Summer Past

There's a tree that I see every day on my way home from work that started announcing the end of summer just after Labor Day weekend this year by its leaves changing from a deep red to bright orange. Every year it's the first in the neighborhood to turn and while I respect its enthusiasm to get autumn underway, I never believe that summer is truly over until the rest of its peers join in. My drive home this week is much more colorful than it was in September, confirming that visionary tree's assertion that summer has come to an end. We usually do a good job of taking advantage of the summer weather by getting out with the kids and this summer was no exception. We were especially busy in late July and early August when Dinka's sister was visiting, so busy in fact that I'm just now getting around to publishing the pictures from those weeks (well, that and the fact that my photo album creation process is unimaginably time-consuming).

So here's a glimpse at our summer, represented by Veronika's third birthday party and our Rhode Island beach getaway. May the memories fade as slowly as the pictures.

Summer '06