The Lazy Days

We Seattleites are funny about the weather. Starting sometime mid-January, everyone starts complaining about the lack of snow days. Come mid-February, it's the never-ending 40 degree days which has everyone in fits. Around mid-March, the griping reaches a fever pitch, and this time it's about the nonstop, never-ending grey and drizzle. This goes on, usually until the end of May by which time we've had a couple of great Summer teasing days thrown in to get everyone to stop running their mouths. Then comes June, which is commonly known 'round these parts as "Juneuary" because it never delivers the Summer weather which everyone is waiting not-so-patiently for.

And then, sometime around July 5th, Summer arrives in Seattle. And it's glorious, and beautiful and there's nowhere else in the world that most residents would rather live, because it is just, so incredibly perfect.

Mind you, when the weather reaches 85 degrees, the complaining picks up again, this time it's about the heat and lack of air conditioning and whatnot. If we ever hit 90, the whole area is abuzz and in a frenzy. What's a resident to do?? Luckily, this only happens a couple times a year - max - and to me, these are the very best days.

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We've been incredibly lucky the last week or so with mindblowing early Summer weather. I say early because, as stated above, Summer isn't supposed to happen until July 5th, so we're a couple weeks ahead of schedule at least. Although, I did read that this has been one of the hottest Junes on record in the area, so maybe a whole month early. Needless to say, when the weatherman (or woman, of course), starts predicting 85 degrees, my spirits lift. I adore this weather.

We lug our seldom used fan out of the attic, throw open the windows and turn off the lights, and spend the mornings relaxing in our perfectly temperate main living area. After nap, it's time to head out to my parent's lake, where Ellie has spent the last couple days delighting herself (and us!) in the newfound joys of lake swimming. We eat dinner with the family, and head home to our stifling hot upstairs, but perfectly warm basement where our bedrooms are. We bathe sticky babies in cool water and if we're lucky we might get cool showers to rinse the sweat of sand and heat and sunscreen off our own bodies. We kick off the blankets and find cool sheets to cover us and we sleep with the windows open and fan rotating between our room and the babies' room. It's perfection.

I spent my childhood summers in my bathing suit and sunscreen, hanging out for hours on end at pools and lakeside. When we were old enough, we'd blow up the floaties and paddle our way to the middle of the lake, where we'd float and swim for entire afternoons without pause. My best summer memories and probably related to water, and I'm so happy to watch my little girl start to develop this joy for herself.

The hours pass slowly while the temperatures rise, and we all slow down to soak in every moment. These are the days which we hold on to when the weather turns back toward winter, and these lazy days are the happiest of all.