The Funny and Sweet of September

For some reason, it seems like the summer went extra fast this year.  Fortunately, we still had a lot of summer days left, despite the turning of the calendar.  Will's brother rented a house at the lake on Labor Day Weekend, and so we made a day trip to see him.

This was a perfect way to catch up with family that we hadn't seen since before the lockdown and to create memories to get us through until the next time we can see each other again.

Will's brother's partner brought tie dye for us all to do, and in true pandemic style, we even tie dyed face masks.

One of the most memorable parts of this lovely day trip, was the spider that hitched a ride for the ride home.  I was driving and we were almost home.  It was dark and all of a sudden all four girls started screaming at the top of their lungs.  Will started yelling to pull over, and it took way too long before I safely could.  Come to find out, there was a giant spider on the ceiling of the car, and as Will reached back to kill the spider, it fell to the floor right by Violet's feet.  We drove home with the lights on, and no one, I mean no one, could forget that there was a giant spider MIA in our car.  To this day, we have not found the spider.  I don't dare bring it up to the kids, but every once in a while, one of them will ask me if I think it is living on all of the food crumbs rolling around on the floor of our car.

 

Lucy took the below photo of a tall and beautiful tree along the shore of the lake.  I took a photo of Lucy taking the photo of the tree.  I love how her eye catches artistic shots everywhere she goes.  Sometimes she is even lucky enough to have her camera with her!  When she doesn't have her camera, she is often heard saying, "Darn, I wish I had my camera with me!  Look at that great shot!"

Some portraits by Lucy below...

And some scenery and landscape photos below by Lucy...

I love that I am no longer the only one documenting the family and our memories together.  Below are even more photos by Lucy...

I also love that Lucy has found a way to enhance an activity that we have been doing for years - walking, hiking, and appreciating the beauty of nature.  Now she is documenting it, which makes the nature that we discover even more miraculous.  Here are more of her photos below...

The day after our time at the lake, we got the girls ready for an outdoor dance recital.  This was the reschedule from their usual June recital but due to COVID, this is how the studio made it work.  It was parents and siblings only for the audience, and we all positioned our lawn chairs six feet apart.  It was so good to catch up with the other families, as we hadn't seen each other since the lockdown in March.  It was bittersweet, as due to COVID, Will and I have decided to take a break from any indoor activities until the pandemic is past.  It felt strange to start September without dance classes, but we are hoping to be back in the studio next year sometime.  

Will had a stressful August and beginning of September as he readied his high school to be safe for kids to learn in person.  He also had to enroll students in an online school as well, and the logistics were mind-blowing.  Add to that, his school was under major renovations this past summer, and were running behind schedule.  They ended up getting special approval from the school board to start school a week late, but leading up to that point, Will was under a lot of pressure.  I'd like to say, typing this now (a few months later) that all of his and his staff's hard work paid off, because once in-person learning began, it ran quite smoothly.  Fortunately, once everything was in place, we were able to sneak up north for one last hurrah in our favorite place.  Here we are below, decompressing.

This is our eighth trip to this particular spot up north, and we are still discovering new adventures.  Here we are below on a new to us hike, that is now in our top three for this area.

We also discovered a boardwalk trail through marshland that was a wonderful experience as well.

The day that we arrived up north, we hit the beach as soon as we were unpacked.  It's a good thing we did, because every day after that the waves were too high, the current too strong and the weather too cold for swimming.  The swimming was borderline all of the above "too" even still, so Emma and I opted to enjoy the view from the beach and watch the rest of our family freeze. 

The weather was not great when we were up north, and it felt like our favorite place was helping us let go of summer and finally accept that winter was coming.

The kids found a new playground on this trip, and Opal had to be bribed to leave when it started to rain, as precipitation was not enough to change her level of love for this place...

The kids watched a lot of movies, and Will and I wondered several times if we should head home early because the rain and cold made doing most of the things we love up north impossible and the kids in the small space of the cottage were driving us crazy.  

I am glad that we soldiered through, and our final day there we grabbed umbrellas and didn't let the rain or the cold stop us from being outside.

We arrived home, more mentally prepared for the end of summer and ready to embrace all things fall, including homeschool for the girls.  In the photos above, from top left in clockwise order: Lucy reading me a weather report she made for geography, Emma showing me what she is learning in Geography, Lucy's vocab word of the week with an adorable little guy that she drew to illustrate it, Violet giving Opal a back massage on a world map, all four girls standing by the lovely flowers at our library, and finally, the girls sitting outside the library.  In September, we were able to go into the library, and the girls absolutely loved having this freedom.  

We started up the fall baking and harvesting from our garden - both vegetable and flower.  The top, right hand photo above is not a haul from our garden, but the generous sharing of a coworker of Will's abundant farm co-op she is a part of.  In the bottom, left hand photo above, I am holding seeds from our pollinator garden. We have so many native plant seeds from our flower garden, more than our little strip of mini-meadow could ever sustain, so I want to come up with a way to help get these seeds into the hands of other local gardeners.  Here my girls are below, playing in the backyard.  They made an adorable little fort on the side of our house, and even convinced us to eat dinner out in it one night.

A dear friend of mine got married this past month, and due to COVID, ended up moving her wedding from a planned golf course to her backyard.  It was absolutely lovely and so personal as well.  It felt so sad to not be able to hug her though, as we all maintained our social distancing.

Other COVID friendly outings included a fairytale themed garden tour with our favorite flower arrangement being a magic carpet made entirely out of flowers, takeout pizza at the park before a hike, and meeting my brother at the farmer's market.  The sisters played as the best of friends and the worst of friends, but I only ever take photos of the best of friends - unless their fighting makes me laugh, which it rarely does.  So here they are below, being sweet together.  We also noticed this past month who baby Emma looks like.  See bottom, right hand picture below to see if you can see the resemblance as well.  And don't worry, Emma gave me her reluctant blessing to post this.  Like I said, funny or sweet, those are the requirements.

September was a busy month as we soaked up all the outdoor times we could. I couldn't help but feel a  creeping dread for the coming winter though.  With the sun out, and mild temperatures, COVID safety wasn't bad at all.  I enjoyed how COVID has caused us to be outside more, and to find creative ways to safely socialize with our friends and family.  I know that things are never as bad as I fear them to be, so I am hoping that this winter we find ways to stay connected and healthy despite the cooling temperatures and lack of sun.