Movies in the park

I got the best pictures ever last night. These aren't them - but I thought these were cool in their imperfection. So yes, Grace went in her Cinderella costume (there were plenty of adults that shook their heads knowingly, but there were also plenty who seemed awfully surprised that I would actually let her wear that costume to a public event. That's just the way I roll.) and I got some breathtaking pictures of her - you know I could see the layout in my head as I snapped away. First thing I'm going to do today.

They declared a state of emergency in my community due to all the storm damage and flooding. We won't file for anything even though we don't have flood insurance; what we lost was so minimal compared to other people and we don't need the assistance. We've had to throw out thousands of dollars of stuff but I guess if that stuff really was important, we wouldn't have been storing it in the basement. I am puzzled about the whole flood insurance thing - we don't qualify to purchase it because we don't live in a flood zone - so what happens where there is a flood anyway? I am saddest about our fruit trees; the beautiful apple and pear trees that gave us bowers of white blossoms in the spring; gone, victims of the storm.

Two more weeks of summer, two more weeks to play in the yard all day, to run through the sprinkler and drip popsicle juice all over the sidewalk. Two more weeks of summer boredom and summer bliss. Two more weeks of having the kids around as much as I want and more than I can take. Two more weeks of bickering and boundless giggles. Two more weeks of pirate adventures and sandbox racetracks. Of late nights chasing fireflys and late mornings snuggling on the couch. Of evening trips to the ice cream stand and afternoons spent at the pool. Of shorts and flip flops and soggy beach towels left on the porch. Two more weeks of summer. It's never quite long enough.