Even though all of our days and most nights are still over 20°C, it has started to feel like fall around here properly. The biggest reason is that after Labor Day (the first Monday in September) school starts again and everyone returns to their routines after summer. But also there is a certain crispness in the air, the very first leaves are changing colors, and cafes and supermarkets are full of pumpkin everythings.

Our summer felt particularly long to me this year. Here are a few things that happened or that we did:

To start with the sad news, Arti died on the Tuesday after Labor Day, i.e. less than two weeks ago. She had heart issues since she was half a year old and had to take medicine daily. This time we knew she couldn’t recover anymore. So we had to make the very difficult decision to say goodbye and put her down – else she would have eventually drowned of liquid in her lungs. We miss her terribly.

The rest of the summer was significantly better.

As Josephine is in a private German daycare, she also had the summer off. So I had both her and Ophelia at home with me. We had a lot of fun going to playgrounds and running through the water sprinklers. For Ophelia, there is nothing better than spending time with her sister. Whatever Josephine does, she wants to do, too – even though she mostly can’t yet. But Josephine is definitely her favorite person in the world. I enjoyed all that time with them together. But also, I found it exhausting. I constantly had to pay attention and hardly ever got a break because, at the time, their nap schedules didn’t really overlap.

So I learned to love summer camps. Luckily for us, Josephine’s daycare offers camps for most summer weeks. I would even say it was money best spent as it bought me breaks. For Josephine, going to camp or daycare is the same thing. The same teachers, almost the same routines.

We also spent three weeks in Maine. I flew up with the girls first, and Rich joined us for the last week. Except for terrible sleep regressions there (not me!), we had a wonderful time. Rich’s extended family was up there, which meant we shared duties like cooking, cleaning, and even looking after kids. Josephine had a blast with her older cousins. I enjoyed the big house and that we had escaped the hottest part of summer in the City. Although the lack of sleep really made me run on fumes. I am still eagerly waiting to ever sleep through a whole night again – which I know it will happen, hopefully within the next three months.

To do something for myself this summer, I finally purchased a MET membership. Now, I can go to the museum whenever I want to. And I don’t feel bad if I only spend one or two hours there. So far, Ophelia tolerated the museum well. I hope we can keep that up.

I also saw “Cabaret” on Broadway, which was excellent. I mostly wanted to see Eddie Redmayne, who didn’t disappoint. But really, all actors were amazing. And planning ahead, I already bought tickets to two concerts this fall.

Our final summer adventure was a wedding on Labor Day Weekend. We took the train to Boston where Josephine stayed with her grandparents. The rest of us went on to Vermont where one of Rich’s oldest friends from kindergarten got married in a beautiful resort at a lake. It was a perfect weekend. Well, mostly. Rich got bitten by an insect and his hand swelled so much that he had to visit an urgent care on the way home. Fortunately, the antibiotics worked fast.

Sharing is caring!