summer days.

July officially kicked off summer for our little tribe.

I knew in advance June would be insanely busy — thank goodness Nana came to town to watch the littles while Dave and I put in long hours on a big building/design project and we launched The Berry Farm. I kept saying, “we just need to make it to July…” over and over. Once July rolled around, we were READY.

July has been full with days at the pool, VBS (I shamelessly signed my people up for VBS all over town…), friends visiting from out of town, trying to stay cool in the 1 billion degree heat, swim team, camping… all the things. We have been simultaneously relaxed and exhausted. My little people are either playing and laughing or melting down and bickering. There seems to be no in-between. Is this the case for households everywhere during the summer months???! While the days fly by quickly and the beginning of school is approaching rapidly, the minutes seem to creep along some afternoons. Such is life with littles.

Swim Team.

The boys had a short swim team season, as we are heading out to visit our family in Florida later this week and they’ll have to miss the rest of the season. I would argue that swim team is the absolute best sport for little people! It’s only a few weeks long in the summer and the meets are so fun. We have loved it and look forward to Sylvie joining the boys next year.

Camping. 

Oh, camping. I am not a tent camper, you guys. I’m sorry, I know some people love to camp and pitch a tent and be in the wilderness. I am not one of those people. I like running water and flushing toilets. A lot. I realized how much so when we decided to camp out last weekend in our super-old-rickety-Craigslist-purchase-by-Dave-RV (you can guess how I felt when he drove that beauty home, stepped out, and quoted his favorite line from a movie, “That there’s an RV, Clark” Oh, Dave).

A certain child who will remain nameless likes to push buttons, literally. She will push any and every actual tangible button that she is asked not to touch. Thus, she pushed the water pump button after Dave made a proclamation that no one – under any circumstances – touch it. It wasn’t working right for some reason and when this sweet-angel-child decided to push the button (because she was told not to, obviously), we didn’t realize it until the entirety of the water tank had emptied itself INSIDE the RV.

Puddles and puddles of water filled the lovely carpeted floor.

Ta-da! No more running water. Epitome of First World Problems, people.

Even still, we had the most fun and relaxing – best of all, completely unplugged – weekend. We grilled out and roasted marshmallows and swam in the lake for two days. Friends came out to visit and swim and laugh with us at the water’s edge. Even without running water, it was pretty perfect.

Dave purchased this lake-front property years ago at a tax auction. Because it sold for pennies, we assumed it either didn’t have lake access or we couldn’t build on it. He just bought it because 1) he can’t help himself at an auction, and 2) he figured we could use it for camping. When we visited the lot for the first time, we were shocked. The lot is fairly flat, has lake access and is surrounded by state-protected land that can’t be built on. It is secluded and so beautiful.

We decided to build a little cottage (think 1,200 square feet with every nook and cranny optimally maximized) on the land. Because we work on it in the bits and pieces of time our schedules allow and Dave is doing 99% of the building work himself, it’s taking approximately forever to finish. The exterior is mostly complete, so we used the deck for grilling and relaxing. It looks like a completed house from the outside. A mirage! The interior is far from finished. Someday, someday. We will have this place to stay and relax and invite others to do the same. Until then, we are out there making memories as often as we can anyhow!

Happy Summer, friends!! May we all soak up the sunny days and free time to explore and let imaginations run wild this week!