August 3

It's utterly bizarre to think that at this time next week, the boys will be back in school, and in less than a week, Abby will be back at Wheaton. In some ways it feels like summer vacation has flown by at warp speed. But I'm not thinking about all of that quite yet. Today, we celebrated what's left of summer with one of our customary brunch outings to Black Bear.

It was a typical trip for us, with Isaac and Brady each going for The Volcano (read: a stack of food), chicken and waffles for Abby, and another stop on the great menu adventure for me (since I'm known to skip around with my meal picks).

We ate and amused each other, and they all smiled on cue (before cue, really) when I pulled out my phone to take the usual selfie. 

It was very, very pleasant. And I am grateful for the time.