Sledding in summer and other holiday fun

I didn't get my usual week up north on Lake Michigan this year, but the mild summer took some of the sting out of it. Now that Labor Day is here, we get into a whole other set of rituals.

One ritual which is sure to become popular is summer sledding. It turns out there's a park not to far from here with astroturf hills and a sign that basically says, "you are absolutely not allowed to go get a nice piece of cardboard and use it to sled down the turf hills. Really, don't do it no matter how fun it looks."

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That's my kiddo and her friend on their bajillionth run. The mosquitoes were vicious, but the kids didn't care.

But the real ritual for Labor Day is my wife's invention. After sufficient sleep, we put on good shoes and head over to the Temple for their big Labor Day fair. It's free to all, and there's a petting zoo, train rides, food, moon walks---basically anything a kid could want. The only thing lacking is shade. After we exhaust ourselves there, we head over to a very cute town nearby, really the only thing around here that looks like a town rather than a sprawling suburb. There's a huge art fair in the village green with the usual booths, etc. The cider mill opens up as well, with the requisite fresh, cold cider, doughnuts, and bees.

At both events we'll see plenty of people we know, but we get to cap it all off hanging out with my oldest friend and his kids.

Oh, summer, I hardly knew thee.

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Cider Mill!!!!

We got our fill today too. Awesome.

By The Blind Watchmaker (not verified) on 07 Sep 2009 #permalink

We had a mild summer too this year, and thank the FSM it was only mild...any milder and the farmers might not have gotten their corn into the ground or be able to harvest it before frost. I guess we can thank whatever it is that's warming our other-wise ice-age ready planet.