Walks, hikes, drives. We camped in the White Mountains, first time as a family. It poured, soaking us through the walls of the tent. The brook next to the campsite became a raging river, the noise making it hard to sleep the night after the rain. The top of Mount Washington is other worldly, cold and windy not accurately depicting what it's like to stand on top of the world in a cloud dressed for summer. Amira and Adrian braved the weather, Max and I jumped back in the car. The kids caught fish, and fed birds from their palms. We spotted turtles, but missed seeing moose. Around home, we grew better vegetables and flowers than last year. The sun scorched the plants for a few weeks, but they survived, some barely, some incredibly. No more training wheels. Max lives in goggles, jumping from the pool, to the beach, to the bathtub. Batman persists. Amira runs back and forth between our house and her friend's. Family visits. Birthday parties. And now we are in September. A couple of the best weeks of the year happen this month, a sweet way to part with summer.
This summer, we "staycationed" for more time than Adrian and I maybe ever have. Having moved out of the city last year, we decided to explore our surroundings. This is as good a vacation as any to the kiddos - Amira now referring to any day off as a "vacation". And we started our own adventures & art, bringing drawing materials on hikes with us, and stopping with the kids to picnic, draw, and enjoy the outdoors. I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed having some simple family time, to take the time to do what we want. And in truth, we even took some time to ride the train into the city - and that was a blast too! 
