Goodbye Summer

Reality is smacking us square in the face today. Our vacation is over and tomorrow is the first day of school for Emma. This summer was a whirlwind and I learned a lot from it. We had entirely too much on the calendar and it was honestly stressing me out before the summer ever started. We are going to leave a lot more space in the schedule next summer.

We just got back from our vacation in Michigan. I discovered some things about myself on this vacation. For instance, it turns out that my personal value is in fact not tied to the circumference of my thighs. I can choose to be in turmoil over the idea of wearing a swimsuit in public or I can choose not to care. Guess what. I will never have a thigh gap. I have the opposite of a thigh gap, whatever that may be. Who really cares.

Maddie and her fiance came and stayed with us for the first couple days of our trip. It appears he is going to fit into our family very well. I love how sweet he is with Emma too. He makes a pretty good big brother. The first day at the beach he buried both of the girls in the sand so they paid him back the next day, even giving him sand boobs. Because for some reason our family thinks boobs are funny. If this offends you, then you should definitely not go on vacation with us. Ever.

We even got to take Millie with us. Vacations are exhausting.

 Emma informed us that this is what her soul looks like. I 100% believe her. Also, she looks impossibly old. I wish she would knock that off.

Michigan is amazing and we love visiting there. This year we rented a house for a week and we discovered that it was too long for us. We actually came home two days early.  Even though we loved the beach, going to the movie (Ant-Man- go see it!), shopping, dinners out, playing seriously cutthroat games of Cover Your Assets, boat rides and going out for coffee every morning, we are at our core homebodies and were ready to come home about 4 days in.

We are never happier or more comfortable than when we are tucked into our little cottage. So we packed up, picked up our favorite pizza for the second time that week, and headed home to finish off the week with a staycation.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed the second part of our vacation the most. Well, aside from the unpacking and three days of laundry! We really treated ourselves like we were still on vacation, eating out, going to see another movie (Mr. Holmes-go see it!) and having our coffee (him) and chai (me) on the porch each morning. We were gloriously lazy, staying up late and sleeping in. Reading and talking. No projects, chores or work to interrupt us. It was just what we needed to recharge and prepare for the end of summer. So, today we say goodbye to summer and while I will miss this girl so much, I am excited for the year ahead and all the adventures that await us.