The End of Summer Days

After all the Mangum and Jibson cousins were gone, it was back to normal for us. We still had a few weeks of summer left, so that meant lots of days playing in the backyard.

Both kids particularly enjoyed digging in the dirt under our deck. Because dirt. Duh.

I always sat outside under the deck (in the shade) while they played and just watched. I even managed to sneak in this Mommy/kids selfie one time.

While the kids may have played outside all the time if I let them, I did make them play inside sometimes, too. That's when the creativity happened! Here is Aubrey pretending to be an astronaut.

And here's Carter copying her. He didn't quite understand the concept of the helmet...

There were even times I put forth a little effort and tried to lead the kids in fun activities. Enter hallway bowling.

With warmer weather and more time spent outside, we had a lot of baths. I even invested in this little splash guard thing to keep at least some of the water off of the bathroom floor.

There were still movie days, complete with snuggles--my favorite!

And, of course, trips to the park were common.

I particularly enjoyed watching Carter try to climb this pole, which he did often.

But perhaps the favorite summer pastime was walking to the pond near our house to throw rocks. Daddy always impressed the kids with his rock skipping skills.

And then they got the chance to throw their own rocks (though perhaps with a little less finesse). They still love walking to this pond!

Sadly, however, Summer had to come to an end. And then it was back to school...