It really doesn’t feel like all that long ago when I was lamenting “The End is Nigh!” and fretting about what we’d do with Daphne this summer…

And now… Now it’s over. Today marks the last day of her Summer Break and I think, all in all, that it’s been a pretty good one.

Sure there were some inauspicious incidents that cast clouds over our early proceedings… For example, this was the Summer of Shove for iPads ’round our house.

And the newest one, which I found last night…

Now to be fair, I think this most recent one was an accident. She dropped it yesterday morning as she was climbing into bed with us and, even in a half-awake state at 5am, I was pretty sure that I heard a slight “clink!” noise when it fell.
I don’t think it’s to the point where we need to drop the $50 to get the glass repaired…but it certainly bears monitoring.

We also dealt with a significant regression around potty usage for almost the entirety of July…

And, of course, there was the repeated flooding this summer…

I know this all sounds horribly negative, but we escaped each of the above incidents relatively unscathed, if a bit poorer, and for that I’m thankful. (I’m sure my bees would like a word, though.)

Now for the good stuff…

We went camping at Lake Maidstone…

We went to Get Air! in Williston a few times.

We went on a hike up Flume Gorge…

Took an overnight trip to Saratoga Springs…

We went to Jay Peak twice. (The first visit was a rough one…)

Daphne Swam in the pool at Burke Mountain once before the flooding essentially destroyed it. (Alas, I don’t have pictures of this one.)

And finally she did two separate free-play gymnastics sessions.

She also had at least a dozen trips to the lakes of the NEK…

Had multiple visits from family…

And we even threw in a bonus daytrip to the coast!

So how’d we do on Daphne’s Summer Adventures – 2024?

Sure, we missed the mark on a few things…

• Horseback Riding – This one is still in the hopper. We just need to coordinate with the folks at Rhythm of the Reins.
• Camping in the Backyard – All the rain put a damper on that one. Though we are considering it for tomorrow night…
• Paddleboarding on Crystal Lake – That one’s on us. We kept forgetting to bring a PFD and we didn’t want to put her on a paddleboard without one.
• Whale’s Tale Waterpark – We tried this one, but I got my days messed up. And, quite honestly, it never really seemed worth it to go back.
• The other two at Burke were casualties of all the weather/flooding, so we crossed them off.

But, again, on the whole I would call this summer used up and well-lived.

You’re quite right, my girl. I do. Let me see what I can pull off there…

See you next week.

j.s.