Lazy, hazy days

I'd say it's been a pretty good summer so far.

We've visited with family and celebrated some boys' birthdays.

Here's Caleb immediately after unwrapping his remote control dump truck, 60 seconds before he dropped it in the swimming pool:

We've spent time on beautiful Hilton Head Island.

We've played at the beach.

We celebrated the 4th of July with fireworks.

Ada and Caleb were, justifiably, concerned for their safety.  Caleb nearly backed all the way into the lake before making a run for the house.

We've ridden bikes.  We've played in the park.

We went camping.  Yes, even I.  

Despite my post-traumatic stress about ticks and poison ivy and sleeping in a tent with my children, we survived.  (Guess whose idea camping wasn't.)

Caleb was also concerned about getting burned in the fire.  He backed his chair up until he was in more danger of getting eaten by a bear in the woods than hit by a stray spark.  See his chair in the extreme left of the picture above.

Jeddy was the self-appointed stick-sharpener.

We camped at a lake with a wonderful swimming area and amazingly clear water, as well as a sandy beach.  We caught salamanders and tiny fish and made them a lagoon.

Caleb rides on the Daddy boat

The kids were hyper excited after setting up a tent and having a fire and roasting food on sticks and eating s'mores and swimming, and it was hours after dark before they got to sleep.  Then of course they were awake very early in the morning.  I pulled Caleb into the sleeping bag with me and tried to snuggle him back to sleep, but he was far more interested in staring at the campers at the next site--in between asking nine hundred times if it's wake-up time yet.

Another day, we picnicked at a different park with a river running through it.

Besides all this, we've been to the pool, we've had a slumber party, we've walked to the library, we've gotten ice cream, we've lain in the cool living room reading, and we've visited the best kid's castle in town.  I've been racking up the hours preparing for Vacation Bible School the week after next.

In general, we've thoroughly enjoyed this summer, and it's only mid-July!  Long live summer.

Aaah, summer--that long anticipated stretch of lazy, lingering days, free of responsibility and rife with possibility.

-Darell Hammond