If I had to describe my summer in one word I would choose perfect.

Like every summer, I started by spending time with my friends at the pool and relaxing after finals. And by the time summer is ending, I’m usually ready for school to start again.

But not this year. This summer was so different and I never wanted it to end.

Our small group that’s been hanging out for years began to grow. It expanded from a measly five to 15. And that doesn’t even count our country boys living in Conway.

All of our plans were last minute. Our days would start with just us girls at Hannah Henricks’s neighborhood pool. It ended with the entire crew either there or in someone’s basement.

As long as we had music and each other we were good.

On the nights all the girls would go out, we put on our cowgirl boots, made sure we looked good and then piled into our cars for a road trip to Conway.

It was our escape from city life.

In Conway we had our main guys, Logan Creek and Joe Hartman a.k.a. “Big Joe.” Logan was Hannah’s best friend growing up, so we all knew him. Once we got there they called up all their friends and it became a big party.

The best part of it was the four-wheeling. The boys all lived on farms. They would take us to the alfalfa fields and looking at the cows or the creek.

By the next morning we could count our bruises on two hands.

On the days we actually planned things, we usually went to the creek in Winfield. One of our trips there, the boys spent a good hour pulling a huge tree limb from the murky water while the girls watched. The creek has a huge rope swing and was always a blast. We would make a huge line, count to three and jump in together.

Once we got out, we would have mud fights, praying we didn’t slip. It was a long way down.

My favorite day was the Mud Run. We climbed in the cars and took off to Rock, Kan., where we sat in the back of a truck and watched the trucks and semis ride through the mud.

After it was over, the announcer told everyone to go down to the mud pit and race to the finish for a grand prize. So we all thought “YOLO,” and went for it. We were covered from head to toe in thick brown mud afterward.

On the way home Hannah had to go to the bathroom so we decided to pull over. She ran down the hill to go squat but didn’t see there was a barbed wire fence in front of her and she ran full force into it, got cut up and started crying. I have to be honest, I felt bad but it was one of the funniest things ever.

I can’t wait to do it all again next year.

One Saturday the crew also spent the day at the Sedgwick County Fair, we had planned to go to the rodeo there that night but we spent all of our money on food and wristbands for rides. So instead we visited the petting zoo and held baby pigs and chicks, then ran into our Conway friends. There was even a boxing booth that most of us climbed into trying to knock one another off of posts.

The last weekend before school we were together every night. We didn’t want it to be over; we had to savor every moment. The worst part of the end of summer was the fact that most of our new merged group goes to Maize South High and we weren’t going to see them as often anymore.

During this school year, we plan to travel between schools to watch our boys compete in their football games, and host bonfires, attend the state fair, and just spend the weekends together until summer comes again.