It’s hard to believe that we are within a few weeks of counting down the last month of summer vacay. This summer seems to be flying by, as they usually do.
Before the summer started, I made a summer bucket list. I wrote it down, photographed it, and promptly forgot about it.
You know what? Our summer has still managed to be fabulous. It may not look like my bucket list, but I’m ok with that. Summer is for slowing down and being purposeful in the moment, not for dealing with the stress of completing a list.
Much of what we have done has been spontaneous and unplanned. Planning definitely has its place, especially since we work from home, and have to schedule our time around work (read: still make money), but most of the memories the kids love to recall (and I can say the same thing about my own childhood) are centered around moments of just sort of happen. The walks after dinner, family runs, making a silly craft with random supplies, concrete being poured (!!) …
Here are a few highlights from the last couple of weeks:
~ Spending a weekend at Lake Martin with friends, at their lake house, and introducing the #4Kidz to tubing
~ Grilled watermelon on Independence Day. Seriously. It was so yummy, but the secret to the perfect grilled watermelon is to slice them thin (the ones pictured are too thick). And salt, as usual.
~ VBS (#5 of 6 – this one at our own church):
(watching kids worship never gets old…)
~ Doing needlepoint (Amazon has a huge selection of kid’s needlepoint)
~Watching concrete poured in our driveway and putting handprints into it.
~Observing nature at our home and while hiking at Ruffner Mountain. It was as though nature was showing off for us.
We spent forever watching this moth ‘lick’ and probe the window on our back door.
Dragonfly, up close, at Ruffner Mountain
I always imagine fairies when I go past this spot:
~Goofy crafts (made with wine corks and [LOTS] of hot glue:
~More VBS fun
If you’d asked me about my summer plans, a month and a half ago, I would have not seen these moments in my mind’s eye.
I love how the unplanned turns into the awesome, when we just slow down.
(* this post contains an affiliate link [needlepoint])