We’re down to the last days of August.
And even though summer doesn’t officially end until September 21, summer comes to an end for us when children head back to school.
All summer long, this empty nest Mama and Papa enjoyed some time with our nearby grandchild. We are her caregivers while her mommy works.
So, every year when school ends in May, we sit down with our oldest grand girl and plan activities she wants to do during the summer when we have more time to spend together.
As a farewell to summer days, I’m sharing some photos demonstrating how we spent our summer in the company of our little one who isn’t so little any longer.
Summer wouldn’t be summer around our country home unless we had berries and veggies to pick in the garden Papa cultivates every year. Our granddaughter loves to help us pick and eat them!
This year, she also planted her own fairy garden which did remarkably well by the kitchen window.
We paid a visit to her elementary school’s community garden this summer too, where the fourth grade classes planted and maintained a healthy plot of vegetables, fruit, and flowers.
Summer began with a discovery of kittens in an old garage next door to Little One’s home. She not only began caring for and making friends with the feral kitties but with her mama found new homes for them too.
Of course, summer always finds us stopping at ice cream places for a cool treat.
And this year in the grocery store, we found a surprise. Nana and Papa’s favorite ice cream from our days living in Oregon.
There were several trips to parks with playgrounds.
Even one with a workout section that she really liked.
And on other days, we ventured to the public library where there is an outstanding children’s library.
Reading was another summer activity and Little One spent one morning drinking her tea (something she’s learned from her Nana) and reading a book bought at the library’s used book sale. We also had tea parties, but alas, no photos of that.
With her Papa, she constructed some fun projects that we got free from Home Depot. One was a sailboat and the other was a car and camper.
With one last hurrah for summer, we traveled out of state to visit her uncle, aunt, and cousins where our three grandchildren had a blast swimming in the pool and her uncle and auntie surprised the kiddos with this! A shark water slide.
Of course, there were plenty more activities we experienced with our grandchild during her vacation from school, and she had tons of fun with her mommy too.
But like all good things, summer has come to an end and off our granddaughter went on the school bus for her first day of third grade.
“Summer will end soon enough and childhood as well.” ~ George R.R. Martin
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So on her birthday, Mommy, Nana, and Papa took Little One to this place of learning and fun. She had actually been there before when she was around two because a Daniel Tiger exhibit was there at the time and she loved Daniel Tiger. But she only remembers that visit because we have photos to show her.
She loved the physical activities of climbing in and out of a two-story tall vertical maze, crossing a “gravity” room (a room tilted at a 25° angle to get to twisty sliding boards, and spinning on large sculptures called “Los Trompos” which resembled spinning tops.
A day to remember. A day to leave the mundaneness of winter and cabin fever behind. An experience that hopefully Little One will always remember.
Over 30 years ago, I held my last born baby in my arms. That boy gave us such joy. And in the years to come, that joy increased and grew as surely as our son did.
It’s back to school time in our area. Summer vacations are officially over with the passing of Labor Day yesterday. School buses ventured by our house early this morning. 
It was like a little Easter blessing.
Mama's Empty Nest 