The Banana loves ice in her water, and Peanut Maximus is always ready to help her retrieve it from the freezer.

Pretty much all of September felt like summer, so when Sunday night came rolling around, some of us still headed to the beach! On this particular day Peanut Maximus and I dropped off Mr. TOF for trombone ensemble rehearsal followed by choir rehearsal, and then went for a long stroller…

This busy, busy boy has had a language explosion since his birthday, and it is so fun to get a new window to see how that little brain is spinning! It is especially fun to start to see glimpses of the way events are correlated inside his head, and what…

Our street is torn up and being rebuilt. It has been in terrible shape for literally decades. Two years ago the street had so many potholes it looked like a war zone, and they filled so many holes they practically covered the whole street with cold mix asphalt. The repairs…

Last spring The Banana had an idea of having a real genuine birthday party to celebrate turning eighteen, since she had never really had a true birthday party with all the trappings, including party favor bags. I said, “Sure! Great! You plan it!” Henceforth, to celebrate turning 18 she invited…

Peanut Maximus loves his balance bike, and a few weeks ago I started taking him to Hartley to ride on the trails. I wasn’t sure how far we’d get, but it didn’t take long and he was zooming around a flat loop that has to be close to a mile…

The Banana has had plans to remove one of the sets of bunk beds in her room for months. All summer long no progress was made in this department because there never seemed to be a chunk of time when both she and Dr. Peds were not scheduled for something.…

It was the last Sunday Night at the Beach before school started! We drove down to the rocky beach. Access is still somewhat limited there, but we walked in and found a comfy stretch of rocks and water. The Banana helped Peanut Maximus walk in the water. He was soaked…

As we say goodbye this week to carefree, minimally scheduled summer days and hello to highly organized, maximally scheduled school days, I am reflecting on some of my favorite summer moments: