It's officially summer

It never really feels like summer to me until I get to spend some time on the water. As luck would have it, the most unseasonably cool weekend we've had yet this summer, was the one we ended up spending on the water. It actually was really nice despite the cooler weather. Ryan and I met Sarah and Michael in Clinton at Sarah's parents house. They were nice enough to put us all up for the weekend (and babysit the Oldham boys) while we got some quality "adults only" time in on the boat.

We spent the majority of the day just lounging on the boat and chatting, but before we headed in we got inspired to do a little tubing. The water in Clinton Lake is oddly warm, so despite the 70 degree weather, it was actually quite nice to be in the water. It has been several years since any of us had been tubing, so it was a nice blast from the past.

Michael, Sarah and Ryan


Me and Sarah in our classic self-portrait style.

Ryan showing us how it's done.

I also had the pleasure of getting to spend a little time with my two pseudo nephews, Payton and Preston. Payton, as always, was a crack up. He's just such a sweet, lovable little guy. He's in to everything (especially anything mechanical) and spent a good hour when we first arrived taking me and Ryan for a ride in his grandma's Yukon. Plenty of buttons in there to play with.

And Preston - I just can't believe a whole year has almost passed! As bubbly as Payton is, that's how serious Preston appears to be. It's pretty funny. But despite the fact that he normally has a deadpan stare on his face, I was able to get some giggles out of him this weekend and actually managed to catch a few on film.




So, now that the summer has officially begun... I find we're at the end of July. How does that happen?

In truth we've done a lot of fun things this summer that I just haven't gotten around to writing about. We had a great 4th of July with Nicole and Jason. Ryan and I got to take in a day at the Six Flags water park. We've had a few BBQs in our new backyard, lots of house guests and plenty of fun activities with the pooches, but somewhere along the way I lost some interest in documenting it all on the blog. I think in part that is due to stress at work and my lack of desire to sit at the computer and think in the evenings.

About the middle of last week I decided I was starting to feel a bit out of balance and, well, just bored, so I'm on to a new regime now. More trips out of the house during the week, more exercise, new engaging books and less thinking about what all I need to do for work seems to be the ticket for the moment. I think next on the list is getting started on some of our home improvement projects so I can feel a bit more accomplished and getting back to finding some friends in the area. There are actually a few decent prospects, there's just been so many other things going on I haven't really spent any time focusing on it! Summer is just a busy time.