The Perfect Summer Day

Yesterday was the quintessential summer day; it was absolutely lovely, in every way.

As Benjamin and I slept in until the lazy hour of 7am, Dave was inching towards the summit of Mt. Adams. A glorious 7,000’ ski run was in his immediate future, but I was merely focusing on rolling out of bed. The sun was filtering through the blinds, and so I yanked them open and let the beautiful day flood in. Benjamin hid his eyes from the insidious bright thing in the sky and I kind of laughed; the poor child doesn’t even know what the sun is, as its presence has been so rare this summer!

I absolutely adore summer in the Pacific Northwest. I’ve tried on summer in other regions and none have measured up. Utah’s dry heat is ok, but feels like you are facing into an intense blow dryer all day long. Maryland is one of the loveliest places I have ever called home, but the summers were death; humidity, plus crazy hot temps meant I was constantly feeling soggy and tired. I’ve found that “70-ish” degrees is the perfect summer temperature for me; below that and you are tempted to pull on a sweater and plead for summer to show up. If the temperature begins to dance around 85, things get ugly. The Pacific Northwest turns into a land of overheated people fighting over the last air-conditioning unit in Wal-mart, while clinging for life to their iced mocha lattes. At that point, socks and sandals are no longer welcome companions here. And, as for me, I begin to melt. When temperatures soared to triple digits last summer, in the last two weeks of my pregnancy, I remember lying on the floor, wanting to die (seriously – it was that bad). Yesterday was blissful with a high temperature of 78.

But I digress.

After eating some delicious FiberOne Honey Clusters and feeding Benjamin a mixture of raspberries, bananas and oatmeal, I packed us up for a day of fun.

First stop was our YW presidency meeting, which may be the last one with our current group. It was a bit sad, but a productive meeting, nonetheless. The only down side was pulling Benjamin 1) away from stolen toys and sobbing toy owners, 2) away from spilled goldfish crackers, which he enjoyed pulverizing into the carpet, 3) and his little fingers, out of Jaxson’s hair, 4) away from the goldfish again, 5) off Lucy. Busy meeting.

Next stop was Willis Tucker Park. I pulled out the stroller, geared up the kid with his lunch bottle and started my run. About 30 minutes into it, my strained muscle starting hurting, so I stopped and walked back to the park. This setback in my triathlon training has been frustrating and rehab has been slow. But, I’ll take what I can get, which meant I walked back to the car – with a smile on my face.

Switched gears at that point, as I donned Benjamin in his swim trunks and shirt, followed by a good dousing of baby sunscreen. And with that, we were off to the splash pad. When his eyes caught sight of the various fountains, sprays and splashes of cool, refreshing water, he nearly jumped out of my arms. His walking is still a bit off-kilter, so I stayed close by. As soon as those first few drops of water hit his warm skin, the expression changed from absolute glee to shock and horror: the water was a bit cold. But, after running and clinging to me for a short second, he was running back to the purveyor of liquid coolness. And so it was for the next hour – a back and forth “Dance of the Icy Sprinkles”. A few minutes on the swings rounded out our time with Willis Tucker Park, and we were on to the next adventure.

After stopping at the store for supplies, I started stirring, wiping, sprinkling, and baking. A couple in our ward were getting married last night and I offered to make a small wedding cake, as I needed the practice before Jon & Aubri’s cake. A few hours later (including a record 2-hour nap for B!), I had three moist layers of white chocolate cake, filled with raspberry puree and covered with a whipped white frosting. I finished it off with beautiful coral-colored rosebuds and some piped pearls on the bottom; unfortunately, I just forgot to document it with my camera.

Mutual was a pioneer theme, so we had a short discussion on our pioneer heritage, followed by watching the film, “Legacy” and munching on popcorn.

My favorite part of the evening happened while I was watering all of our thirsty plants. My barefeet patted the pavement of our patio, when I heard a noise behind me. Little Benjamin was at the screen door, pounding with his strong fists, begging to be let out of the hot house. I put down the water can, picked him up and sat down on one of the deck chairs to relish the warm evening.

There was a quiet stillness in the air as the sun set and crickets were chirping. A slight breeze lifted strands of hair from the warmth of my neck. And baby giggles tickled my ears, as we played a rousing game of peek-a-boo. I could have played like that for hours with him… the moment was beautiful, light-hearted and perfect.

It was absolutely perfect; midsummer nights should be that way