how we summer

it's no secret that i love summer. i love sunshine and swimming and shave ice. i also love the feel of summer...the freedom from school and responsibilities. obviously most adults don't get to enjoy the same level of freedom as the kids, but i still do my best to make summer feel like summer, even as a grown up. we typically take a bit of a break from house projects and try to spend our time enjoying summery things.

after a few too many summers that felt like they were over before i really got to enjoy them, i started making 'the summer list'. it's a fun way to make sure we don't miss out on our favorite activities and really, who doesn't love checking things off a list! the only downside is that most of the items require some level of planning or scheduling, so it wasn't really helping with that carefree summer feeling. so this year i added a mantra...enjoy every day.

it isn't much different than the simple discipline of noticing. i wanted to fully enjoy the moments that felt most like summer, and maybe add a little something extra to make them more fun. so instead of eating that shave ice or qt cone in the car, we found a patch of grass to lounge in. i took the back roads home at night with the windows down and the radio up [i also randomly started playing real mccoy songs, which immediately transported me to the summers of the late 90's and those early morning pom practices]. there were day movies and night movies. walks to the thrift store. honey smacks for breakfast. mugs up root beer floats, just because. sandwiches with lettuce. sitting outside after dark. reading by the pool. and an adventure to find the raytown dragon...and i thoroughly enjoyed it all.

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our last little pig

it's a little surprising how often we've been able to host the ardens in kc the past few years, and we had another opportunity when their cross country sabbatical road trip passed right through raytown.

as is the tradition, we introduced them to another staple of the kansas city barbecue scene with a visit to joe's, and we also made a stop at the beloved mama china. our few days together were otherwise spent chatting, playing games, taking walks, breaking out of an escape room and sorting through donald's baseball card collection. 

the other tradition is eating our last meal together at the little pig in belton. what we didn't know at the time was that it would be our last chance since the restaurant was destroyed by fire a few months later, but we're thankful we got to enjoy those bbq sundae's together one last time!

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anniversary number five

five years ago donald and i were introduced to ned and marjorie. the day we got married they were celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of their own lodge wedding. it's their tradition to come back to the lodge each year, which we thought was a lovely idea. logistically a yearly visit would be tricky for us, but we decided that a return engagement sounded like the perfect way to celebrate five years.

after a little shuffling around we settled into one of the original lodge rooms, and the whole place was just as charming as i remembered. this was the first time we had visited without some sort of wedding agenda and we enjoyed every minute. we took a walk, went swimming, played games, reminisced over wedding photos and video, and of course ate the traditional fried chicken. the one thing we didn't expect was a surprise visit from the broomies! they had decided to drive over on a whim, thinking we had been there the weekend before. it was hilarious and a fun treat to enjoy a little part of the day with some of the same people who helped us celebrate five years ago!

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