Summer's End

Well, I suppose it's over.  The hot, fun days of summer are gone and we're left to dread the dark, cold months ahead.  Okay, I'll spare you the total rant and rave post this year but you're welcome to go back and re-read previous ones, you know, in case you've forgotten how much I absolutely adore this time of year.

Our final camping trip of the year was a success, meaning we got there and back without losing the camper at 60 mph on the highway.  Incident free, just the way I like it.  No major boo-boos, no gross insects inside the camper, and no ticks found on Punky this trip.  We got one on her at the campground in June but thankfully it hadn't embedded itself yet.  I spent that night itching and scratching, tossing and turning, and dowsing every inch of our bodies and belongings with bug repellent.

Rockin' Out!

The weather was perfect on Friday and Saturday, which gave Punky some much desired pool time.  She enjoyed swimming so much this summer and I know she'll really miss it in the months ahead.  I'm going to miss it, too.  We also spent some time at the playground, her second favorite spot at the campground.  She loves it there and already can't wait to go back next summer.

The owners hosted plenty of activities for the Labor Day weekend crowd.  On Saturday morning we spent over an hour painting ceramics and I was painfully reminded of just how much I truly suck at anything remotely artistic. The kids had paint everywhere, globs of it, but they had a blast.  We missed the t-shirt dying event in the afternoon because we opted for swimming instead, but we went to the cash bingo later that evening.  I thought Punky's attention span would last a bit longer than it did because she knows her numbers and could play her own card with help, but she quickly became discouraged when she wasn't winning.

On Sunday we left the campground to go to the annual family corn roast for a few hours.  As always, there was great food, good conversations, and lots of laughter.  But this year there was also a somber undertone as people shared memories of my uncle who passed away a few months ago.  It was his farm, the place he grew up, and it just wasn't the same without him.  His family planned to scatter his ashes there the next morning.  I swear I heard his laugh in the wind.

The kids pounced on their annual opportunity to beat the crap out of my Uncle Mark's drum set.  As usual, it was the absolute highlight of Punky's day. She looks forward to it every year.  I still think we'll end up with one in the house at some point; of all the various instruments out there, drums are still her favorite.  That's okay, I guess.  She can be both a doctor and a drummer.  And earplugs are cheap.

We left the corn roast early because we were anxious to get back to the campground for the big Chinese auction they were having that evening.  They had so much stuff that it took about two and a half hours to call all the winning tickets.  We won three times, plus someone gave Punky an additional winning ticket for her to pick another prize.  She chose a garden gnome dressed in military garb with a sign that read "Support our troops" and she gave it to her Pappy.  Sometimes her sweetness simply makes my heart melt.

Then came Monday.  Rain, rain, rain.  From the moment we got up, till the moment we went to bed, it poured.  All damn day.  My mom and I left Punky to the care of her dad and pap while we hit the casino for a few hours in the afternoon.  I played the entire time on twenty dollars, which was about all I could afford to lose anyway.  I was winning like crazy but eventually put it all back.  I can't complain though, five hours of entertainment for twenty bucks was a great deal.  Plus we had a good lunch, and it got us out of the rain and into a space larger than an eighteen-foot box on wheels for a while.

To our dismay, it was still raining Tuesday morning which meant packing up wet gear for the trip home.  It also meant that Punky missed out on one last jaunt to the campground playground and she was far less than happy about it.  Although our trip ended on a very soggy note, it was still a fun weekend. I enjoyed my early morning walks just as much as last time but I somehow managed to gain over two pounds.

Before we set out on Friday morning, I had reached the forty-pound loss mark and I was thrilled.  I celebrated by enjoying bagels, chocolate cake, and a huge piece of lemon meringue pie over the weekend, so those two pounds were well worth it.  And besides, I hadn't seen most of my relatives at the corn roast in a year, and not a single one of them noticed my weight loss so maybe losing forty pounds isn't a noticeable as I thought?  At any rate, I'm happy to report that my digestive system was a bit more cooperative this trip.  I didn't even have to open the bottle of Pepto, the baggie of Tums, or the box of baking soda I took along as a precaution.

So, farewell to the summer of 2012.  We had plenty of great weather, fun trips, and lazy days at the pool.  We made lots of memories, had lots of laughs, and got lots of exercise.  Here's to hoping that the summer of 2013 doesn't take forever to arrive.  I'm ready for it now and it's still technically not even autumn yet.