This summer.

What a summer it has been.  Although there are a few weeks left, the air has already started to change, bringing with it cooler nights and later mornings and just that end of summer feeling that is inevitable around this time.  While summer officially begins and ends mid June and September, mine has and most likely always will begin and end with the last and first days of school. Monday is my first day of school.

I tend to begin each summer with a wish-list, things I want to do, places I want to go, people I want to see.  I also tend to end each summer with a wish-I-had-list, things I wish I had done, places I wish I had gone, people I wish I had seen.  I have to say, this year's wish-I-had-list is significantly shorter than previous years.  This has been a pretty kick-ass summer.  For one, Damien has been home the past few months.  Obviously unemployment is not something to take lightly, but when you have worked at a job for 6 years and they give you a severance package, you take it.  You run with it.  You don't look back.  My job has always afforded me summers off.  Besides getting to teach kids, it's one of the best parts of the job.   Damien has never had that luxury.  We knew that this summer may be the one and only one like it.  We certainly have run with it.

A lot happens over 9 weeks of vacation so here are some highlights:

• time with Max- getting to spend time as a family and have dance parties in the den, play-doh contests in the basement and mommy/son naps in my bed have to top my list.  There is something to be said for days waking up as a family and deciding just how to spend that day.  
• trips to Sesame Place, Philadelphia, NYC, The White Mountains and Storyland- we spent a lot of the early part of the summer on the go.  We were with our best friends and we couldn't have asked for a better time.
• spending time with many of my best friends from high school- it was just one of those summers in which I got to reconnect with my girlfriends, which is always needed.
• driving around, looking at land and dreaming of building a house- we love our house but we also know that we don't want to be here forever.  We want land and animals and we are working on making it a reality.
• late nights with Damien- I need a lot of sleep so during the school year, I tend to go to bed on the early side.  Some of my most favorite times are those late nights when listening to good music and dreaming about the future is the only thing keeping you awake.  This summer has been filled with them.
• home improvements- since I do still love our home, I constantly like to make it better.  I've been doing a lot of that.
• hours and hours of Devendra Banhart- if this summer had a soundtrack, it would be all Devendra Banhart, all the time.  It's funny because I had bought his album Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon years ago and liked it, but it wasn't until recently that I have really fallen for it.  And I have fallen hard.  
• Bruce Springsteen concert with my mom, and brothers- for my mom's birthday and mother's day this year I got 4 tickets to see Bruce Springsteen for her, my two brothers and myself.  It was the first time we had all gone to see a show together and I don't think we could have picked a better performer to see. 
• time with my family- my parents both see Max a lot.  At least a few times a week.  My brothers however don't get to see him too often.  This summer we have seen a good amount of time with my family and I am so very happy for that.  

Here are some glimpses into our summer via Instagram.  There are many photos and each one is near and dear to me.  Each represents a moment that I hope to never forget.  A moment of moments that made up this summer.