I am less and less ready for summer to come to an end every year, and we in the mid Atlantic aren’t close at all to bulky sweaters and tall boots. I’m pretty sure it is supposed to cross 90 on two different days this week and the mosquitos show no signs of dissipating without a fight.

But.

It was definitely “crisp” a few times in the past week and I have even worn long sleeves comfortably on a few occasions of late. Plus, I started teaching a few weeks back and I am  boycotting purchasing more swim diapers, so I can read the proto-fall writing on the wall.

This was a good summer. A hard one, an exhausting one in so many ways (ok, mostly one way: MOVING IS NOT A JOKE). But in spite of the stress and changes and all the subsequent Big Emotions from all members of our family, summer just gets better as my children age. Here are some standout highlights from this summer, all of them little things that had us smiling all summer long.Duck feeding. We read Make Way For Ducklings  in the beginning of the summer, and it made a big impact with Henry. All summer long we have kept stale bread in our bags and looked for ducks to feed. There are usually some near our favorite splash pad, but a couple times we have done picnic dinners near the Capitol so we could do some duck feeding at sunset. These simple summer evening picnics are some of my absolute favorite times as a family.

Philz from my phone. Ok, hear me out. I live for long splashpad mornings at Navy Yard, and a cup of Philz in hand is my special mom treat in the midst of treating my kids to idyllic summer days. But Philz takes a longgggg time to make drinks, and the number of times my stroller knocked over a display, or my children wreaked havoc on the shop were not… infrequent. But I finally thought to download the app, and now I order coffee as I park my car, and just reach in a side door and grab it from the counter as we walk by. No waiting, and no giving Henry a chance to lick random food items because, “now we have to buy it Mom!”

Slow mornings, slower runs. Something magical happened in June: my children started sleeping forever. They consistently get up after 8, Etta usually snoozes till 8:30, and it is not infrequent that she goes till 9. I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely phenomenal this is. [Before all parents of small children send me death threats, JUST KNOW- we pay for it at the end of the day. My kids routinely stay up till 8:30/9, and I see you with your kids asleep by 7 and I wonder if my morning peace is worth it.] It has led to a summer of deliciously slow mornings, and a summer where I started running again. It is so much easier to do lots of things before my kids are up when they cooperate by getting up later. My runs are slow and short, but they are happening, and that is such a good feeling.

Family Service. Our church typically has kids in Sunday school, but the teachers get a break during the summer so they offered a shortened family service for young children. I cannot emphasize enough how much Henry LOVED Family Service. He was front and center every week, participating even when participation was not requested. It was one of the highlights of our whole summer, and has definitely led to him incorporating Biblical teaching into our daily lives, albeit not always correctly. Like when Etta falls and gets back up and Henry explains that she just “died and rose again for a second.”

The summer of the grill. A grill was one of our few big purchases after moving in and we have loved having a summer of tasty grilled dinners. It has also led to some amazing summer evenings in our backyard, the sorts of evenings where kids just entertain themselves and adults sit and talk way past when we should have put our kids to bed. I love those nights.

All the water. We lived in the water this summer. Splash pads! Pools! Sprinklers! Public Fountains! And when we went to KY in August, I finally convinced Henry to trust his puddle jumpers and really swim. He feels so confident now and I love hitting the pool with both kids.

I ignored my kids just enough to read a lot of good books. I mentioned it here in more detail, but this summer has been one of the books. I’m not sure if I feel more victorious about the 5 really good books I read, or the 3 bad books I gave myself permission to abandon.

We had some awesome trips this summer, and so many fun activities with friends and family. But as the summer is drawing to a close, I am also loving looking back on all the tiny things, the little rituals, that made this summer so good.