theHword.com

I am writing this on Labor Day and reflecting how, once again, summer has quickly drawn to a close. It seems the more you have planned during a summer season, the faster it flies. AND the less I completed on my things-to-do list for the summer. My husband has never been so far behind, but at least he could give a shot at being Dad-of-the-Year. Thankfully, it rained nicely this summer so irrigating was done at a minimum.

The season started off with a high school reunion back home. And then a few trips were made to Calamus Lake. There was the Cattleman’s Ball, a weekend trip to Lincoln and Omaha, a mini vacation to the Gering/Scottsbluff area with friends, another weekend in Omaha with family, our first Kool-Aid Days, and a trip or two to visit relatives in Tecumseh (and no, they are NOT at the correctional facility there). We also went to a couple local county fairs. Our ‘big’ vacation was a trip to Hutchinson Kansas to see my college roommate and her family. From there we went on to Missouri for a family function. Recently we’ve gone to North Loup’s Popcorn Days celebration and, of course, the State Fair.

In between all this we spent time at local pools and parks. We spent time with family, visiting their homes and they visited ours. My daughter started gymnastics and also her 2nd year of pre-school. We got involved in a fun activity called the Great Park Pursuit (because we were in so many parts of the state this summer–check out www.negpp.org for more info).  We had ‘picnics’ on our front porch and spent time roaming around our acreage (it was mostly my son roaming and me chasing after him). We hunted for worms–because that was a fascination during the wet spells of weather and later on we chased butterflies, learning how to use a butterfly net. And I know I’m leaving something out, but my brain is swimming after listing all the things we’ve done!

Whether it was a local activity or something that took you miles away, I hope all of you had an enjoyable summer and were able to find some fun things to do. Here’s looking forward to summer 2011!

About the author: Jill Kimle

Jill is a farm wife from the Kenesaw area with two BUSY children under the age of 5. She will admit to being in her upper 30's, and if you ask her specific age, she won't shy away from telling it. ("My kids will look at me in ten years and think I'm pretty old!")