the end is near

I was out in the wee hours this morning, enjoying a quiet run, when something suddenly broke the quietude.   It sounded like a person shouting.  An adult male person perhaps.

I couldn't make out what he was saying, even though it was quite loud.  I thought he could be calling after a pet that'd wandered off, but he didn't really have the right voice inflection for that.  Then I realized where I'd heard similar noises.  Football.

I was near the high school and realized that the football team must be practicing.  Sure enough, as I passed the practice field, there were blurry blue things (I don't wear my glasses when I run) lined up in rows doing calisthenics.

Earlier this week, I noticed store school supply shelves were fully stocked, and now football practice.  Summer is nearly over!

But it's not over yet.

It's a common thing to look back on a thing when it's over, but Mama Kat got me thinking about looking back now, with the prompt "List your top 6 favorite summer moments so far."   All righty!

I think of a "moment" as something short and fleeting, but these six things are more summer "highlights", in pictures:

1.  Summer started with Denver Comic Con and

2.  a family trip to the mountains.

I spy Deputy Rick Grimes...  See him??

...and the "walkers"?












3.  In more of a silver liningness thing - Chaco's been home all summer.  He almost had a summer job lined up at the university, but it fell through at the last minute.  By then, he'd missed the window to find other employment for just the summer.  He was bummed (thank goodness!), but has made the most of his time off.



That's not to say that he hasn't done his share of sleeping in and playing video games, but he's been doing some school related self-teaching and online learning.  He's also been a big help around the house with yard maintenance, helping with meal prep - as long as it's meat, and as long as it's grilled - and general gophering.



He's also been my bowling tutor.  *ahem*




4.  In a related highlight, Wolfgang is quite gainfully employed this summer.   He's back building Edukits - prepackaged school supplies for lazy parents who don't want to shop.  I can say that because I used to buy them myself!  In elementary school, before I'd built up a good stockpile of supplies to recycle, I'd just buy the dang kits.  They don't cost much more than if I'd bought everything myself.  Anyway, Wolfgang is like a professional shopper, 30 - 40 hours per week.

But, while he's out making all that cash, he's still finding time for fun.  And when he did the Bolder Boulder, he brought home a bunch of freebies including this Tamagear t-shirt he bestowed upon ME.

Okay, it was too small for him and deemed "too girly", but still, he bestowed it!  Upon ME.

(can you tell that family pics are slim pickin's?)







5.  First time up The Incline certainly makes the highlight list.

Chaco was my first choice for Incline partner, but he was less than enthused.  I thought I might ask a neighbor who had expressed an interest in trying it a few years ago and asked me to go with.  At the time, I thought Meego was too young to leave home alone for the time it would take us to "try" it.

I'm glad I convinced Chaco, however.  It was a fun bonding adventure, I thought so anyway.

I told him, "What else you got to do?"  - see highlight #3.







6.  Lastly, we've had a "visitor" all week.  He's a pretty nice guy, but a bit of a night owl.  He seemed kind of shy at first, but I think he's starting to like me.  We've had a few moments.

But more on him later.

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