Summer is Where My Heart Is

According to the calendar, fall officially arrived last Saturday. I guess that I like fall, with it’s pumpkins and leaves, football, soups, and cool weather. It’s just that fall also has a less glamorous side with it’s school, homework, soccer, and overtired children. Now that my children have morphed into actual school-aged kids, I find myself longing for the lazy days of summer where could sleep in and there was absolutely nothing planned except a day of swimming and firefly catching.

Right now my calendar is a bit full, to say the least.

(This is just one of my four (!!!) calendars. OY.)

Please note the red arrows, pointing to a little something at the bottom right of the calendar. It says “Destin,” and this is where I kindly thumb my nose at fall, pack up the kids in the car and head for sunny beaches. With all the stress I’ve been feeling lately, being able to see the promise of a beach vacation has kept me going.

This is what I’m looking forward to the most:

1. Sleeping In
2. Ignoring my computer
3. Forgetting that I have four calendars
4. Eating seafood platters
5. Sitting on the beach
6. Playing in the waves
7. Being lazy
8. NO HOMEWORK!
9. Spending time with my kids
10. Smelling like sand, sunscreen, and pina coladas.

Sure, fall has it’s good points, too, but summer is just where my heart is. I know summer gets a bad rap with it’s heat and humidity, and I’ve certainly done my fair share of complaining about having to entertain the kids during those long summer days, but summer has always been and will always be my favorite season.

Ella sits with Nugget, her Hallmark Interactive Story Buddy

As much as I’m going to enjoy our trip to Destin, fall will be here waiting for us when we get back. I don’t want to spend our whole vacation fretting about what’s waiting for us when we return — because that’s how my crazy brain works — so I’ve also made a list of fall things that I’m looking forward to the most:

1. Cool weather that’s perfect for running
2. Hanging out around the firepit on cool, fall evenings and roasting marshmallows
3. Soup! and chili!
4. Decorating for Halloween
5. Helping the kids choose Halloween costumes
6. Lazy Saturdays and Sundays spent watching football and eating my favorite food, appetizers.
7. Getting to wear cute boots
8. Shopping for new fall clothes
9. Honey Crisp apples

(Can you tell that I like to make lists? In addition to my four calendars, I make lots and lots of lists. It’s almost an illness.)

Carson dreams of being Batman for Halloween as he listens to his Superheroes Recordable Storybook from Hallmark.

So in two weeks, I’m going to live like it’s summer and hopefully return refreshed and ready to embrace fall.

What are you most looking forward to this fall?

(PS: I don’t usually announce to the world when I’m going to be gone on vacation, but Tate is not able to get away from work that week and he’ll be staying home. Would be robbers, you need to know that I have a vicious dog with very sharp teeth and I would highly recommend staying away if you don’t want to have your shoes chewed off. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

(PSS: Yes, I know you can see my children’s real names on the calendar. You can’t google names within an image, which is why I use pseudonyms anyway–I don’t want people to google their names and wind up on this website– so no worries!)

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Thanks so much to Hallmark for inviting me to be a part of their Life is a Special Occasion campaign this year. While I am compensated for my work, everything I write is original stories from my life.

Carson and Ella received the Interactive Story Buddy and Recordable Storybook, courtesy of Hallmark.

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