Turning Right on Red: Dead of Summer

Amazingly we've already arrived at the middle of summer and a friend today asked me how I felt about going back to school so soon and I was almost mad that she asked the question, that is until I realized that she was right. What happened to the three month long summers I seem to remember from childhood? Now I basically get two months - now I know most non-teachers out there would tell me to shut my mouth and stop complaining, but once you become a teacher you think about summer differently again. It's such a crazy ride during the school year and you really do put everything off until summer. I'm not even talking about big projects like refinishing the porch or getting a new dog, but simple things like going to the dentist, calling up an old friend, visiting a park you want to check out. And I'm doing some of those things, but I guess my list is long, time is passes more quickly than it seems at this point in my life, and I have a baby. And the big trips of summer are finished and I have a longer stretch here now to keep busy and enjoy life.

Taking care of Helena has been the majority of my focus this summer and it has not been a bad thing. Just the opposite really, I've enjoyed my time at home and while some days can pass by more slowly than others, she does cute things every day and I love that she has now started chuckling. Other days it can be frustrating when I want to get something small done, like mow the lawn, or research some product, and it can be difficult with the constant need to pay attention to Helena. I'd honestly probably have a harder time if I didn't know that at some point this would end and I'd be going back to work. It's not that I don't think I could be a stay-at-home dad, I'm just not sure doing that full-time would be intellectually stimulating enough for me.

We had a really great time in Denver and I can check two things off of my Colorado bucket list - Boulder (bizarro Burlington) and Red Rocks Amphitheater where we saw a fun 4th of July fireworks show in the horizon. Traveling with Helena has actually not been so hard and it's nice to be together as a family rather than alone with Helena while Maya is at work all day. PRK eye surgery was intense and took me some time to recover from (am still recovering really). I can finally see pretty well without any corrective lenses which is pretty amazing.

After finishing a lot of boring time researching appliances and finally deciding on those purchases I can move onto some other more exciting things with the few weeks I have remaining of summer. I probably need to start thinking about school year stuff too as I've not given that two thoughts yet this summer. Yesterday I volunteered in the morning with Helena at Concrete Jungle picking apples. Despite the heat of summer here, if I give up early enough (it's been a struggle getting up before 9 despite the fact that Helena usually sleeps through the night) I can do things with Helena and would really like to go on some hikes and explore more of ATL. Today I did an Audubon walk and pretended to be a birder.