While technically, it’s still summer until September 21, the schools around here start back up next Monday. And so it feels as if summer is ending. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye over here.
I spent a lot of it working. In between, I did do a few fun summer things. Here’s a quick glimpse.
MAY
May? What happened in May? Doesn’t that feel like last year?
J and I went to visit a local fountain in the “northland” part of Kansas City. I was telling him how this fountain runs all year. It really is fun to see frozen in the winter. Still also pretty in the summer.
Also, I found a feather from a barred owl in the backyard one weekend while mowing. I had fun sharing it with my preschool kids.
Other things that happened in May: Preschool graduation (I always help out), Mother’s Day (Thai food, yum!), and G’s birthday! Oh, and he started working (maybe before May?) at one of the local community colleges in the advising offices. He even has his own office.
JUNE
June was actually a fun month despite some minor (though at the time they seemed quite major) work frustrations. Suffice it to say I spent some time checking out my options for other employment for a bit. Ultimately, I decided to ride out the summer. Anyway, back to the fun stuff.
The second weekend in June, I went on a girlfriend weekend trip to Hermann, MO. So much fun. It’s a community rich with German heritage pretty much right on the Missouri River. And also known for all the local wineries. 
And I discovered something called a wine slushie (though full disclosure I preferred the ones at a winery different from the one pictured above). We also had fun touring the historic homes in Hermann. And seeing their kitchen gardens. If only….
On the way home, we stopped for brunch at a cute outdoor cafe along the Katy Trail in Rocheport, MO. It’s mostly a biking trail though you can walk it. It runs for 239 miles along our state. Near Rocheport, it runs along the bluffs of the Missouri River. 
Also in June, lots of random garage sales with friends (it was our Saturday thing for a while), Father’s Day (we took my husband to a local Mexican restaurant he likes), and the start of a fair amount of working for the summer for me.
JULY
I worked a lot in July! Somewhere in there I did get my hair permed though it’s mostly grown out. It worked well for our excessively hot days. We had a quiet family Fourth of July (J and I bought a lot of fireworks and our neighbors put on quite a show as well).
Always exciting to see what the kids find on the playground. This actually came from a little girl’s backyard. Google lens told us it was a woodpecker feather! I can’t remember the exact species anymore.
Later in July was the visit to the Rabbit HOle Museum. They’ve re-created the whole scene of Goodnight Moon. Smaller children can go inside the little toy house as well as climb up in the bed, not pictured below. Also, again not in my photo, you can pick up the red phone beside the bed to hear the story. It’s so fun!
My photo came out too blurry to share but the museum even had a section for my favorite children book series by Russell Hoban. I still have my Bread and Jam for Frances and Bedtime for Frances books.
I didn’t get to spend as much time in June or July or this month yet tending to my front porch flowers. One thing about brown-eyed Susans is they don’t demand much. Oh, and mine are apparently plotting to take over the world. 
At least the pink petunias are behaved despite being a bit neglected.
I did spend some time during the weekend mornings/afternoons hawk watching. Have you ever seen a hawk laying down? A first for me!
And finally, we closed out July with a trip to Saint Louis, Mo for the music festival J participates in annually. This year, he chose to only play with his brass band ensemble so it was a pretty relaxed trip. Other than, I forgot to schedule the weekend off and had to scramble to find someone to cover me half a day. Over all though, it was a nice weekend. Here’s my other photo of the Missouri River in Saint Charles, MO (the only 2 pictures I took that weekend).
August So Far…
If you made it this far in the post, then you are all caught up with my summer activities. Mostly work but a little bit of fun in there. I’ve already noted to myself that perhaps I overscheduled my summer work hours a bit. I worked more to start this month and am finally ready to slow things down enjoying the last few weeks of summer. Once I get over being sick, UGH. Currently, I’m downing vitamins and watching every Fast and Furious movie (I’d only ever seen X all the way through, enjoying these movies way more than I expected).
Perhaps I’ll make a list of the things I’d like to do to close out the summer season. I’ll share it in a different post. How has your summer been? What things do you still have on your summer list?
I also found many animal tracks along the stream I visited each morning for a bit of peace and quiet time. 
