Summer Memories

The 2009-2010 school year has officially started, and Elizabeth is – very happily – a K-3 school girl every weekday morning. (And we're learning all about school car lines!) Elizabeth loves her big, new backpack and cool shoes. (So does her Mommy, and we think Tía Viviana will, too!) Most of all, she loves learning and spending time with her classmates and her teacher!

As August draws to a close, I keep wondering where the summer went?! I know, it happens every year. But this summer seemed to fly by faster than any other summer ever has. So, I'm taking time to count our blessings as a family. Highlights I've already mentioned include a visit from PaPa and Grandma and going to the zoo, the flea market, and overnight camping with them, a visit to Great Gramma's, blueberry picking with Aunt Ruth, working with Neighborhood Bible School at church, and celebrating Jonatán's 15th birthday.

 

Summer memories also include Elizabeth trying out the strong (and real!) Arabic coffee at The Pita House. (Pictures truly are worth a thousand words!)

Another highlight was the church picnic with PaPa and Grandma's church, seeing a firetruck and police car up close and joining the airplane train with the cousins. Elizabeth still asks us when we're going to go on another picnic like that!

We enjoyed making our own costumes and (kind of) dressing up like cows in order to get FREE meals at Chick-fil-A!

Although we didn't take a vacation this summer, we did find some time for frugal and free fun right here in our own downtown, including strolling through Falls Park, discovering the Train Sprinklers, and thoroughly enjoying hunting for Mice on Main (an activity I highly recommend for families with young children). A frequent question at our house now is: "When are we going to look for those nine mice again?"

Because life is too short not to celebrate and cherish moments, we celebrated Elizabeth's half birthday – with a clown theme this year. She had very enthusiastically been learning at school about the circus and especially clowns.

And we welcomed back Aunt Shannah (Tatá), who graduated this summer with a Masters in Spanish, celebrating her return with a graduation party-picnic – complete with hand-cranked ice-cream and a Don Quixote themed cake!

As we pause to reminisce, we realize once again that God has been exceedingly good to us, reminding us to take time to cherish the moments, smell the flowers, and most of all enjoy and glorify HIM!