Summer Days Come To An End...

This is the last little bit of summer photos I have. There are some pretty great memories and even better friends in these pictures. This is by far the longest 'summer' we have ever had and I have to say, we did our very best to fill it with all of our favorite things! Friends, golf, swimming, exploring, being silly, riding bikes and kayaking.

When the Covid hit, we were all instructed to stay home and away from people. We were filled with fear, inaccurate case numbers and mandatory mask orders. Although we did our best to stay safe, we also decided from the beginning that we would not live in fear. We would not hide away in our house, missing out on an opportunity to enjoy life in a way that has never been possible before. During the worst, we stayed in our lake community for the most part, but we also got together with our closest friends often. It was frowned upon, it was talked about and plenty of comments were made, but it was also our choice. We went on our Spring Break trip anyways, we went to the Covid hot spot of Florida despite them telling us it was dangerous, we had birthday parties and we had sleepovers.

I don't say all this to belittle the impact the virus has had on many families, or to say those who followed orders to isolate were wrong- because it is a choice we all had- none right or wrong. Our choice was to live, to choose adventure over risk, to choose memories over fear, to choose to make this the very best summer in the midst of total chaos and mayhem.

And you know what, that is exactly what it was.

The best summer ever.

Both boys ended up getting Covid- took it like a champ, and then we went on about our merry way.

Decades from now, when this is all a distant memory, we will all have our own versions of this time. From day one, my goal was to make our version something incredible- a glass half-full, lemonade from lemons, a sliver lining kind of incredible. Our version of Covid 2020 goes down in the books as the best summer ever- a time when the boys got to be boys, where we could just breathe, the burden of busy being lifted, having time to catch lizards, time to cook, time to explore, time having no bearing on our days. I have no doubt, I will look back and smile, because this summer was definitely a big ole glass of the sweetest lemonade we've ever had!


watching a storm rolling in


























Flying his drone