Every year when the leaves start falling, it seems they land faster than the year before. It’s always sometime in December that I start to pore over our family’s summer images. I can’t help but grasp onto every last sun-drenched speck, only relinquishing summer when the first snow falls. In fact, autumn barely exists on my calendar (which is probably why I have few pictures of my kiddos in leaves and lots of them at the beach well into October!). Once that cold weather sets in for good and there’s no denying it (right about now in the midst of a winter storm!), I reluctantly accept hoodies and hot chocolate while not-so-secretly longing for the simplicity of bare feet 24/7, rocket popsicles, fruit for dinner, and lingering, lazy days by water.
Some of the highlights of this year: welcoming our sweet Tristan, strawberry picking as per tradition, Noah’s determination to swim just like Anna and Danny (zipping down the pool slide and leaping into the deep end at Grandma and Grandpa’s), William crawling to cruising, Anna loving baseball, Mat helping coach Danny’s Tykes baseball team, a trip to the Elmvale Jungle Zoo, Danny’s love of skateboarding, Lily’s sheer joy every time we declared it “a beach day,” and as always, sunsets, glorious warm sunsets. Here’s a 20×20 handful of 2010 favourites to accompany last year’s ’09 summer storyboard. Perhaps art and therapy coming together? Without a doubt, a warm celebration even on the coldest of days. 🙂
