Day In The Life: Summer 2022

Good morning! Hopefully as you're reading this, we've landed on the first stop of our European vacation!!! You can check out our travels on Instagram (I'm @tashajk72) and I hope to even publish a blog post or two about our travels while we're away. It will depend on both internet access and how much down time we have in the evenings :)

It's been over two years since I've documented a summer day in the life. I only get about three and a half weeks of "regular" summer days this summer, since my summer break is only six and a half weeks long and we're spending a good chunk of that time on vacation. (And I recognize that many, many people work through the entire summer so please don't read this as me complaining, at all. I know I am so fortunate to have most of the summer off to spend with my kids and family.) So I decided to document Thursday, July 14, to have a record of what a summer day looked liked for me this year.

One thing to note is that the kids are definitely more independent and so I had a lot of time to do things on my own.

I woke up around 7am and Dave and I were enjoying coffee outside by about 7:30. I'm so happy my pansies have been doing so well this summer. They don't tend to love the heat so I'm thrilled they're still looking good.

I had a shower and by 8:30 I was hanging out a load of laundry. Plus Rachel wanted me to braid her hair. She's been loving the single braid this summer.

I really hate driving so sometimes Dave takes pity on me and drives the kids to the pool. This day I went along. We saw a rainbow in the sprinklers on our way to the pool.

Rachel has been attending Fun Camp at the pool while Sam has been volunteering to help with tennis in and around his swimming lessons. So the kids have been gone for about four hours every day. This was dropping them off at 9am. Then Dave and I did a quick errand to the grocery store.

I then came home and did two hours of computer work. Every morning has looked different for me this summer -- sometimes I spend time with a friend, sometimes I run errands, sometimes I read, and sometimes, like this day, I do some trip planning/figuring out details. Usually vacation planning is fun but this day I was really questioning why we don't use travel agents!

 

By 11:20, I was outside, eating some apple butter on sourdough bread for breakfast and enjoying a second cup of coffee-hot chocolate. Usually I eat breakfast a little earlier but I got stuck figuring things out and didn't eat earlier.

Then I did my outdoor chores -- deadheading day lilies (which needs to happen every day) and sweeping all the berries off the sidewalk which also needs to happen every day, ideally.

I can't remember what I did after that but by 12:45 I was eating a snack of cheese and crackers outside.

Then I got into the very hot car (31C is 88F) to pick the kids up from camp. I realize for those of you in the southern US this is a nice summer day but for us, it was a hot day.

I picked the kids up from camp and while they ate lunch, I think I played around on my phone and folded some laundry. This is NOT all the laundry I folded, I just forgot to get pictures earlier :) I also cleaned out the freezer, trying to figure out what all was in there.

I've been slowly going through the kids' rooms with them. I spent over an hour going through Sam's shelves and closet with him. It looked so much better afterwards. And I'm thrilled to say that I got through both kids' rooms with them (and most of the play room) before they went off to a week of sleep away camp! Whoooo hoooo!!!

Rachel has had to take some drop in dance classes this summer because she's in the performance group this fall. So while I sat at dance for an hour, I deleted duplicate (or bad!) pictures off my phone. I got rid of over 400 photos!!! Yay!

We drove home and Dave had made spaghetti and meatballs (veggie ones for me) for supper.

My dad had hip replacement surgery (finally! YAY!!!!) in June so we've been checking in with my parents almost every day since then. This day we had a FaceTime call. We're all thrilled with how well my dad's healing is going.

 

After we'd talked to my parents, we went for a walk for ice cream...

... and to get some more chairs for our outdoor set. Three of them fit in the Chariot and we took turns carrying the other one home on our head! Hahaha!!!

Rachel's turn to carry the extra chair!

We got home around 8:45 and I took all the packaging off the chairs. I got myself a glass of lime fizzy water and crawled into bed to read.

So there's a very exciting (ha!) summer day in the life. Last time I documented a summer day in the life in July 2020 (you can read it here), we were in the midst of slowly connecting with people after the first few months of Covid. It's so strange to remember how happy we were to be together again. It is so fun for me to look back on these posts and see how life changes.

10 On The 10th: July 2022

I know my last post was a "10 on the 10th" but it was very belated and this one is a little more timely. Here's what our July 10th looked like this year.

Yes, Dave and I are still doing our outside, morning coffee time. This will be one of those things that will always define "Summer 2022" for me!

I've loved caring for my day lilies this summer. Every day I've removed the dead flowers and spending so much time with flowers just makes me happy!

