Day 298: big, beautiful summer days and nights

 Today was so hectic (in the good sort of way) that this really doesn't capture the sense of what most of the day was like.  The kids had friends stay the night and then our other kids showed up when it was time for work, and then of course there were cousins everyone. It was a changing group of usually around 16 kids running through the house building bunkers and shooting at zombies, making a large cooking mess while trying to cook raspberry muffins & pancakes, cleaning the yard, fishing and swimming in the canal, more swimming and minnow catching at the Dam, water melon eating on the deck, and not really accomplishing much else but trying to stay cool and enjoy the summer.

But the at the end of the day the whole sky was bright and bold and incredibly beautiful. I wasn't home or with a camera till the sun was almost completely down, but even the last few minutes were pretty amazing. Some summer days it seems like everything is more intense: the number of kids and their energy levels, the pace of the day, the heat, the amount of recreation we try to pack in, the storms, and even the sunsets.