Summer, Summer, Summertime

I realized that I've been pretty hard on summer lately, what with all this godforsaken heat. The cool down in the past couple of days has softened my attitude, though, so I have decided to instead focus on some of the things that I actually like about my least favorite season. Here, in no particular order, are a few of them:

1. Fireflies. I don't chase them anymore, but I still love watching them drunkenly weave their way through my yard.

2. The smell of new rafts. I think this originates in the beginning of summer ceremony of buying a slew of new rafts and that plastic smell as you blow them up. There might also be some sort of chemical involved that provides a slight high. Either way, yum.

3. Sno-cones. Roadside variety are the best. I prefer the ambiguous red flavor, but will go with green in a pinch.

4. Cannonballs. The quintessential summer aquatic maneuver. There's a sensation when you're hanging in the air, balled up and tensed for impact, that exhilaration of just how big of a splash can an overweight 34 year old woman make.

5. That wha-wha-wha sound in the evenings. I think it's crickets. It's hypnotic.

6. Not having to put six layers of clothes on my child. Closely related to this, not having to take off and put back on six layers of clothing every time she needs a diaper change.

7. No pantyhose. Not that I'm wearing much of those these days, but even back in my work days summer meant BARE LEGS!

8. Flowers. I know that springtime is when you generally think of flowers, but really a great many of them bloom throughout the summer. I defy you to be unhappy looking at flowers.

9. Flip flops. These seem to be a controversial topic, particularly among the anti-feet crew, but there's something so nice about just slipping on a pair. Makes me think of the beach or pool every time I put them on.

10. Coming in to an icy cool house after being outside in the stifling heat. That first gust of cool air that almost takes your breath away is so yummy.

Bonus:
This one never fails to put a smile on my face because it pretty much defined the summer after my senior year of high school. That was back when Will Smith was still the Fresh Prince. We would go cruising and play this song over and over. Kids actually do that in small town Kansas, what the heck else is there to do?

This is the fresh prince's new definition of summer madness.