What do you do in the Summertime?

If you're in Seattle, you make every RAY of sunshine count!

When the weatherman presented the weekend forecast, we knew we had to take advantage of the stellar weather. Dave planned a bike ride to Sultan with Bret, and then we'd meet up later to spend the afternoon at Phantom Lake. And quite fortuitously for me (not sure if Dave thinks so now!), Dave's brother randomly called up last night and offered to take Benjamin over to the lake so that we Dave & I could bike over there together.

With all of that mileage, Dave was in for nearly a Century ride today. He logged in about 50 miles with the morning ride. Because we don't own a bike rack (yet), he then rode down to his parents' home in Edmonds where I was waiting for him. I'd driven down there with Benjamin and my bike in tow, did the hand-off with Jon and waited for Dave to roll in. By the time he arrived, he was at 65 miles... and he was pretty darn tired, as you can imagine. But, being the supportive husband that he is, he jumped back on his bike and rode with me from Edmonds to Phantom Lake/Bellevue, which brought his grand total to 90!

I loved the ride, while - unfortunately - Dave was cramping up and fighting the urge to spew. At one point, he "hit a wall" and told me to go on ahead and he'd catch up. It was a long straight-away, so I pulled out all the stops. With his bike computer hitting 17mph, he figured I had sailed past him a good 5 mph faster. Letting loose like that felt amazing, but that doesn't even begin to describe it: the bike felt good and I felt good on it. I LOVE ride days like that! The one minor issue happened on a short, steep pitch; while pushing hard up the hill, my back wheel caught a patch of slippery moss and I became well-acquainted with a prickly blackberry bush. Besides a few scratches across my shin and knee, I came away no worse for the wear.

We finally rolled into Ruthie's driveway, after ~90 minutes in the saddle. Jon was a rockstar babysitter/amazing uncle: he changed Benjamin into swim clothes, then took him for a swim, gave him lunch, spread out a blanket and played catch with him for several hours. Seriously, I could have kissed him for being so wonderful - except that would have been a bit awkward. And wildly inappropriate. But still, he totally ranked high in my book today. Dave and I really needed that time.

While Dave collapsed from exhaustion, I jumped into the lake with Benjamin, Alice and Lucy and loads of fun flotation devices. We had a grand time splashing about and soaking in that luscious Vitamin D. Sadly, Benjamin was tired and still feeling a bit under the weather, so I took him out and let him cozy up with Dave to warm up. He perked up right away and spent the rest of the afternoon in the sand pit with all of the cousins.

Finally, dinner time! With Ben and Kathleen just returning from their anniversary get-away, "the kids" sort of threw together a spontaneous barbecue. We had hamburgers, turkey burgers, chips, broccoli salad, chicken, watermelon, pineapple and frosted brownies. It was the perfect way to cap off a wonderful day in the sun.

That summer we've been asking for has finally come to Seattle and we are eking out every precious minute of it!

Lolling on Lake Loma

Now that summer has arrived, we are trying to cram in as many fun, hot-weather activities into each day as possible. You never know if Mother Nature is going to linger for more than a couple of days, so best to cram away!

One of mom's good friends, Cindy, owns a lovely home on Lake Loma, which is one of the 7 Lakes off of Firetrail in Marysville. She is one of the sweetest women I know and for some crazy reason, she invited our whole family over for a day at the lake. Never passing up an amazing opportunity, we took her up on it!

Cindy's home had a lot to offer: ping pong, kayaks, paddleboats, floats, swimming, wading pool and much more! Benjamin was hesitant to jump in after feeling the cool water of the kiddie pool, but eventually he jumped in and decided to spend the majority of his day slipping, sliding and smiling. Basically, this boy + water = LOVE.

When Benjamin decided he was ready for bigger waters, Uncle Brent was so sweet to play and watch over him. They played catch with a water football, which basically forever solidified Brent as the "Best Uncle Ever" in his book.

My Lakeside View

Best buds - aren't they the cutest?

Jen, Ethan, Ady & Colin docking the paddleboat

We munched on peanut butter & creamed honey sandwiches, piled between heavenly wheat bread; cold, yet crispy friend chicken; crunchy carrots sticks; chewy cookies and rice crispie treats; and lots of fresh fruit. It was a nice and lazy, late summer afternoon, filled with lots of sun, ample water activities, crazy cousin fun and peanut butter-smeared smiles. In my book, it was practically perfect in every way.

Warmish Fun in the Summertime

Seattle: The Place to Be, Summer 2011

While everyone seems to be complaining about our "horrible" summer, let me be the first to suggest to them: "You can always move". Despite the fact that our summer has been less than stellar, I'd take 70s and overcast days over triple-digit temps AND humidity any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Seattlelites wouldn't know what to do with themselves if we had that kind of oppressive heat for weeks on end; the Summer of 2009 - when we hit 100 and I was pregnant - was a testament to that.

So, while the summer is not ideal, it's not *that* bad. We've still managed to have fun by meeting up with friends, taking pony rides, checking out farmer's markets, watching some (read: A LOT of) Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, watching the Country Village train, eating gobs of ice cream and popsicles, smelling the beautiful flowers, hanging at the splash pad and much, much more.

And if you're new - welcome to our beautiful, overcast summer. The few times the sun has found it's way into our home, Benjamin has rubbed his eyes and said, "Ouchie!".

Mr. Sun, Please Shine Down on Me

"Mommy, what is it?"

I came upstairs to find Benjamin fixated on the sun, as the light poured through the window, lighting up the carpet with sunshine-y goodness. "Oohs" & "Ahhs" were coming from his mouth as he ran his little fingers across the carpet fibers in a moment of pure childhood discovery.

When my son is perplexed by this weird thing that I called "The Sun", this is proof positive that we've had nothing but cloudy days for months here in Seattle.

Well... I should take that back about nothing but cloudy days. Yesterday on the radio, a news reporter said that we had exactly ONE SUNNY DAY - meterologically speaking - in the month of June. And even better? It's been about 280 days since we have seen a day that hit 80 degrees.

Wowsers.

No wonder he was so perplexed by this golden globe. Today's Benjamin Lesson: This "Sun Thing" is very bright and hurting his eyes. Hopefully we'll be getting more visits from Mr. Sun - we might just have to buy some little boy sunglasses, at this rate!