My Summer in Review

So by now you're probably wondering what I did all summer.

After all, my "little" break from blogging actually turned into a few months of being absent. I'd love to be able to report that I went on exotic vacations and spent the summer totally relaxing and renewing. But that's still just a fantasy I'm afraid. But if that's how you spent your summer, please don't tell me. ;-)

In reality, I actually had quite a wonderful summer. But it was busy. We had several activities going on, a couple of projects, a few parties and BBQs, a little trip, and some fun visitors.

Here's the recap in photos ...

Of course we spent most days enjoying the pool. And it's always more fun with friends!

We rescued these cuties from behind our garden shed. The black one is Junie Bug and the gray one is Fluffy Pants. They are incredibly entertaining!

True confessions time ... I had a little summer love affair with this guy! I couldn't help myself. He sucked me right into his world and melted my heart.

If you don't know who he is ... you should! It's ok, a friend shared him with me, I'm happy to share him with you. You won't be sorry!

It was another wonderful summer of Shakespeare! This the cast of Richard III. The show was fabulous. And those costumes were amazing!

And speaking of Shakespeare ...

... my oldest daughter had a great time taking part in a Summer Shakespeare Workshop. Here she is playing Romeo. Can you tell by the look on her face that she can't believe she just killed Tybalt?

Hubby and I went and saw these guys in concert. This is Counting Crows, along with Augustana, and Michael Franti and Spearhead. (Thanks again to Jimmy Bogios for hooking us up!) But here's how old I'm getting ... I wore earplugs for the entire concert! Reality. Seriously.

We had a bountiful harvest in the garden this year. The basil overfloweth. I made 14 batches of pesto. And the tomatoes were insane. I canned a dozen quarts. And we ate tomatoes at every meal.

Then I went back to my hometown of Dinuba to get a bunch of this fabulous fruit ... and I made jam! Plum, pluot and nectarine. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

I also made chow-chow. Who knows what that is?

Last summer we hosted a spectacular Shakespeare class. So how did we top that this summer? Why a Book/Movie Club of course! We read something like 9 books and then watched the movie version(s) of the book. Fun and great ones like Jane Eyre, The Princess Bride, Persuasion, Sherlock Holmes, Les Miserables. Good stuff. And what a great group of kids ... here they are dressed as characters from the books/movies. Fun!

We took a little vacation. Well Tonka is always on vacation. Just look at that roly-poly chunk of sunshine.

But we took it up a notch and went to Cambria.

Ah ... one of my most favorite places in the world.

Finally ... this guy celebrated his 13th birthday. I'm still trying to figure how this happened. Thirteen years? Wow. It probably wasn't the most festive celebration for him as the girls in the family all had the flu. So we still owe him a night out for dinner and bowling as he requested. Happy Birthday Alex!

And that my friends wraps up my summer adventures.

So what did you do this summer?