And just like that, it's Summer.

Over the years I have learned that I just can't pin down a favorite season. I love them all. I love sweaters and pumpkins and the start of school in the fall, I love Christmas time, freshly fallen snow, and hot chocolate in the wintertime, and I love the welcomed warmth and rain and freshness of Spring. 

I love the freckles and lightened hair, the water activities, and the leisure time Summer brings into my life. Summer means longer days, visiting friends and family, camping in the mountains, fireflies in Virginia, and even being okay with pushing bedtime back to fit in more fun every so often. Let's not forget the Fourth of July either, which is probably my second favorite holiday.

Don't get me wrong, I still have some witchy days and my cares and stresses don't evaporate from June-August (although, wouldn't that be nice?), but there's just something about my overall mood during summer that I love. Pink mountains and the color gold. That's it, Summer is golden to me.

It's the leisurely, care-free, time-freezing moments that turn into golden memories that happen during summertime that do it for me. One such moment happened several weeks ago when Jayce and I were playing outside with the kids. We ate dinner on our picnic blanket in the backyard (which I often do when I just don't want to deal with kitchen clean up) and instead of rushing through bedtime routine afterwards we put our dishes away and just played during the warm, abnormally bright evening. There was a lot of giggling and laughing, a lot of chasing and catch and release, a lot of hiding from "Batman" and a humorous saggy diaper that swung around between Benson's scampering, plump thighs.

The boys would yell, "Come on, Mommy!" as we raced to hide at the back of the shed. They'd walk around to the other side of the shed and peek out to find Jayce, who of course was waiting just out of sight. Cameron would bravely start the mad dash from behind the shed to the other side of the yard and pretty much nobody made it before Daddy caught them. Cameron was especially funny because he can run fast on those little legs. He reminds me of Dash in The Incredibles. He ran as fast as he could while watching over his right shoulder to see how close Jayce was with this big happy smile on his face. The closer Jayce got the more excited laughter competed with Cameron's ability to concentrate on running and I'd grab his hand to hold him steady until he finally just fell over onto the grass and was consumed by "Batman" and his blanket. Jack eventually gave up and joined "Batman" under his blanket and they waited for us to get near and poke them a bit and then they'd both pop out.

It was so, so simple, but so, so sweet. It was golden.


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