Friday Faves - Cheers to a memorable summer.

It was bound to happen.
I tried, but I couldn't stop it.

It's the last Friday of the summer.

So to honor it and celebrate it (instead of screaming and kicking and throwing a wine-induced tantrum  like I'd like to do), I've decided to devote this week's edition of the Friday Faves to a collection of my favorite memories and moments from
 summer 2012.

Because every day of it was my favorite.

*Disclaimer ~ this post will not be at all informative
 (like so many of the Friday Fave lists are...cough...cough...). 

It will not introduce you to a new yummy product you can buy at Target or 
a new TV show you might not have discovered or a new restaurant you have to try.  

It's just my summer. My memories. My online scrapbook.

You've been warned.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Summer.

You started with a bang and a week so busy it took awhile for my head to quit spinning.

1 - 3.  Thing 2's very last dance recitals after 8 years of dancing.
4.  Thing 1 performing at The Orpheum Theatre in the Spotlight Musical Theatre Program performance
with her High School.

Then with only a few winks we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of NYC...

with a billion other people...

exhausting ourselves, walking a million miles and having an absolute blast.

2. Riding in the coveted Barbie Car @ Toys-R-Us. It brought us a ridiculous amount of joy.
3. Thing 1 going to work (one day...).
4. Smiling with Jackie Burns - the Broadway Elphaba. Starstruck.
6.  Touring NYU with Thing 1 and refusing to believe that's what we're doing already.
7. Celebrating 19 years. I still kind of like him.
 8.  Getting to spend a few days with old and dear friends was the icing on the NYCheesecake.

The days were long and full of the promise of the whole summer stretched out before us.
June...you were my favorite.

****************

But then July brought many, many lazy and sunny days at the lake...

It's so true.

...my most favorite days of all.

No captions necessary....other than *sigh*.

Floating...sleeping...eating...playing...watching sunsets...relaxing...
and even surviving the dreaded family photo shoot.

The days seemed to go on forever.

July...you were my favorite.

*************

And then came August and the beginnings of realization that these days weren't gonna last forever.
Uneasiness crept in and the days became numbered.
But still...still...

1. Kite flying off the boat
2. Playing catch with Husband while floating.  Right after I snapped this the ball hit me in the face. j/k.
3.  Sunsets accompanied by the quiet sounds of guitar.
4.  Honey, I shrunk the kids.
5.  Thing 2 + friend watching the kite...and hoping it doesn't come diving down on their heads.
6. Biggest catch of the summer.  The fish is nice, too.
7.  Thing 1 helping alleviate the pain in Thing 2's toes on a hike (she wore shoes that were 2 sizes too small).
8.  Hiking along the Mississippi.
9. Aaaannnd then it was over. The much dreaded/anticipated locker move-in.

August...you were my favorite.

*************

And now it's Labor Day weekend, and we are back at the lake all together for the last time until probably Thanksgiving. 

And I'm trying (really hard) to not let my depression that all these glory days of summer are over cloud the happy memories of them.

What's that saying?

"It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?"

Kind of like that. 

So goodbye summer.

Goodbye loon family...bald eagles and herons....drinking wine on sunset cruises...staying up and sleeping in and still taking naps during the day...weekday family karaoke nights and sleepovers with friends...full moons and milky ways...shopping and laughing and running around with my  Things.  

Every bit of it was my favorite {today}.

Summer. Out.