The Three Degrees of Summer

Hot, Hotter & Hottest

I know not everyone loves summer as much as I do, but I love it. Love, love, love it. I love flip flops and frozen treats; baseball games and birthdays; popsicles and painted toenails. I love lazy mornings and the lazy river. I love sunshine. It makes me happy.

Here's a recap of my three favorite months:

Hot - June

Average High - 98.9°

Highest High - 104.2°

We welcomed the end of school, cheered for Jacob at baseball All-Star Games, sent the three oldest kids to church camps, and celebrated Father's Day and Ryan becoming the newest teenager in the house.

Hotter - July

Average High - 102.4°

Highest High 106.1°

We spent the first eleven days and ten nights on the road in Missouri, Wisconsin and Illinois; We loved time with my parents, church history sights, Brewers baseball, frozen custard and Lake Michigan. The in-car entertainment and side-of-the road picnics lost a bit of their excitement by day 11, but the kids were all great travelers and I tried not think that this may be our last big vacation before Amanda leaves for college next summer...

We ended the month with a lot of time in the pool, a fun cousins trip for the three oldest kids and fifteen more birthday candles for Ashley to blow out.

Hottest - August

Average High - 103.8°

Highest High - 109°

With the outside temperatures heating up and the outside pools getting a bit too warm we had to look inside for some crazy and creative fun including cheerleader jumps and another round of Iron Chef Texas with Amanda and Lizzey.

For our last two summer birthdays Jacob wanted his picture on the cake, so I gave him a giant pitcher's mound with candles to blow out around the bases. Pirate Mason had fun hunting for and eating hidden treasures with his fellow buccaneers.

As our summer wound down, things got a little warm - inside and out. Our upstairs AC unit died and we decided to replace both 11-year-old units since they showed signs of serious hail damage from an early summer storm. After a couple of days we realized the upstairs unit wasn't cooling well and had to be replaced again. The AC company had to take back the new unit in order to bring us another new unit... Our upstairs thermostat registered at 99°, leaving us to wonder if it's even possible for it go into the 100s. Unfortunately all of the kids' bedrooms are upstairs so they spent their last few nights of summer including First Day of School Eve having a sibling sleepover downstairs. I don't think that's a trend they'll want to continue.

And even though we missed the record for the most consecutive days over 100° by one day Dallas did set a new local record for the most 100°+ days in a year.