Highlights of Summer

I thought at the beginning of the summer that it was going to be so long, and my only goal was to relax and enjoy it. How did it slip past me so quickly in wave after wave of intense craziness? I think I need to start planning for next summer this very minute. But maybe that would only make it worse.
So, here it is. A recap of the Wells Family Summer. Awesome, it was.
1. We picked blueberries. (Twice, actually. And we picked cherries--sour cherries that we thought were going to be strawberries and raspberries and ended up being neither. But, you know what? I learned how to make freezer cherry pie filling, and I discovered that cherry jam is delicious!)
Somehow, when the blueberry helpers (several darling teenage girls) handed out the buckets, my big girl got a tiny bucket. . . . . . and my mini little Mimi got the HUGE bucket tied around her waist.2. Mimi signed up for ballet class and loved it. She dances her way though life anyway, and Miss Shakura is the loveliest teacher ever. (I've been teased that everything I say follows this format "Best ______ Ever". I accept the teasing--in fact, I embrace it. I think it's the best way to write ever.)Is there anything cuter than a row of happy, giggling little girls in pink tutus? I submit that there is not. (And as darling as the tiny little girls are, I thought the chubby ones were the cutest.)3. The girls took swimming lessons for 5 weeks with their good friends Ryan and Kacie.
It was more exciting than Mimi's face indicates.
4. We had visitors upon visitors upon visitors. (My basement is always available for friends. Come and visit me--I'm serious.) Unfortunately, I didn't take enough pictures of when John's family came. But this is my brother Mike, and his darling wife Kelly on one of our blueberry expeditions.
5. We took Mike, Kelly, and my other brother Rob, to the beach (These pictures are representative of so many beach trips we took this summer.). . .
. . . where they tossed my baby (and all the other kids in the group) through the air. And got in trouble with the lifeguard. (Which was nostalgic, rather than embarrassing for me.)

6. Bella ate bucketloads of sand, dirt, and grass everywhere we went.7. And my girls practically spent the summer in these dresses, made from a yard of Walmart $2.00 fabric and a 50-cent sheet I found at Goodwill. (They're easy to wear and cool on the skin, which makes me feel like a good mom. But then they are vaguely reminiscent of the curtain dresses from Sound of Music, which makes me feel a little like a cruel mom.)
Two more events that are really worth their own posts, so I'll elaborate later.
8. We went to Washington, D. C. because . . .
9. My brother Rob GOT MARRIED! To a darling, darling, Kasey.