Hi there, friends!
It feels like it’s been ages since I’ve been here! We got back from vacation three weeks ago and I completely fell off my blogging game! While I would love to tell you how much I’ve missed blogging and posting to social media, I’ve actually quite enjoyed this accidental break.
Summer has always been my FAVORITE season! As a kid, there was something so magical about this time of year. The days were hot, the evenings were long, and even the sun seemed to protest going to bed. I remember hours spent playing with my sister, friends, and cousins. There were vacations to Florida and far-away places, but there were also lazy days spent at home.
Someone recently asked me what my favorite thing about summer was as a child. Looking back, it occurred to me that my favorite part of summer wasn’t a memory, but a feeling. It was the way you felt getting into bed on a hot evening after a day full of play, listening to the whir of a ceiling fan, and drifting off to sleep knowing that you got to do it all again the next day. So simple and yet so incredibly sweet! That feeling of complete relaxation and contentment is still the feeling that comes to mind when I think of summer.
Now, let’s fast forward to 2019.
This year the theme for our summer has been less “relaxation” and more “adventure!”
We began by taking a cruise to the Bahamas with my extended family. Let me tell you, it felt absolutely luxurious to be able to swim whenever we wanted, eat whenever we wanted, play and explore, and never wash a single dish! If any of you have wanted to go on a cruise but have been worried about taking your kids, JUST GO FOR IT! It might look a little different with kids, but it will still be relaxing and you’ll be together as a family!
The weekend after we came home from the cruise, we took the kids camping. While this was basically the opposite of the cruise experience (cooking dinner over a fire and washing dishes in a bucket), we had a BLAST! Elizabeth and Abbie loved sleeping in the tent and we had a great time hanging out with friends! Again, if you’ve been on the fence about camping with kids, GO FOR IT! You’ll make it work. You’ll find your groove. And if you’re kids don’t sleep well in the tent, you can always go home early because chances are that campsite only cost $30. 😉
Since our camping trip, we’ve slowed down a bit. We took a short visit to my parents’ home in Albany where we spent time with family and relaxed in the pool. We also spent a few days in Geneseo with Caleb’s family. The cousins got to play together, we relaxed in the pool (are you sensing a theme?), and we even took an impromptu day trip to Niagara Falls.
Listing off all these adventures, I’m drawn back to January and the word I chose to be our theme for the year. That word was “present.” The idea was to spend more time in the moment and to maximize our time together. This snapshot of our summer may sound incredibly busy, but in reality it’s been so refreshing! We’ve spent more time together than we had in a while and we left our phones behind for most of it. We’ve been present and have soaked up every moment along the way!
So wherever you find yourself this July, I hope you’re feeling a bit rested. Whether on a beach, next to a campfire, or floating on a raft in your parent’s pool, rest can be found just about anywhere!
Cheers to a restful summer (and hopefully a more consistent blog schedule) going forward!
