Goodbye Summer!!

I love summer! I grew up at the beach and there is no other time more fun to live there then in the summer. The typical summer day was heading off to the beach near the pier where you would spend all afternoon laying in the sun, playing in the sand, and swimming in the waves. You would head over to the snack shack mid-afternoon for some strips and cheese, which is nothing more than tortilla chips with shredded cheese on top, but it was the hot sauce and the fact that you were at the beach that made it so good!! You would spend hours and hours and never get bored, sunburned yes, but never bored. Those were the best was to spend the summer!

Well, enough reminiscing. Those are so not your typical summers in Arizona! I think the best way to describe Arizona summers is like Utah winters. You stay inside as much as possible, you leave the blinds shut to keep your house cooler, you start your car to get the air conditioning cool, instead of blasting the heat, and you feel completely detached from the outside world. After a winter in Utah, when Spring finally rolls around after all those long and horrible months of freezing weather and icy roads, it barely hits the mid-60's and there are a million people everywhere! People washing cars, doing yard work, kids riding bikes, and it's only in the 60's.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's true. Any change, no matter how insignificant, is worth a celebration after months of hibernation. This was me this week. Except, I wasn't celebrating 60 degree weather, I was celebrating the fact that it had finally dropped into the 90's. How is it that our first summer in AZ there is "record breaking heat" and summer months having the record with most consecutive days over 115!?!?

I had been feeling so bad for Dax. He'd been cooped up for months already having been in Utah for the entire winter and moving out here in March where we barely had time to get situated in our new house before the heat began. This was his first official summer where he could actually enjoy going to the park and playing in the backyard. And up until this week, he had never really had the chance. This final stretch of AZ summer, where the rest of the world is cooling down and looking towards Fall, has been killer. I knew it would eventually come, at least I hoped, so I figured the best thing I could do to keep myself sane and give Dax one heck of a nice "summer" (even though it would be a few months late) was to spoil him...and spoil him rotten!

I went crazy on Craig's List and at garage sales hoping to find the best outside toys I could to make his first official "summer" the best ever. The only outside toys he has ever really had have been beach toys, which are nice for the beach and the park, but we needed something for the backyard. Lucky for me, I hit the jack pot! I ended up with a Spiderman Scooter, Tonka Truck bike, Cozy Coupe Car and a Fisher Price Basketball Hoop all for $20!! Even though we are in the process of finishing our backyard, Dax had the best time playing with his new toys! It was completely dark before we were able to get him inside. This morning when I got him up from bed, usually his first words are" Where's dada?", today it was "outside"--- thank goodness it's official! Goodbye Summer, hello Outside!