I am writing this as we are a week into school and I sigh. Summer seems so far behind us now. Summer break 2024 was a great one to us. We are in a season of life where everything is a whirlwind. Yet, we are here for it and soaking up every single moment God has granted our family.
We kicked off July with the 4th of July! Normally, my husband is home for this whole week but this year he worked almost all of it. We adjusted well and still filled the few days he was home with so much. We went to the town our school is in and watched their parade and town lunch. Then, we came home for a swim at our pool. Payton made festive 4th of July food. We let the kids stay up late and watch the city's fireworks, a beautiful scene from our house in the country. We didn't know if the show would go on as it was raining and storming off and on. But, it finally lit up the sky in all its glory. We ate s'mores and lit up our own firework show. All in all, it continues as one of our favorite holidays and we favor spending the time at our own home for this.
Outside of the 4th of July, our next favorite for this month annually is the fair! We love the fair and make sure we are there each day it's there! Only a few days but so worth going for us.
We also got our faces painted (see above) at the fair.
One of the only pictures I got of us riding all the rides! I tend to put my phone down and just enjoy life now rather than trying to capture it all. Time is fleeting, my friends!
This year, we hosted cousin camp! My mother brought the grandkids to our house and we all stayed together. It was a quick trip but so blessed. I loved watching all the kids interact and play together.
We did so much and I learned that, as a seasoned mom still living in the season, sometimes you have to adapt and meet kids where they are. The picture above had a child who wanted to walk and then decided it was too much walking. Therefore, I made a seat for her. I can't always control the circumstances but we can control our reactions.
And then, in the middle of this post, is all the simple every day moments. Just scenes from living our best life at home and out and about:
leisurely walking our side road
Cuddled up for an afternoon movie during the heat of summer
Playing at the park and taking the time to help the baby walk the play structure
Nothing better than a sleeping baby, ever
All the kids participated in our local library lego challenges.
We got out for a sweet treat together after cleaning the house (our preferred reward after this task)
Payton participated in so many library group activities. This one she got to make a camping cupcake before eating her sweet treat. I actually made one, too, as there were extra when I came to pick her up.
All the kids went to a few library programs, one about stars and constellations (no pictures though) and another about raptor birds in our state:
And just a random picture of Avery looking at picutres:
These photos need put back on the walls but, until that happens, Avery can be found looking and oohing and awing at all these old photos of people in her family. She can name each of the people in there. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow and see how her little mind works.
We also got a lot of rain in a short period of time during July. We went to the park to check out how high the small pond is and it was so high! The kids are at the dock in this picture and it is almost flooded.
We celebrated Riley having a birthday in July! See that post here. He had created the sweetest birthday wish list that I can't help but put on here so I can remember forever:
For one of his presents, we took a trip. Our daughter had an eye appointment follow up so we made some fun of the trip as Riley got to take over the planning. So we went to a air and space museum:
We got out for some pizza and they even made allergy friendly so we ALL got to eat, a total win for all of us:
Our littlest kids were tired and so they went to bed and, for the first time ever, I took the bigger kids out for an excursion downtown walking. We went to grab some donuts together.
I hope the kids remember that one time we snuck out at night to walk, enjoy the city, and ended up with donuts.
One of the last things we did on this trip and possibly the most important for this trip in particular was that we toured the Husker stadium! It was a real treat for our family and a total highlight of the trip:
We will be talking about this trip for possibly the rest of our lives. It was one in a million and so worth it.
On this trip, we listened to the Wizard of Oz audiobook as a family. So, we watched the movie as we got back home.
It comes as no surprise to me, but the kids all declared the book to be better and the movie not to match the book enough. So, it goes.
Back at home and well rested from our trip, I realized we needed just a random day at the water. So one morning, I surprised my kids by packing lunch and all our swim gear. Not telling anyone where we were going until just before we left. We loaded and went to spend a good chunk of the day by the water! It was the best surprise and reminded me how good it can be to break away from the daily grind and just work in play.
As I end this post, I found so many pictures of flowers and nature on my phone courtesy of Payton and also of me. Just some extra things from around our home:
When we had dogs at our house it was a rare occurrence to see rabbits. Now that it has been years since having a dog, we seem them a lot now. Payton loves taking their pictures and/or trying to catch them in her free time.
When we had dogs at our house it was a rare occurrence to see rabbits. Now that it has been years since having a dog, we seem them a lot now. Payton loves taking their pictures and/or trying to catch them in her free time.
That's a wrap on our July! I hope you had a good month, too.
