Another One Bites the Dust...

Summer here in Santiago is already turning into just a memory.  The mornings are crisp.  The kind of morning where you curl up out on the back porch with a hot cup of tea and the newspaper.  The nights are cooling off sooner and the comforters are back on the beds.  There are little (and big) toes that need to be kept warm through the early morning hours.  The fans are being turned on less and less.  Outside the winds have picked up and the smog is starting to settle in.  The signs of fall are starting to peek through with every leaf that crunches under one of the girls roller skates, .  We still have about 6 weeks of 85 degree days but then those will slowly fade too.  We will start slipping down into the low 80's, then the mid-70's and will settle into the winter months of high's in the sixties.

But I am not giving up just yet.  We are going to do everything we can to make the most of what is left of summer.  There are still bike rides and park dates and pool parties in our future.  But the reality is, school starts on Monday, and that officially ends the vacation part of summer.  We will lose a bit of our carefree and where-the-wind-blows freedom.  Waking up and dragging four extra feet into bed with me, so I can catch just a few more minutes of calm and quiet (and a few snuggles) will be a rare occurrence.  Our park days will be relegated to afternoon outings instead of late mornings and picnic lunches where we lazily slide backwards  down the slide so our hands touch the sand before our feet and where we swing with our feet trying to touch the still rising sun.  It will be the weekends when we will have our adventures, instead of a random Thursday where we wake up and decide that today is the day we find a brand new favorite place.  We will leave naked Popsicle nights (what better way to eat a Popsicle when you are a kid?) and impromptu sack races behind us until next summer.  We will replace them with early morning wake ups, schedules and homework.  Ugh.  I can already tell you which I prefer!

But fall will also bring new friends for both girls and some much needed play dates (away from Mom).  It will usher in a new era for the MadHatter when she starts Kindergarten in July (see here to understand why she has to spend 3 months back at her old school).  And Stinkerbell will officially be a Pre-School student! Big changes for them both.

I hope they will have fond memories of this summer.  One full of a lot of firsts, for both of them.  Which means it was also chock full of lasts.  I hope they look back some day at the summer they turned 5 and 3 1/2, and remember how much laughter there was.  How much time they spent outside exploring and learning and crafting.  I want them to remember the scraped knees and the bruised shins as part of how resilient they were when trying new things.  But most of all I want them to remember that we did it together.  Because it was as much for me as it was for them and it is a summer I will never forget.

And not just because I have the Instagram snaps to remember it by ;)

We blew bubbles...

And played soccer.

And we jumped in the pool for the first time in mid -December
 (technically before the first day of summer but close enough.)

We picnicked in the park...

where we spent some time climbing trees.
(not to mention perfecting the monkey bars)

We recycled our old white shirts, into colorful new designs...

and we put our own spin on doing just about everything.

On this day we made cards to take to the new baby that our
good friends had just had...

so we had to head down into the "big city"
from our place up here in the hills to deliver them in person.
And we got to hold a 2 day old baby for the first time
Well, at least the first time for some of us.

We then went to their house to hold that baby again, and again
and again...

We ran through the sprinklers in the park across the street...

All of us.

We ganged up on the dog, though I think she loved it.

And one day, she decided that she would come and join the fun.
She figured if MadHatter could learn to swim, so could she.

This one got to have gum for the first time!

And while my sun worshipers did this...

I got to do this...

While enjoying this.

They did go to school for a week - Vacation Bible School

Which seemed to make them love each other more...
Whatever works, I say.

We played a lot of dress up...

And a lot of board games...

And we hosted tea parties...

That served real heart shaped pancakes.

We tagged along...

but loved every minute of it since it meant a new adventure.

We bounced...

We skated...

And we shook.
This time until we made ice cream!

We wore silly goggles

with funny straws attached
(they both learned to snorkel)

We drew pictures in the street...

And we made plenty of hop scotch boards.

And then, we relaxed.  It was time.

And finally we slept.  We were worn out!
Well, at least one of them was!