We observe. There is a jump between sensing and perceiving. The jump occurs in our consciousness--the sensory input is primary data; the analysis, however faulty, is an attempt to make a pattern out of the data.
we perceive that we observe.
I agree that the human mind exists not in the "real" world but in its own cognitive synthesis, but overapplying this leads to Solipsism - a useless form of mental masturbation even in philosophy and mysticism.
assuming a non-solipsistic reality, real facts have real patterns which we conscious beings observe, recognise, and describe. Cases in point: Diurnal cycles, lunbar progression, tides, seasonal cycles, the surprisingly common incidence of close approximation of Fibonacci series and ratio in organic structures (including those long dead and fossilized before the first proto-primate flexed his thumb), etc...
the patterns and cycles existed and continue to exist independent from our observations, recognitions, and descriptions of them.