Top Ten

Back to school. Sigh. Part of me is celebrating. True, I now have more alone time: alone time with the laundry, alone time with vacuuming, alone time with reading (the bills) and so forth. No, I'm definitely not celebrating that. I'm celebrating the fact that Lauren and Emma have new bookbags, cute pants, pretty shirts and new pencils. They are happy to go back to school, to see their friends and meet their new teachers. I'm celebrating that.

The other part of me is sad. Our summer is now finished. We loved our summer. This Summer.

Here's our Top Ten Summer Favorites:
10. Swimming lessons at Codman Pool with the lifeguards
9. Sleeping late at night and sleeping in late in the morning
8. Snorkling in Turks and Caicos (or in Emma's case, riding on the boogie board)
7. Reading Harry Potter Books 1 to 6 (over and over and over again)
6. Waking up in the cold morning in Yellowstone and starting the campfire
5. Being on the beach with no other people - just us
4. Hiking in the Geyser Basin (Upper, Mid and Lower)
3. Playing a four-man card game with six and sometimes 7 people
2. Eating dinner by campfire
1. Soaking in the Boiling River even with the Danger Sign posted by it

Honorable Mentions:
A. Swimming in the warm ocean in Turks and Caicos
B. Swimming in the warm pool after we got tired swimming in the warm ocean
C. Finding buffaloes in the picnic area so we had to find another table
D. Making up silly stories that got more weird as it got passed to the next person