Summer’s End
September 6, 2011
Hard to believe that today is that iconic day…the First Day of School. Which also means another thing… Summer is over. Here in the Klause household, we find ourselves somewhere between denial and anticipation of what’s to come this fall. Even Graham, who is very excited to see his friends at school, when asked how this summer was for him on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst, 10 the best), answered without skipping a beat, “10 million.”
It is hard to let go. So before I do, allow me to shine a visual light on some of our very best memories of Summer 2011.
First….the May bookend of Summer… Memorial Day on the Wolftrap Lawn waiting for the fireworks!
Another Memorial Day tradition.. planting our Summer Annuals!
We always celebrate Rob and Robin’s birthdays at the front end of Summer.
Once school was out it was Baseball and Swimming all the time! Who would have guessed that Graham would love baseball so much and Mia would be the only swimmer on her team to make All Star times in two strokes – back and freestyle!
Not without a little bit of “learning” Graham and Mia jumped right into Science and Cooking class. And they had a phenomenal babysitter Melissa, who reinforced creativity in the kitchen…
July brought the Neff vacation to the Outer Banks…we hadn’t been there since Graham was a baby, so having all the kids together with Mom and Dad at a place where Tim and I grew up vacationing was very special.
Ah, the beloved Lake…for the third year we celebrated Graham’s birthday here (with his second cake this summer)… we fished, swam, ate, relaxed, had lots of cousin time…. Pure Heaven.
And what would summer be without day trips…the National Zoo and Dutch Wonderland with Nana (where my Grandma used to take me each summer!)…..
Mia and I even squeeked in the DC Idol concert (she loves her Scotty!) and a visit to the National History Museum in the same day…
All good things may come to an end in one sense, but this Summer was, as Toby Keith likes to say “A big ‘en”.
Subtle Changes
July 30, 2011
I posted on Facebook recently that this is our third consecutive year celebrating Graham’s birthdays at Smith Mountain Lake – which mostly includes fishing, boating, and a cake from Nonni! He loves it, we love it. I’m not sure if the fish love it, though. He’s about a tenth of the way through his goal of catching 1000 fish, but that’s 100 bluegill/carp/catfish touched by Graham.
He’s growing up… It’s the third year in which he’s asked for LEGOs for his birthday, the second year where StarWars is a big deal in his world. Physically, I just see subtle changes, mostly in height, over these last 3 birthdays…Yet nothing dims those big blue eyes! And he’s still a Mama’s boy!
7 Years Old
8 Years Old
9 Years Old
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