How can summer be almost over?

It seemed interminable in June-- just one day after another with no childcare stretching out in front of me.

But then!  Our days developed a rhythm, and the summer sped by.

5:00-ish: I wake up to guzzle coffee, start laundry, and work on my classes but never really have enough time to write my book.
6:30: Yoga and cardio
7:15:  Kids up for breakfast, dog walk etc.
7:45: Kids get dressed, brush their teeth, fill up a water bottle, get dressed for swim lessons, and give me a change of clothes to pack in their swim bags. I clean up breakfast and pack snacks and maybe also art supplies depending what we have to do after the pool.
8:15-8:45: Light housework which always included bleaching all the bathrooms because geez. Harry would cut the grass during this time slot, and everyone would read and interact with books, too.
8:45-9:20:  I kept my resolution to get dressed everyday, and this is also when I would throw their dry clothes and towels into the pool bag and prep for our post-pool, pre-lunch plans
9:30-10:35: Swimming/diving lessons.  During dive season, Jack stayed at the pool until noon for practice, but the rest of us went to Harry's tennis lesson or ran errands between lessons and lunch
10:45-12: Michaels for craft camp or slime class, Harry's tennis lesson, general errands, etc.
12-1:30: lunch, lunch clean up, laundry folding and putting away-- mostly this is when the kids beat the crap out of each other, watched TV, or played at the park with friends.  Sometimes, this time was condensed and Cooper had tennis at 1.
1:30-5:  Afternoon activity.  Sometimes the moves.  Usually the pool.  Once a week the library and then the pool. (once dive season was over, we moved the library to the pre-lunch spot, and that was even better.)
5-8:  SPORTSBALL
8: kiddie bedtime
8-9:30: Couch date
9:30- adult bedtime because 5 is early.

Everyday.  All summer.

Now school start times loom, and we have to figure out new routines.  It seems a little daunting even though 75% of the kids will be across the street all day, but it's not any more daunting than 4 kids home all day while I try to work, right?

This is the summer where the kids have all been kids, not babies. Everyone can buckle themselves up and get themselves ready to go and use the bathroom alone.  Next summer, I'll have 3 kids and a teenager.  Who knows?  Maybe this summer will always seem as perfect as I think it was right now, on the precipice of our return to real life.

 Beatrix has also had a lovely summer.  Mostly right here.