How short are those shorts?

Things I'm looking forward to this summer:

wearing out my Tevas

showing off my sparkle toes and then upgrading to a new color

4-wheeling dirt beards

losing my sunglasses

new playlists on my Mp3 player--much more Angels and Airwaves 

and much less Ingrid Michaelson

peeling a leech off my skin 

birthday party at Uncle Tom's cabin 

WITHOUT Seth getting hypothermia

beating Skyler in a cake-eating contest

nighttime canal swims (with or without proper swimwear)

coining a new phrase and watching it spread like wildfire-- 

"I'll take a rip at that" ... or perhaps something more clever

wearing orange at Kimball's wedding

attending G.O. Speech Therapy softball games

paying more attention to Kylee and Keri than to the actual game

Havasupai

washing clothes just above a 5 million foot waterfall 

"Oops! There goes my sock."

hot dates with Shmarah

wearing my birthday pants out in public

getting better at picture-taking and photo editing

falling into the creek/river/lake

guests sleeping on our couch (who will it be?)

walk and talks

buying handmade jewelry

Caribbean Jerk chicken that doesn't leak onto my shorts

learning to spell Caribbean on the first try

mosquito repellant

singing along at Uncle Hal's summer concerts

testing out how waterproof my camera really is

discovering again how waterproof my phone isn't

Mama Lisa's homemade peach ice cream

introducing someone to the movie Now and Then 

and discussing how perfect summers were for kids back then

riding my bike with no hands

improving my posture

making whistles out of blades of grass with friends 

and maybe doing a few backwards somersaults

game nights and night games (or dusk games and game dusks)

defining my watch tan line

railroad tracks

getting water up my nose

beach party in Idaho where there are no beaches

earning new scars

wearing dandelions in my hair