What Summer Looks Like {in pictures anyway}...

It goes without saying that summer has been a whirlwind for us. I noticed my last post was dated 6.29.  Yowza.  It isn't for sure that I've had nothing to blog about.  And pictures don't begin to tell the tale.

We spent the Fourth the way we always do, with my family.  The only thing different this year was that I picked up Andrew from dress rehearsal, fed him a quick lunch before everyone else and took him back to rehearsal.  His play started the next evening and it was full sail ahead for that guy.

Since it has been so long, I won't bore you with a play by play of what we did prior to the fireworks.  Let's just say we had tons of time to do it all in.

 Ah, but this is funny...this tree reminds me that Kyle had to go potty and we weren't ready to leave yet.  We were doing something and one of us turned around and yelled, "Noooooooooooooooo, Kyle!"  He was standing in the middle of this huge tree {across from Napa in case your child ever decides to sit in it} with his shorts pulled down, peeing in the tree.  We had to tell him he'd get arrested for indecent exposure and put on the sex offender's registry if got caught.  Yes, we pulled out the big guns.  We tend to do that with a cop in the house.  No holds barred.

 Who knew you could get so sweaty playing with sparklers?  He was a hot mess for sure.  Playing one man baseball does that to you I guess.  it's tough to play all positions at once.

The next day was the big reveal.  I've probably mentioned this before but I will mention it again...I love the anticipation and I never watch the kids rehearse any of their parts for anything they are in.  I love to be surprised along with the rest of the audience.  Well, if I wanted to be surprised, a surprise is what I got!  The play was terrific!  I was at first taken aback by the use of adult language but then chillaxed when I realized I was only used to watching G rated plays involving my boys.  Once I got past that, I was over it.  I mean, we watch tv shows and movies all the time with adult content and language.  Only a couple of times ever have I turned off a movie because of the language.  And those times were B.A.D.  Anywho, the play was great and Andrew did a phenom job!!  We were so very proud of him!  To understand the premise, or to just understand what on earth Andrew is doing in these pics, google "The Nerd".

 Andrew's little girlfriend, Maya, and her friend, came out to support Maya's beau.  Super sweet.

 Don't they just scream soulmates?  Kidding! I am not that mom.  I just think they are an adorable little teenage couple.♥ {who also may resemble each other a tad}

    And it was so sweet {no pun intended} that Maya bought such an appropriate gift for Andrew.  Swoon.

This is when summer became a blur.  Thank goodness for wonderful friends, one of whom is the Excel Queen, who made the weeks and months doable for the boys by scheduling a carpooling frenzy.  I swear it's the only way we survived.

Andrew went to camp about one month after Caleb.  he was so excited.  He kept counting down the days!  I messed up big time.  Andrew was with his dad that weekend so I packed without him.  It shouldn't have been a big deal.  Portage Lake sent the annual packing reminder with a list of essentials.  What I wish I had was the list from last year...the one with all the professional mom packers' ideas!  I threw it away...must have thought I, too, would fit into the "group"...that's what I get for thinking!  So, I might have forgotten a few things but oh well...he survived!  And, at the end of the week, I felt redeemed when I walked up and the camp counselor said to me, "I recognize your face...Andrew sure has missed you!"  What a honey.

Andrew got back from camp on a Saturday and by the following weekend we were off to vacay.  First we spent a weekend with Keith's mom's side of the family.  Always a fun time to look forward to.  Lots of laughing and fun happens.  The river was a bit cold this year but once we stood in it for thirty seconds or so, we lost all feeling and it was all good.  We tied, um, sixteen tubes together and floated along!  The five bigger kids floated on ahead of us and waited a while for us to get to the finish line. {☺}  I think we floated for almost three and a half hours!  Fun!

{Great Grandma Gerrish with my boys}

 Sunday we headed out for a week of sun and {more} fun at our favorite camping spot.  We had amazing weather except for during the nights but it was perfect otherwise.  We had ourselves some visitors and we lounged around the pool most days.  Heaven.

Of course, when we weren't lounging poolside, we looked a lot like this.  We rented movied for the nighttimes when it rained.

We got back home and were kicked in the gut welcomed back by reality right away.  It was like we never left.