Best of Summer 2023

 Ah, the hallmark of a good weekend: it's after 8am and everyone in my house is still sleeping. 

Despite not being in school, and not having a summer vacation in as much time, Labor Day still feels like the informal end of summer. I keep my fingers crossed for continued "outdoor" weather, but saying goodbye to this season is like tucking in a child for bed at the end of a good day. All freshly bathed and sleepy, it feels good and right, and tomorrow we wake up to a new day. 

I love September for all it's transitional back and forth. There will be cool days along with a few lingering hot beach weather days. The sun will set a little earlier and I'll pull on socks one day, and it'll feel good. It always does. Everything in its time. 

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You know, I haven't been silent about this summer not being quite what I hoped for. This summer was frankly being served a shit sandwich every week, telling myself I just need to get through this week and this sandwich, and then everything would be fine. Except that every week seemed to serve up the same menu and I was constantly pushing out which week I needed to get through. 

I will say that this summer was probably more good than bad, and eventually enough time will pass that I'll only remember the good anyway. Memory is funny like that. 

The glimmer is that I will not repeat this summer. I just...I won't. I don't know my exit strategy yet, but I know I need one and that's a step in the right direction. I think that sometimes being pushed so hard is good because I finally put my hands up and pushed back. 

Now for the other glimmers -

A happy new spot to enjoy on West Bay. Ryan and a friend have been hard at work all summer turning this beauty into a rental, but we've been able to sneak in here and there to enjoy it. 

We spent the 4th of July weekend here with family and listen, you don't get to even complain about a single shit sandwich when you're watching the air show from your beach. This was a very very nice part of our summer. 

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Speaking of family - we had so much good family time this summer. Lot's of visitors and keeping our guest rooms full. It's lucky - I have so many sisters that I enjoy, along with Ryan's sisters, and then my brother in law's girls have grown up and become enjoyable companions. We both come from families that run high with girls and I am selfishly very grateful for it. 

Another of Ryan's sisters is moving up north (literally minutes away from us) and I'm just delighted. His family is slowly migrating up this way and I am very supportive. 

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As usual, I ate a lot good things and read a lot of books. 

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My sister got married, so first we celebrated her bachelorette -

And then we came back together for the wedding. A highlight of the summer, for sure. 

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Other things I enjoyed -

Will he be mad that I picked a picture where he laid down his bike? Maybe. 

I turned 35. 

And Ryan turned 42. And Duke blew out his candles. 

The picture I've been taking every year since 2016, when I was still pregnant on Labor Day and very mad about it. 

Still one of my better investments - we enjoyed endless projector movies on the deck. I let Duke watch Jurassic Park last night and about halfway through, we found out it's still a little scary for him. 

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Another summer done and gone. I'm sad, but I'm also ready to put this one behind me. And I'm optimistic for what's ahead. 

We're off to enjoy this hot hot hot Labor Day because as they say, it ain't over 'til it's over. 

Cheers!

PS - The best of last summer