Summer is Over

When I was growing up, summer vacation was always something that I would look forward to.
Long days that seemed endless, and playing late in our neighborhood.
Cramming into the car and driving to Cape Cod for a few weeks each July.
Now that Erin has been in school for a year, it is something that I can look forward to again. Every kid looks forward to that break from classes. A reason to slow down for a while and try to relax, although with a 5 year old, who's relaxing?

I guess that the summer '08 is officially over for us.
Today was the first day of the school year and Erin is back in classes.
She says it was the best day of school ever, so I suppose that's good news.

Now it is time to get back to work. I have several new projects that I'll be working on this fall and a painting trip in a few weeks that I am really looking forward to.

I'll be posting dates for two 5 day plein air painting workshops in March '09 very soon.
Oh, what the heck.
March 9-13th and 16-20.
I'll post costs and info soon and start saving spots.

Now back to the bit about our summer vacation.
This summer has been about trying to spend as much time not thinking about work as we could get away with, and still take care of business and obligations, like bills.
I usually travel with my paints and finish at least a few pieces every week. This year I refrained from whipping them out for three whole weeks. Julissa had to work a bit on vacation, but she had deadlines to worry about.
If you are a regular reader you know that we went to the States for three weeks in July. We visited my family and had all sorts of fun.

As a tribute to our summer vacation, I will bore you with a few snap shots of what we did this summer. Fun stuff, from a kids point of view, and mine.
Sorry, no art in this post.



Erin on the Dragon Raft on Lake Winnepesaukee, N.H.
I bought this guy 19 years ago and he is still holding up strong.
Erin is checking out a loon out there in the lake. See it?
Winnepesaukee is much bigger than what you see here. We are up at the end of a harbor. The main lake, or "The Broads" is about 23 miles long.




Erin running on the beach at low tide on the Cape Cod Bay. This sand bar is under water at high tide.
We visited our good friends Peter and Kathleen for just a day on our way back to New York. Erin really loves them.


But we had to keep going...


We had a plane to catch...


To visit Erin's favorite friends...




Chip and Dale.
She did not know about this part of the trip until a day before.
Five very fun, very humid, very fun days.
My sister joined us with her two kids which was very special for us.




Erin has also been taking riding lessons since May. Once a week or so, just when she wants to. She is really into it.
Isabella is a champion jumping horse. She is a beauty, and very friendly with Erin.
Last week Erin got to ride her out in the country instead of around the ring where she had been practicing.




Here is the little one taking her horse back to the stable after the ride.