August: The End And The New

August is the beginning of the end.

The end of summer weekend sleepovers at Grandma's, with bonus ipad time,

and late night suppers,

and being lazy on a Saturday morning.

 Fair fun has ended,

so has Hailey

and Makayla's favorite "ride".

It's the end of  Fair sliding with mom,

the end of funky prize-winning chicken viewing,

the end of  face painting

in the only air conditioned spot at the Fair.

Makayla's driving days have ended, at least for now.

Sad to say it's the end of forbidden Fair food.

Even the end of deep fried hamburgers has come.

 (I can live with that.)

It's the end of Fair frozen dairy, although I may have other sources.

I always have mixed feelings when the garden is nearing the end of the season.

Things are ready to harvest

and be made into spaghetti sauce and salsa,

and in the end, turned into compost. Can snow be far behind?

It's the end of 

daylong jumping,

 and swinging,

and climbing.

No more all day painting fun (although we'll work in some projects),

Ended are the picnic lunches with the neighborhood friends, 

Grandpa has ended the glider bike days and put the pedals back on.

Now Makayla has finally joined 

the pedaling world.

School shopping has ended,

along with the 

end of our obligatory after-shopping mall food (yeah!).

The end is here for being scared by the Scheel's bear,

and for bravely saving your sister's life by pushing her out of harm's way.

 Say good-bye to playing on the escalator-that fun has come to and end. 

Swimming excursions

of all types

and in all places,

and in all forms have come to an end.

 All good things must come to an end, but there are plenty of new beginnings:
new prescriptions and new glasses,

There's a new fourth grader and a new first grader.

A new school year as we walk, babies trailing mother, duck style,

A new start to the new school year with new teachers, new friends, new classrooms,

and new experiences.