Goodbye Summer

It was kind of a crazy summer. It started late, and quickly zoomed into baseball season. We blinked, and July was over. Various family members were sick. Every evening and weekend seemed to be spoken for. Didn't play golf, didn't get up to Vermont, didn't go camping.

Sometimes I think about the things I didn't do, because I wish I had. I know why they didn't happen and I know there wasn't much we could have done differently, but I still think about them.

I guess I come to grips with it by thinking about the things we did do, and feeling better.

- Jack got started learning to play the trombone and made up his own tune.
- Kate mastered riding her bike, starting on her own and riding on streets and steep hills
- We got a dog, and there were plenty of challenges but also some nice family moments with her
- Kate got a scooter and man did she rock that thing
- Jack caught his first couple of fly balls in the outfield, caught some games, and pitched 3 innings of 1-run ball
- They did some indoor rock climbing
- Aunt Robin visited and got to see Jack play baseball
- Kate became a really good reader; lots of chapter books
- Jack became an origami whiz, making dinosaurs, monkeys and Star Wars characters
- Jack played baseball and had a great time at Rehoboth, including getting a key hit, despite a nasty flu
- Kate went down the slide at the pool for the first (and four hundredth by the end of the summer) time
- then Kate jumped off the diving board, a lot, and basically learned to tread water on her own
- we went to Playland, as a family and with friends for birthday parties, and went on Dragon Coasters and other fun and harrowing rides
- we went to Cape Cod and went on a whale watch, well OK they did, I was sick in bed that day
- we hosted a small dinner party with friends and their kids and everyone had fun
- we went to Muscoot Farm and saw some crazy chickens
- we went to a Mets game and both Jack and Kate got to run the bases afterward.
- Jack and I went to see a great movie. Kate and I and Jack saw some movie which they enjoyed and I can't even remember the name, probably something with a 2 or 3 at the end of it.
- we went to the pool, and Kate played with Kelly and Jack played with Hinzes and Pascales, and then we did it all over again a few days later
- we went to famous Mystic Pizza and had the best pizza ever, maybe
- we had a blackout and the kids used a flashlight to make shadows on the wall. Then we ordered pizza and got root beer with it.
- Jack and I went to a Transformer movie and it was really violent and I kind of regretted it, but Jack had fun.
- at the Cape we went to the beach and spent 8 hours there. Then we went to another beach and spent 6 hours there.
- we built sand castles and rode waves and buried each other in the sand.
- we played more whiffle ball than I would have ever thought possible.
- we rode bikes around the neighborhood and to the park, and the kids set aside their bikes in order to climb trees.
- Jack and Kate drew some awesome pictures, capped today by Jack drawing a cover for the new issue of Fantasy Index Weekly. Just awesome.
- today we did probably our last beach trip of the summer, and played in the warm water and let the waves rock us gently to shore. I asked Kate what her favorite part was and she said, "chasing the seagulls," which I tried to stop them from doing but realize now, eh, whatever, harmless and they had fun.
- we ate good steaks and burgers, drank good juice boxes and chocolate milk, and ate a lot of ice cream.
- then we ate more ice cream.

See, George, you really had a wonderful Summer.