A PLAYGROUND SUMMER\

Next week is Brian's last week of school, for the semester.  Starting with Memorial Weekend, we will be in official summer mode.

Last summer was full of all kinds of fun and amazing things, but daily morning walks are what come to mind when I think of last June, July and August.  At that time, Sam still fit in his infant carrier.  We would attach it to the jogging stroller, got Mabel leashed up and walked one of our usual routes around the neighborhoo.  We did this every single day.   On the days that I worked, Brian, Sam and Mabe continued the walking routine. For half an hour or 45 minutes of each day, we would walk and talk and just enjoy being together and spending time out of doors.

It was just a little thing, but it will forever mark that season of our lives.  Our first summer as parents.  The first summer of Sam's life.

I love family walks and expect that we will take our fair share of them this summer.  But our Sammer isn't the little fellow that he used to be.  He's a mover and a shaker.  (He's not a walker quite yet, but he's getting close.)  It doesn't seem fair to make daily walks, with Sam confined to the stroller, our main event.  So, I intend for this summer to be marked by time at the park.  There is a playground just four blocks from our house and another, bigger one about half a mile further.  Perhaps our morning routine can change from simply "walking" to "walking to the park, playing and then walking back home." 

It is easy to imagine that fifteen years from now, I will look back on our summers and they will all be a blur.  A blur of happy memories, but a blur nonetheless.  Despite my best intentions, that might come to be.  But for now, I want to make a routine and a tradition that is fitting for where we are.  I would love to look back on this summer and call it our "playground summer."