Homeschool Memoirs - Summer photo essay

This week's assignment gave me the opportunity to peruse the many pictures of the summer and briefly relive the memories made and milestones passed. This summer proved itself a monumental one in many ways . . .

School wrapped up on Thursday night and Friday morning we left for Washington DC. Our first big family trip in a few years and we saw and absorbed a lot in the few days we spent there.

On the way home we decided to swing by Niagara Falls and take in the sites.

We returned to an abundant crop of lettuce in our garden and enjoyed this early return on our investment.

A summer at our house would not be complete without fishing. Blake always hauls in the best ones from bass to catfish.

June wraps up with our "baby's" birthday. Three already! We should be wrapping up with diapers by now, too. But, no.

Through the fun of summer we still sneak in school subjects including some fun with art. Sharpies and rubbing alcohol. Fun for all ages.

Summer affords us time to stop and smell the flowers, and pick them, too.

. . . And, just be goofy sometimes, okay, in his case pretty much all the time.

August brings two more birthdays as Paige and Faith celebrate two days apart (and two years). They requested a beach theme and we had fun with the cake.

Shortly after turning seven, Faith lost her first tooth, at Chuck E Cheese no less.

We found it!

With August came a significant change in our lives. We resigned from our position as houseparents(for more info on what we did, feel free to check out the 'work' category of blog postings) which we had held for over nine years. We had an incredible nine years of impacting lives outside of our immediate family for the better and living out our faith in front of the children and families that we served.

We rearranged everything in our home as we now have the whole dorm area to stretch out in. (Love the rubber gloves on their feet.) Lots of painting, furniture moving, and re-moving. Another six months we should be done. . . maybe.

The summer wrapped up with some simple reminders of the season ending and anticipation of the year ahead. We spent a beautiful day at the bog with my parents,

harvested our few, but gigantic, sunflowers,

and enjoyed playing in the rain that drenched our area (among others) for a few days.

Me and a few of my fellow memory makers

So many lessons learned, both academic and eternal. Relationships strengthened. Dreams sustained. Joy built up. A summer well spent.