The Summeriest Summer That Ever Summered

So as some of you may recall, this last winter in Michigan was awful. Clogging-the-toilet-at-your-future-in-laws'-house-the-first-time-you-meet-them awful. Finding-out-your-blind-date-is-your-cousin awful. Coldplay awful. I wrote about it here.

Anyway, I feel as though this summer has been a long, weepy letter from a conscience-stricken Mother Nature who feels bad for making life totally suck for so long. Every week has been a big box of hearts and flowers, candy and love poems saying, "Yeah, I really apologize for February. January too. And December. Let's just say I'm sorry about all of winter. Take these 80 degree days with no humidity and acres of cloudless sky and let bygones be bygones, huh?" In short, the weather has been pretty dazzling around here, and we have tried our best to make the most of this summer while it has lasted.

So, the following photo essay is a summary of all the stuff we tried to do to make this summer really count. These are the jars of dandelion wine we are storing against next winter. (For the record, I mentioned my whole nice summer/apologetic Mother Nature theory to my boss the other day and she snorted, saying that it was actually just a ruse lulling us into a sense of false security so winter can kneecap us even more effectively this coming winter.She's a regular ray of sunshine, that one.)

It began with a spring Sisters' Reunion.

There was a successful garage sale/post-moving de-junking.

Avery ran her first race and had a great time.

We visited the Bay City beach and found it be a nasty ashtray of a place.

We spent some time down by the rail trail and Tridge.

We celebrated with Linda at the Black Rock.

We tried new foods. (That's a Taco Bell Quesarito right there.)

We made some good food of our own. (This is what you call Summer on a Plate.)

We picked flowers.

We spent time at the beautiful Dow Gardens.

It's like a little slice of botanical heaven, I tell you.

We enjoyed the Huckleberry Railroad and village.

The print shop was a personal highlight for me.

The accident!

The stitches!

The Griswolds!

Sweet fancy Moses, this girl's hair!

Suzy, Parker, and I hiked around the Chippewa Nature Center and found our favorite mother cow.

The Discovery Center in Mount Pleasant.

Suzy helped cook at Girls' Camp.

The triumphant return from Girls' Camp.

More Dow Garden goodness.

Visits from goofy friends.

Parker visits Dad at work.

The now-infamous canoeing adventure. (Forgive us if you were on that trip and heard one or both of us cursing.)

Of course, the event of the summer - 50 years of Paul and Linda.

Another personal highlight for me: finally visiting Alden B. Dow's beautiful house.

The girls walking on water.

A super fun visit to Luddington to visit with some of Suzy's BFFs.

Frankenmuth!

A camping trip with our old ward. (We didn't know it was going to be that.)

The Midland County Fair.

Blueberry picking.

A bucket full of pure Michigan.

A late summer production of Seussical at the Midland Center for the Arts.

So there you have it. We went to Seussical yesterday, so this is about as up-to-the-minute as it can be. We still have our trip to a lakeside cottage in Interlochen week after next and a few other summery things to do, so we're definitely not giving up the warm-weather fight just yet. There's more to do.

But around next January when Christmas is past, the bills are due, and my driveway is a frightening luge of death, remind me about this post so I can return to it and warm myself in the glow of its ultimate summeriness.