August in motion.

August inches forward. I know I've been absent from here, but it's just because I've been so fully present out there. I do not want summer to end, and I'm soaking up every last second before September launches, full of school and jobs and responsibility. No, I'm not quite ready for fall. 


Here's how we do August:

:: We do Mama-Rowan downtown date nights.

Window shopping at the robot store.

Blue Moon ice cream at Kilwin's when they
didn't have her new favorite, Superman.

:: We do most afternoons at Gramma's pool, but also plenty of afternoons in the backyard with the baby pool, the slide, the sprinkler, and definitely the hose.

We haven't mowed for weeks since our lawn is dead and brown,
but there's a two-foot radius around our garden that's lush and
overgrown, thanks to the garden sprinkler.

:: We do evenings on the swing.

:: We do the petting farm.

I love how the three on the left are totally under Rowan's
command, while the one on the right is like, "I don't need
your fuckin' carrot."

:: We do spontaneous bike rides through campus with Rowan's littlest cousin (who's just seven months younger than she is).

The crane operator waved and honked his horn for these two,
which I think made their days. I mean, made their LIVES.

:: We do lots of ice cream, apparently, including a trip yesterday that only happened because when Rowan woke up and I asked her what she wanted to do, she cocked her head to the side and said, "Well. Mama. It's a hot day, you know." "Yeah?" I replied, thinking she was going to suggest the pool or the sprinkler. "Yeah," she said. "Soooo, maybe we should get...ice cream?" She said it so cunningly - and I was so surprised - that I couldn't say no. She wanted "the ice cream store by the Kroger," which is actually a frozen yogurt place that I don't love, but that's where we went. Her request. The skies opened up while we were inside eating, which meant that by the time we got home, there were perfectly huge puddles for stomping and jumping. So we did.

:: We do picnics, and cloud-spying. Today she told me she saw an elephant, a dinosaur, a fish, and "a big ol' sheep and a big ol' hippo."

...and sometimes those picnics have musical accompaniment, thanks to our music wall.

:: We do tomato hunting and tomato munching.

:: We do preschool play dates every Wednesday, where we meet the kids and families from her preschool class at different parks around town. That way, the kids will be familiar with each other when school starts in a few weeks (and the parents, too, which is important because it's a co-op). We've been to splash pads and beaches and parks, but her favorite so far might have been playing in the (drought-dwindled) river.

And, you know, I try to do my own thing, too. Minus the shorty. Movie nights and pool parties, river tubing and cookouts, neighborhood jogs and patio hangs, late-night dinners and date-night hikes. Summer is when I feel the most authentically me, always, and I never want it to end. Maybe especially this year, since it seems like I'm watching my tiny girl transform into a big kid in just one season. Must be time for another baby, eh? More on that soon, but I promise, there's no fun news to share yet. Just taking things day by day for now.

August inches forward.