Don't Blink!

...I did; and as of today, summer is now officially over. Ever since Labor Day weekend when all of the swimming pools closed, I have been in denial that summer has ended and now the calendar is proof. Summer is such a fun time of year. So many excursions to go on and play dates to be had with our neighbors. I'm not ready to be held captive inside my house with a one year old and a small dog both of whom are in heaven running around outside. Here is a little look back at some of the things we did this summer that I haven't gotten around to sharing:

Erik and I spent a wonderful weekend at the Zermatt resort in Midway. It literally was a piece of heaven. We spent two amazing days and one night at the hotel away from Claire (which was surprisingly easy). It brought back old times of me laying by the pool all afternoon and Erik golfing at the Homestead Golf Course nearby. It was such a nice break from "normal life" and the perfect way to re energize ourselves before the week to come.

I created a play date group with our neighbors/friends from church and we had many fun outings together. One of our last ones was an afternoon in the front yard playing in the blow up pool, chasing balls, and eating popsicles. Claire was the lifeguard on duty that day (j/k) and thought the boys (our next door neighbors, Liam and Owen) were pretty amusing. She even strut her stuff on the sidewalk for all to see. HA!

I think Claire had the most fun when we would go to the park and watch the ducks. I don't know why, but she LOVES ducks! Her favorite animals are ducks, roosters (weird) and dogs. She can pick them out anywhere! On this particular outing, we went to Sugar House Park, one of my favorites. We enjoyed a kids meal from Wendy's and then watched the ducks "quack" away. Claire even got partly in the poop infested water (kind of disgusting, but she had fun) and was furious when it was time to leave. Yet another fun day at the park. 

This summer has been particularly exciting because Claire's personality has started to shine and she now has "favorites" and really enjoys certain things. Two of which are blueberries and babies. Claire could eat blueberries all day long. I was probably at the grocery store once a week buying more and more blueberries. It's kind of funny to watch her shovel them into her mouth as fast as she can. One of her other favorites are babies and this summer brought her a new baby cousin, Vivian. She is totally enamored with babies and gets very concerned when they cry. It's adorable. I hope this means she'll be a great big sister someday.

One of my favorite summer activities are family hikes. EASY family hikes. :) Hikes that I can enjoy the scenery and not have to watch my step or get out of breath. 4th of July morning we joined Erik's family and my parents and hiked around Silver Lake. It was beautiful and very convenient pushing Claire in the stroller instead of schlepping her on one of our backs. She even fell asleep towards the end.

We took another family hike in mid-August somewhere up Millcreek Canyon. It was extremely short because we had other places to be, but Claire and Khloe LOVED the ride. Erik and I, on the other hand, got a little exhausted. It may have been short, but the incline and the extra weight we were carrying was definitely more than we were used to. Hey..."backpacking" isn't exactly our forte. :)

  

This summer we started Claire in swim lessons which were a blast! I was amazed how much she improved from week one to week ten. Her instructor said she did a wonderful job and Claire really began to love the water. She loved swimming under water and jumping in from the sideline. It was such a pleasure to watch.

One of the luxuries of living where we do, is that we get to see Erik's family so frequently. Claire loves spending time with her "Farfar", especially when he lets her play in the stream. Having playtime with her cousin, Emma, is one of her favorites as well. If Claire is ever cranky and I mention "cousin Emma", she usually calms down immediately. Emma has grown tremendously these last few months and is finally big enough to interact with Claire. I am so excited to see them play together in the years to come. 

One of the worst parts about this summer was how much Erik had to work. He only made it to the pool with us once or twice this year and hopefully he'll be able to enjoy more outings with us next year. It was such a special treat when he was able to join us at Murray Pool. Erik took her down the slide a few times, which didn't provide much of a reaction, but was still enjoyable of course. Maybe we have a little dare devil on our hands and it wasn't fast enough for her. She did enjoy jumping into Erik over and over and over again. :) Actually, she kind of just walked into the pool. So funny!

I'm going to try my hardest to accept the fact that the calendar now says Autumn, but in my heart, summer isn't really over. We still have five or six activities unchecked on my "summer to do" list that I've got to pack into our schedules within the next couple of weeks before it gets too cold. Wish me luck!