As the summer season threatens to end, I have been savoring every last day of warmth and sunshine as best as I can. I feel like we’ve been trapped indoors all summer due to the stifling heat. Now that it has cooled slightly, despite the humidity, we’ve been spending a lot of time outdoors. I drove up to Wisconsin on Sunday night to spend some time with my family and I am still here (until late this afternoon). No offense to the lovely people of Illinois, many of whom are my family and friends, but Wisconsin is still my favorite state. Elkhorn, my hometown, is like Mayberry. I have been enjoying the nostalgia and familiarity of my old “stomping grounds” with my son and my mom for that past few days. She is going back to school next week, so I’m trying to take advantage of  her last week of vacation. We have gone to the park and strolled through downtown, visiting all the places I used to love to visit. This morning we wandered around Lake Geneva for a few hours, playing in the Gazebo and watching the boats on the water. Micah wanted to jump right into the lake. He also chased a little kid who was riding his tricycle. I’m thinking I have found the perfect gift idea for his second birthday (not for 7 months, but still). Micah loves the outdoors with every bone in his little boy body. He explores every little rock, every plant, every bug and hole in the ground. It’s hard to get him to come back inside sometimes. It doesn’t matter how tired he is, if he’s outside and free to roam, he is a happy guy. You should have seen him at the playground yesterday. He was trying to swim in the sand. He was picking it up by the handfuls and watching it slip through his little fingers. He was carrying twigs around and climbing on the ladders. He even enjoyed the swing for a little bit.  He was so dirty by the time we left, and we weren’t in the car for more than five minutes before he fell asleep. It wore him out, but he had so much fun in the process. If only I had the money to put a swing set and slide in our backyard. This kid would have a field day! Oh well… that’s what parks are for, right?