July Freedoms

The freedoms we celebrate in July are multi-faceted.

Knowledge itself offers freedom as does being brave and finally conquering fears.  Nathan identifies “O” and “H” in a crowd of characters now and has learned to identify the colors blue and pink on his own this month.  He also offers “number” or “letter” for those he does not fully identify yet.  He counts to 13 without help and loves to use this skill in the kitchen helping me count cups of flour as I add them to the bowl for bread dough. 

Opportunity for adventure is ever present.

Friends, Adventure and Wildlife are in abundance.

Playing indoors as well as outdoors without school or schedule is freedom in itself.

Confiding in your best friend and shedding as many layers as possible is characteristic of the freedom available this month.

Homemade popsicles and sand play are part of the month’s freedoms.

Outdoor tea parties are perfect.

Options for staying warm or keeping cool depend on the day.  Mostly we tried to stay cooler.

Nathan gained independence with bubble blowing this month.

All-American baseball games were played, teams rallied and balls flew free.

Scorching heat could not touch this free spirited boy’s ambition.

Freedom with time to explore new playgrounds together exists.

Ice cream was freely doled out on more than one occasion.

Freedom to play… Freedom to bond

The weather allowed us to eat outdoors when there weren’t heat alerts and poor air quality but occasionally it drew us back inside to hide away from such conditions.

Dad got to freely play with his children giving them a good whirl and a good scare on the merry-go-round.

And finally July offers us one final freedom of summer; freedom to travel leaving the city that financially supports our family to briefly go and have new adventures together in places and with people we long for.