It's September, and I'm a little bitter about it.

Summer is my favorite season, and I resent having to wear more than tank tops and shorts. So before all the leaves fall and the temperatures turn much cooler, I'm looking back on what made our summer so lovely.

I already shared a ton of photos from our trip to Ireland and England in early June (catch up on our trip here) - I'm still reveling in how many historic sights we visited and the gorgeous scenery uncharacteristically highlighted by almost two weeks of sunny, warm weather.

Declan managed to have his own fun staying with my family for two weeks during our trip - I don't think he lacked any entertainment, especially when a carnival came to town.

The rest of June and July were spent outdoors as much as possible, even in the heat. We have a family membership to the zoo, and often Declan and I would go out just to ride around in the train. Andrew bought a toddler scooter for Declan, and it only took him a little time to figure out how to zoom around the neighborhood and catch some cool breezes. We also started a very small garden in our backyard with herb, tomato and summer squash plants. Declan enjoyed the excuse to play with water! And of course, there was a lot of swimming going on, at our house and elsewhere.

We made time to do a lot of summer-memory-activities that we've never done before, and had lots of fun the whole time: blueberry picking, eating shaved ice at our favorite shop Little Freshie's right before it closed for good, riding the new streetcar in downtown Kansas City, visiting our farmer at the New Roots for Refugees training farm, and visiting the fire station with friends.

As you can see, this is really a post about what Declan's summer was like...

But Andrew and I also squeezed in some time to ourselves. We celebrated Andrew's birthday with a night at the Children's Mercy Sporting KC Park (or whatever it's called now...Children's Mercy IS my employer, so I should try to get it right!) for my first professional soccer game.

And you can't mention summer without summer reading...

We've also had reason to celebrate this summer - my (not-so-little) brother and his fiancee tied the knot, and we spent a weekend in my hometown with a small group of friends and family dancing and eating the night away. 

And of course, there's been that little renovation project (read more here) that has left me without a sink and a makeshift kitchen for 25 days and running...Friends tell me it'll all be worth it in the end!

So you can see why I'm sad to say good-bye to summer. Despite a few days of scorching heat and humidity, I love all the opportunities to be outside, spending time with people I love, sun shining til the early hours of the night, and lots of pool time. But I hear it comes around every year, so I'll keep myself content til then.

What have been some of your favorite summer memories?