We've had beautiful weather here for a few weeks, signifying another amazing summer season. Today's post is all about summer and just a few thoughts I have on one of my favorite seasons...

I love Summer, don't you? Brent and I have discovered a park close to us and have started walking/jogging and biking there. Casey and Brad have also started on our little adventure with us - I think I blogged about it last week because they roller bladed along side us as we biked.

Anyway, I love summer, but one thing I'm really missing about Chattanooga is the Eastern Time Zone. (or as my friend/brother Jimmy says "God's time") I really didn't think it would be a big deal living in the central time zone, but it's really noticeable in the summer. Summer nights in the EST are MUCH longer - I remember growing up in Chattanooga and being able to stay outside to play until 9:00 p.m. or later because it was still daylight. Unfortunately, it's not the same here - it starts getting dark closer to 7:45/8:00 p.m. We still try to get outside and enjoy the evenings, though. We saw a few kids at the park trying to catch lightning bugs and that always makes me remember the times Jennifer and I would catch these bugs (not that Jennifer actually ever touched one I don't think) and keep them in mason jars only to wake up the next morning and be shocked that they didn't live through the night. (Oh yeah and Jen, I thought of you the other day - it had just rained and there were Frogs in our driveway to our apartment - EEK!)

Thunder storms are another dominant characteristic of the summer season. I think I have a love/hate relationship with them: I love that they cool things down, but I hate that they can really put a kink in your summer time plans! We were supposed to play softball last night, but it was cancelled after waiting for 20 minutes for cloud to ground lightning strikes to pass over. Unfortunately, it never did so they called the games. The scary part about living in Nashville, however, is the magnitude of storms that we get here. We've had several severe thunder storms bringing torrential downpours of rain and some scary-looking clouds, as well as a plethora of tornado warnings and watches. (we still haven't figured out where we'll go in the event that a tornado comes to our apartment...third floor, apartment complex)

The Pool. Who doesn't love laying by the pool on a hot summer day?! Brent and are fully utilizing our apartment amenities including the beautiful pool we have. We think it's rather odd that the pool isn't packed out every weekend, but we're not complaining because it leaves pool chairs open for the Whitakers! Shockingly, the pool has even taken the place of our traditional Sunday nap for the past few weeks. We've gotten into a Sunday routine involving church, lunch and pool laying out, then cooking dinner with Brad and Casey.

We love summer, but work just seems to keep getting in the way. I wonder if I'll appreciate my weekends as much when I become a stay-at-home mom in the future? I hope so. It seems like Brent and I both treat our weekends like little mini-vacations.

Life is good.