Enjoy the summer while you can
I can't believe we only have one more day in July. Then we are in August!! Urggghhhh Where did the summer go? Why is it going soooo fast? I remember as a kid the summers lasted....well......forever. They dragged on endlessly so much so I couldn't wait till school started back up because I got so bored. Now I'm trying to hang on, digging my heels in trying to keep summer from slipping away without having at least some fun. So this weekend after a busy spring and early summer we had lots of fun in the sun.
We spent the day Friday visiting a couple at their camp. They had a nice set up overlooking a huge lake just steps away from their ample sized camper. It was so blasting hot at our house and the cool breeze that hit us immediately coming off the lake was very refreshing. After sitting around enjoying the lakeview we decided to go for a bike ride. This was a 25 mile loop that took us around this lake with a pit stop at McDonalds, at about the halfway mark, for a fill up of our water bottles with ice cold water. Most of my water I had been dumping over my body as we rode along since it was a very hot and humid morning so this ice cold water was like unbelieveably refreshing as I drank it down right there in the parking lot. Then off we went for the second half of the ride.
What was amazing to us was the fact that our host is 70 years old. He was amazing. There's no way I could try and stay with him. I tried a few times but eventually gave up and just let him go. I rode mostly with his 60 year old wife who was no slouch either. Really gives me encouragement when I hit that age.
After lunch, back at the camper, we decided to kayak for a while. This is a first time for me even tho we live in the outdoor playground of the US it seems with hiking, biking, rivers galore stuff going on here. We even have more than one canoe/kayak rental places within running distance of our home yet we've never gone. Anyhow we loved it. Now I want to get one.
That night I went to a scrapbooking get together that brought me home at midnight. Saturday morning we headed out to a race not sure if we'd run or not after that hilly bike ride the day before. Since we didn't pre-register we decided to jog a mile or two and see how our legs felt and then decide since David was going to run anyhow. We also were extremely tired. You don't usually stay out all night and day before such an event. When we saw the $20 cost to enter, we decided it was too costly for how we were feeling so we opted to just run the course before the race started while David warmed up.
It was a hot and very hilly run and I was sure glad I hadn't entered after I ran the course. We waited at the top of the hill near the finish to cheer David on. He looked extremely hot and his shuffle from a distance away told us he was in trouble. He finished in second place and was very dehydrated.
Today after church we spent the day at the ocean and another campground where a different family we know was staying for a long weekend. Again it was another hot day, and I was dying. But soon after hitting the coast, I was very cool fighting off the urge to put on a sweatshirt. This was the town I grew up in, and I expected this. So even tho it was 90's inland, I knew enough to bring a sweatshirt and other warm clothes. On the way home we stopped at the local clambake which was packed to get our fried clams. Not too cheap either, but worth every tantalizing bite. Ohhhhhh they were very good.
So now, what else to do before the summer slips away? Well I really, really want to go whale watching. David and Aly went when she came to visit and she said they saw dozens of whales. We only live an hour from the coast and a five hour boat ride would be a full day for the most part. They had a blast.
We have several more races to run, but I'm looking for other ideas. I'd love to go camping and am thinking maybe in September when all the kids go back to school. I'd also like to climb a local mountain that is over seven miles high and should take the better part of a day. I am going to learn to make butter from cream this week.....not a biggie but heard it's unbelievable butter made this way. So I guess kayaking and making homemade butter can go on my list of firsts.
What are you doing to make your summer memorable? Time flies whether or not you're having fun. So we might as well make the most of it. One more month and it's gone. Have fun.