Summer So Far

Wow, there is a huge contrast between summer and the rest of the year around here. Routine kind of goes out the window, I do the bare minimum in the domestic duties department, we live out of suitcases because even when we are home from camping, I take a week to unpack the suitcase and am always behind on laundry... buuuut... we are living in the sunshine, going on adventures, spending time with people we love, makin' memories, and having a great time.


Rose has gotten really sick twice already (bladder infection, so sad!), and that was really sad to see. We had to miss one of my favourite summer events, Catholic Family Life Conference, because the poor girl was sick. We just binge watched Netflix and cuddled Rose for the long weekend.

We had a camping day trip with Matt's family to start off the season of camping and to introduce Rose to it - she has no choice but to love camping ;). On that note though - it's a little harder to camp with a baby than I anticipated. Just with fending off mosquitos and things like that. Worth it, though.

We got to go to my parents' lake lot for a week as well, and that was amazing. Summer at it's finest - fishing, tubing, out on the boat all day, cold beer (we added orange juice - I've never tried it before it was amaaaazing), campfires... and constantly swatting away at mosquitos.

One really fun thing we did was create a tournament of a bunch of different games around the lake lot (it included card games, lawn darts, ladder golf, things like that). We drew names for teams and would compete against all the teams. Bryanne (my brother's fiance) and I lost every game so that was a little demoralizing but the whole thing was so fun.

Some friends came out for the first couple days!

For the first two days of the lake trip, my parents babysat Rose for us. It was our first time being away from her overnight. I felt totally comfortable with it, though, because Mom has raised seven kids and Rose loves her so much. Rose is also very into my little sister Emma so they were able to trade off taking care of her. I was so grateful to them for watching her because Matt and I were able to do things we couldn't have had our precious babe been with us, like spending the day on the boat or playing volleyball together. It felt like we were dating again!! (I got pregnant a month after we got married so it doesn't remind me of being married without a kid since pregnant life is a different story - it reminds me of dating and being engaged).

The mist coming off the lake was amazing. It looked pink from the sunset. So peaceful and beautiful.

The rest of the family came and joined us at the lake a couple days after we got there and brought Rose back to us!

All of our siblings are basically a bunch of best friends to us, so I'm so glad our summer has been super packed with time with them.

My sister-in-law Riane threw a party for her husband and we had a blast at that as well. Rose loves her little cousin Joe (they're just three weeks apart!) and tries to constantly kiss him. I love seeing them interact, it's the sweetest thing. Rose may or may not have tried to hit him a few times as well but I caught her in time... hopefully the kisses make up for it ;). She also went down like a breeze (woo woo!) and we got to stay up late having a great time with everyone.

The next day we went to Banff with Matt's other sister and her fiance. It was cut a little short because 3 out of the 5 of us started feeling sick (something was going around), but I even really enjoyed the road trip through the mountains! We had a picnic lunch near the waterfall, Rose got to throw rocks in the water and dip her toes in, and it was so amazing to be in such a beautiful place. Nature - and the mountains specifically - are so beautiful and it makes me so happy to be surrounded by all that beauty and fresh air. It actually worked out that we went home when we did because the area was evacuated because of forest fires! So maybe God sent the stomach aches to tell us to get outta there.

Another little event that happened is I lost my phone in a park. Luckily a kind hearted person found it and brought it in to the police, and my code is so simple that the policeman figured it out and called my mom who was able to pick it up (I lost it while visiting them and was already home by this time). I didn't have a phone for a little over a week and it was... different. I actually loved the removal of the temptation to spend too much time on social media, but found planning things really difficult and actually felt really disoriented without my calendar (I have completely stopped using the part of my brain that can be transferred to the phone calendar) and phone to go about my life and plan things. It is a little disconcerting how reliant we all are on our phones. Such useful tools that we sometimes rely on them more than our own brains. It was a good little experience, though, not having a phone for a week. After all, I'm the one who always says I just want to go back to the flip phone days...

Next on the agenda - NASHVILLE! My cousin is taking her vows to become a Dominican Sister and Rose and I get to fly down for it and also stay a week! We are staying at a beautiful lake house with my cousins from the states, my parents, youngest two siblings, and grandparents. I am SO excited. I am also really nervous about what the flight is going to be like with my little toddler who does not like sitting still whatsoever - worth it though! Oh also, Rose's passport photos are hilarious. Matt and I laughed so hard.

Packing for Nashville!

One more update - Rose learned to walk! It's the cutest little wobbly walk and her one arm will shoot out randomly in the funniest way.

She's also learning so many new words and I loved it. She recently learned to (occasionally) say please ("pees") and seriously - I can't say no to that. Nobody could. Oh except today when she found my deodorant and was saying "pees" for me to take the lid off for her. I said no to that so I guess she doesn't have complete power over me ;)

I have so many ideas for blog posts and so many ways I want to make my blog better, but it is more difficult to find time in this crazy summer. So, for now, I'm taking time where I can and I have big plans for myself and this blog come fall when life is less spontaneous and there is more normal and more routine. Thank you, so much, to everyone who reads my posts and is along for the ride! I've already gotten so much joy out of writing in this blog. Writing is something I have always loved and the fact that there are some people who read it makes it that much better.

To end, here are a bunch of photos from our awesome week at the lake!

Can you tell Rose is loved? Happy summer friends!