Favorite Summer Moments (Whatever Wednesdays)

(This post is part of a Wednesday link-up called "Whatever Wednesdays"...I write about whatever is on my mind and hope that you will join me in creating a little bit of community by linking up whatever is on your mind this week! My blogging time is limited these days, so I figure I'd use the one day I am blogging to connect with as many of you as possible! Please jump in! )

I had considered making this a "Top 10" list, but couldn't narrow it down, so here we go with this year's favorite summer moments in pictures! 

Let me tell you, if you're feeling like the summer just flew right by and there are still many items on your to-do list that you never got around too (aren't we all feeling that way?!), go back through the photos saved on your cell phone or your camera and will find yourself impressed and feeling a little more at ease at all you DID DO this summer (see what I mean about those "did do" lists!).  

What we did do this summer...

A 5th birthday celebration fit for a princess...

or a dozen princesses! 

My all time favorite photo of the summer...this picture epitomizes my daughter's carefree and silly spirit fully and accurately. 

Always love celebrating my birthday with the girls...even though they usually end up fighting over who gets to blow out which candles. 

Meeting Mickey was definitely a highlight, though I must admit I did not have an answer when the girls demanded to know why he didn't talk...hmmm....why not Mickey?! 

More princess encounters...

4th of July is always memorable...

We made s'mores. Lots of them. Daddy's s'mores are a HUGE part of our summers! 

We went to parks and packed lunches. Here is one picnic on the bleachers at a local park. 

Some of our favorite friends visiting from MA...We had 4 adults and 5 children in the house for 4 1/2 days! It's always good, chaotic fun and full of memorable moments! 

We played lots of "Go Fish", the girl's new favorite game! It is fun to be at a stage where we can all play a game together.

We picked up MANY shares of vegetables from our local organic crop share. This was my first year in a crop share and while I was really impressed by the farm and all of the food we ended up with, I found it challenging to keep up with the cleaning, cutting and preparation of all of the vegetables, particularly some that we got a lot of that I don't typically use (cabbage, kohlrabi, garlic scapes). It's funny, we eat a LOT of veggies, but the produce we buy at the store is already cleaned and prepared to a certain degree...We also buy what we know we will use, rather than my trying to use things that don't quite fit into my meal plans...

 Would I do it again? Not sure...it's a 30 minute drive from our house and I'm not sure I have the time at this season of life to do all of that food preparation every week...

We traveled to Maine and stayed in a really big house with 17 other family members (my husband's family!). There is great-grandpa, whose 90th birthday we celebrated, sitting in the middle!

And the girls with Scott's cousin Anne from California. She was like the girls mini camp counselor for the week...they loved it! 

Ava and I in front of the LL Bean boot at their flagship store in Freeport, ME. 

Ava zipped into a jacket at the North Face outlet, also in Freeport. 

And the best part of the summer...Cordelia got a new liver!!! She is recovering beautifully!! So beautifully it is truly miraculous...the doctor's did not expect her to be doing quite to well! They were released from the hospital yesterday and are now staying at the Ronald McDonald House next door for the next 4-6 weeks! (You can read more about that here if you haven't been following her story). 

We did many other things this summer and I am sad to see it end and for my big girl to go to kindergarten!! (Ack!). 

I uploaded several other photos that all just deleted themselves inadvertently after I spent an hour writing captions and formatting them (sigh...)...So you get what's left here! 

)ther things we did this summer included picking flowers (many of them), creating chalk murals on the sidewalk, playing on the swing set, attending other 5 year old birthday parties, picking blueberries, strawberries and tomatoes by hand, and eating many, many dinners on our patio in the backyard. 

How about you, what have some of your favorite summer moments been?