps for the kids, the summer is mostly wide open.

I thought I’d use this post to make a little list of fun things I love about summer—just to help me get excited about shifting from school year mode to summer mode. So here it goes.

Dealing with less paper!

Okay, so one of the things I absolutely love about summer is that there is less paper to deal with every day. Hooray for that! Over the summer I like to go through the past year’s school papers and art projects and organize them into binders. I have a hard time tossing my kid’s papers the minute they bring them home. It just doesn’t feel right to me:  “Nice job sweetie! Let’s run that beauty through the shredder.”

So instead I collect artwork throughout the school year in a bin, and then we go through it over the summer. This project is high on the list.

The circus.

I’m really looking forward to this year’s Circus Flora. This is a super fun summer tradition that we’ve been doing as a family since 2004. This year we’re going with my friend Elise and her family. Hooray!

The flea market.

This weekend I’m going to this Flea Market with my friend Stacey. Very excited to see what treasures I find.

Eating really fresh food.

Hands down fresh food is one of my favorite things about summer. We have a small garden on our side yard—tomatoes, peppers, herbs and some flowers. The garden and our local farmer’s market makes it so simple to enjoy fresh food all summer long. This, along with grilling and eating outdoors—okay, I’m getting quite excited that summer is almost here!

My nephew’s wedding.

I’m so happy for him. The wedding is in August but the bridal shower is next month. It seems like it’s been quite a while since we’ve had a family wedding, so it’s really exciting.

Fourth of July fireworks.

One out of four Garvey’s agree – fireworks are where it’s at! Yes, I’m in the minority on this one, but I really do love Fourth of July fireworks. And everyone else in my family enjoys them more than they think.

Days like today.

After a really rainy and hot May, today is just plain perfect—sunny, low humidity, and seventy nine delicious degrees. I hope we get many more days like this all summer long.

Riding bikes and going for walks.

Or any other excuse I can think of to be outside.

Sitting on the front porch listening to the rain.

Ahhh…I can’t wait for this one.

Fresh, homemade guacamole.

Yum!

Reading in the hammock with iced tea close at hand.

Oh, doesn’t that just sound like summer?

Okay…I think I’m ready! How about you? Is it summer where you live? If so, what do you love about summer or what are you looking forward to? Of if it’s cold where you live right now, what do you miss about summer? I’d love to hear.