I goofed. I had every intention this summer to create a slow and peaceful summer that would ring with nostaglia for years to come. Instead we ended up overbooked and overwhelmed. Although I didn’t create the slow and simple summer days of my dreams I still want to document our FULL and FUN summer.

As usual, we started our summer in Galveston for Memorial Day. This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Joey and I have spent the last 8 Memorial Days at the beach together and watching our kids grow up here has been the sweetest.

The rest of June involved a solo mom trip to Arizona to spend a weekend with my best friend in preparation for her wedding. We stayed at the most beautiful Tucson resort called the Hacienda Del Sol.

Following my weekend away we celebrated Joey for Father’s Day. He really is the most hardworking man. It’s been especially awesome to see the example he’s setting for Judah about what it means to be the provider for a home. Multiple times this summer I have heard Judah telling his friends about how dad’s work hard for their family. A few weeks ago he told me, “I can’t wait to work when I’m a daddy so that I can see my daddy everyday!” A Trinkle real estate company would be a real dream.

A few other favorite memories were paddle boarding with Palisade peaches. Also, reading James and the Giant Peach, baking a peach cobbler and cozying up to watch the movie together. Judah and I read 13 chapter books in his first year of homeschool and it has been my favorite part so far.

We enjoyed Forth of July week at home with my parents in town to celebrate with us. Some highlights were hanging out on our deck every morning, Joey lighting sparklers for all of the neighborhood kids and Shiloh and Judah getting their first pair of cowboy boots.

Luckily, we still have a month left to enjoy summer and I do intend to slow down for this last bit.

I’ll leave you with a few tips that always help me “unrush” my life.

1. work with your hands. for me this will look like decluttering our home and preparing for our homeschool year. it will look like finishing up our laundry room project, finish painting our front door and fence. it will look like getting my sourdough starter up and running again for the fall and winter.
2. take a technology break. I am currently reading Digital Minimalism and plan on starting my 30 day unnecessary technology detox. I will share the guidelines I’ve set for myself soon!
3. work with the rhythms of nature. I’ve found myself sleeping in again due to the hustle and bustle of our summer. I intend to wake with the sunrise for the rest of summer and put the kids to bed as the sun is setting. also just revamping our sleep rhythms again to help us all get better sleep.
4. embody what you want to feel. I want to feel peaceful and un rushed. this means I need to focus on settling my emotions down in order to achieve this environment in my home. the best place to start with embodying how you want to feel is finding verses to memorize and meditate on that encourage those emotions. take your thoughts captive!

Happy end of summer friends!