Farewell Summer

So, even though I don't care for fall and even though it is still warm in these parts, summer is over.  In my mind, summer ends when school is back in session (after Labor Day).

Yesterday, when I was walking to the subway, the street was packed with little kids in their uniforms scrambling across the street (first day of school).  The sidewalk was impassible with teachers lining-up kids and moms taking photos.  That's urban school for you, no school yard...just the sidewalk.   It's funny, some kids you can totally tell were prepped and ready.  They had new shoes and nice hair bows.  Others looked like they were dragged out of bed and had no clue school started today.

Oh man, back to school brings back all kinds of feelings and I'm grateful that my end to summer doesn't mean homework and school stresses.

ANYWAYS, our summer bucket list.  We finished it!! And we had a fabulous time checking off all the things we had planned and squeezing in others we didn't even know we wanted to do.

1) Professional photos.  We had our friends Brian and Emily take our photos in the park way back in June.  I realize now that I never shared them and of course as I look through them this morning I'm not really loving them.  They did a great job taking the photos I just don't like how we look in them (well mostly me).  Here is my favorite.  It's black and white because, classic.

2) Beach Day.  Well the original plan was to take the ferry to New Jersey but then we discovered  South Beach in Staten Island and had a blast.  Not two mention the two beach days we got in Wildwood and Cape May.

3) Bronx Zoo.  It didn't even feel like summer when we went to the zoo but it was a great day.

4) Movies in the Park.  We saw Uncle Buck in June and Ghostbusters in August.  There is still one last movie next weekend which I might convince Dan we should attend.  It was such a perk to have a free outing like this in our neighborhood.  There are outdoor movies in Bryant Park in Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge park too but they are an epic mob scene so our little tiny botanic garden is a real treat.

5) Try two new restaurants.  This item was to help break our standard restaurant fare since Bay Ridge has so many great options.  We tried wood fired pizza at Campana and gave it an A+ and then we tried The Pig Guys which was a semi-fast food BBQ place.  I gave it a B-.  We also tried Peppinos this last weekend.

6) Picnics and Sunnies.  We sure did soak in the sunnies this summer.  We had several "picnics" in various places some on our favorite hillside, one chipolt-date by the Hudson River in the city, one with Mandy in Chicago, and more.  My soul feels happy when the sun warms my stone-cold heart.  Ha!  Just kidding.  But really, I need sunshine.

7)  We went to Coney Island for a Cyclones game on the 4th of July this year with the added bonus of fireworks

8) Bike Rides.  We put this on the list without even planning on purchasing a bike for me.  So many parks have bikes to rent.  But after our fun biking days in Chicago I decided I really wanted a bike and it has been so nice for us to head out from time to time.

9) Governors Island.  Speaking of bike rides, this trip to the Island would have been pretty lame without bikes.

10) And last but not least, our Anniversary Trip.  You've heard all about that already.  Here, and here, and here.

We did so many other fun things not on the list.  A soccer game and Yankee Stadium, a Mets game at sunset, we both celebrated our birthdays, and we did some apartment improvements.  Compared to summer last year, we hit this one out of the park.  In my book, it was the best I've ever had.

And to top off our farewell to summer, it's going to rain all day today.  That makes saying goodbye a little easier.