Rachel and I were last minute greeters at church. Rachel ended up holding the door for everyone and her role was so appreciated.

The kids needed new tennis rackets. Hopefully these will last them a few years.

I had my first, but not my last, toasted tomato sandwich of the summer. Yum!!!

Since it was a gorgeous afternoon, we went to the pool and hung out for over two hours.

We were able to make a quick stop by Tim and Janice's to meet their new puppy, Stella. I don't love dogs but Stella sure is cute :)

Pool laundry is hanging on the line and we're almost ready to eat supper outside. I would say 75% of our meals have been eaten out here this summer.

A summer Sunday is almost always one of the best days of the year! Happy summer!

10 On The 10th: June 2022

I'm not going to do a whole lot of catching up from June but I did actually take ten pictures on June 10th, and since it was a fairly special "10th," I wanted to share those photos.

Yes, my parents were here visiting us for the weekend as this was when my re-scheduled, belated, 50th birthday party was. So I enjoyed hanging out with my mom on my aunt's patio...

 

... and then my dad and I took selfies in our back yard! 

It was one of those days when we had no schedule after work/school so the kids were eating popsicles at 6pm, before we'd eaten supper!

Rachel wanted help learning how to do a handstand. At one point, a few of us were inside, and we glanced out the window and my dad was lying on the ground. He has been waiting on a hip replacement for almost two years and we all thought he had fallen and hurt himself. A few of us went rushing out, yelling, and he said, "It's okay. I was just showing Rachel how to do a handstand." Needless to say, he got quite the lecture from us :) 

Dave learned the hazards of buying a beer can just because "space bunnies appeals to Rachel." The beer was a mango/pineapple/orange flavour and d-i-s-g-u-s-t-i-n-g. Also, my pansies were putting on quite the show!

 

Despite what this picture might imply, the BBQing was going quite well and everything was delicious!

So happy to be eating supper with Oma and Opa again!!!
 

It was a really fun, and celebratory, 10th of the month. This month will not be near as exciting and you can see what ten pictures I take of it next week sometime (I hope).

Currently: July 2022

It's my first day of summer break and I am soooooo ready for it! I get six and a half weeks off work and I have big plans for every single day! Where "big plans" equals -- hanging out with friends, reading, and getting some deep housecleaning done! Hahaha! Some of these six and a half weeks do actually have "big plans" but I'm mostly looking forward to not having to wake up with my alarm clock and leave the house at 7:30 every single weekday.

As always (except for June, because well... June), on the first Wednesday of the month, I'm linking up with Anne at in residence for "Currently."

[enjoying]

The day lilies have been spectacular this year! Day lily season always brings me great joy but this year I'm "enjoying" them more than ever. I even got to try this pin (see it here) which I pinned about five years ago. Instead of making the fancy filling though, I just used chive and shallot Boursin cheese. It was decadent, but oh, so good!

 

[having]

I'm still loving "having" my morning coffee-hot chocolate outside. On days when I don't get to sit outside, drinking my morning drink for even five minutes, I can tell I'm grumpier. Clearly I'm cruising past middle age and heading towards being a senior with my insistence on morning outside time. Hahaha!!! Yesterday, I even sat outside in the rain for a few minutes because I just wanted to be out. (To be fair, I was under a tree and it was drizzling so I didn't get too wet.)

[hoping]

I'm "hoping" the lime muffin recipe I found on Pinterest (you can see it here) tastes good. If the raw batter is any indication they will be very tangy. These muffins are currently cooling, so I'll have to weigh in on them later.

Edited to add: They are good. They have a tangy lime aftertaste which I really like.

[picking]

Inspired by my Instagram friend, Jenna, I've been "picking" flowers from our yard to make bouquets. I rarely pick the flowers in our yard and it's been fun to create with them.

[using]

We get a ton of kale in our CSA and I've made pounds of kale chips and love making a kale-chickpea soup. However, this past weekend I made a massaged kale salad and it was delicious! Rachel even liked it. So yesterday I made another one. We will be "using" our kale for this salad all summer. And bonus: the kids massage the kale so I don't even have to get my hands dirty!!!

I used this recipe for inspiration, and the dressing, but since I didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand, I used grated carrots, green onions, peppers, and feta for the actual salad. It's tangy, but oh so yummy!

So that's what's up with us "Currently" -- lots of yummy food, apparently! Next month, I won't participate in "Currently" because we'll be on vacation (!!!) so I'll see you all again in September. By then, I'll be back at work (boo) and gearing up for a new school year, but until then, I'm going to enjoy my first day of summer break!