Last days of Summer

It's everywhere - with the boots/skirt combo, wildcard talk, football has begun, air turned a bit crisper, school starting, and Indian Summer festival this weekend - summer is winding down. So to give it its due, here were my favorite things about this summer, in no particular order:

• Smell of fresh garden cucumbers, still warm from the sun
• Watching the tomatoes grow, ripen, and get eaten up by the deer/squirrels/varmints just minutes before I was to pick them
• Farmers markets
• Lavender, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, sage, dill, chamomile, mint... sigh...
• Geocaching
• I got a promotion and Beerman kept his job
• Winning Brewers baseball
• Gorgeous basil that grew almost as high as my shoulders
• A potty trained kid
• Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn
• Democratic Convention and Barack Obama
• Outdoor movies on the "gazebo screen"
• Building a butterfly garden and watching it grow to host so many beautiful things
• Cooking with C-man (making ice cream and muffins, usually)
• Eating ice cream at "our table" at the local Baskin-Robbins with C-man, and then him squealing on me to Beerman after
• State Fair and the Big Slide
• Teaching C-man about the glory that is s'mores and pudgy pies
• Watching C-man run the bases at Miller Park (hopefully we'll do it again Sunday if it doesn't go another 12 innings like last time!)
• Breakfast on the farm
• Zoo trips
• Watching C-man fall in love with fireworks (even if they are still too loud)
• So You Think You Can Dance!, and the Mole
• Arthritis Walk to Irish Fest

It was a summer that definitely had its downs, but overall, it's been worthwhile. Thanks, Summer.