My Report: What I Did Over the Summer

Ricker Pond June 29-30

 We measure time in many different ways.  Sometimes the seconds tick by.  Sometimes they crawl. 

This summer I measured time by the number of carcasses that fell from the perfect web constructed from the hot water faucet in my bathroom to the wall.

 We measured time by the length of grass and the number of weeds present upon our return.

We measured time by the mold growth on the toe kicks in my kitchen and school bags hanging in limbo for the fall.

Avalon Beach  July 1-5

We measured growth, in our own way, by the number of times Timmy peed in his bed (I think his brain shuts down during a spurt).

We measured growth in the amount of ice cream ingested.

 And by the scarcity of fights. 

 Knight Island July 16 and 17

 We stopped taking count of the hours and moved around only if we were hot or hungry.

We skinny dipped if we wanted to, boys still not caring if their mothers were naked.

 We took in the stillness of the lake.

 And played in the waves when it wasn't.

 We measured time by the progress of the sun.

And by the lapping of the waves against the dawn.

Burke Mountain July 27 and 28

We measured fun by the stinkiness of our armpits.

 And by the number of nights slept in a tent.

 We measured fun by the number of books we read over the summer.

Which was maybe one.

 We measured fun in a field of grass.

Niagra Falls August 1st

Some billions of water go over the falls every second.

It's hard to wrap your head around this measurement.

As it's hard for me to wrap my head around how much I love these guys.

Minnesota August 4-14

She measured time this summer in meters canoed.  She measured headwinds.  She measured distances of portages.  I couldn't be more proud.

We always measure fun in Minnesota by the gallons of gas used for tubing, knee boarding, wake boarding and skiing.

We measure the perfectness of dock days- 1-10.  By the number of Long Island Iced Teas imbibed.  We gauge our fun by the number of tube runs taken into the sunset.

 First Day of School August 28

Yesterday, we measured growth by the fact that Timmy wouldn't take a photo with his brother.  I guess we've reached the "too cool for school" phase.  Hence, the picture of Auggie with his best bud Ollie.  Into the history books this photo goes.

And yesterday, after school, we celebrated the whole of summer, bottled up into one afternoon of juicy delight.  Unlimited rides, a celebration of art, cheesy steak on bread.  And with the din of the demolition derby in the background and bed time looming on the horizon, we took one last ride into the blinking night.

And then...we got puked on.

We will measure this summer by all the time slept away from our beds, from the dinners eaten out of the cooler, and by the number of flips done on the trampoline...and not by the last moments of the night on the Full Tilt.  Or the scent of vomit on our shoes.