What's New - July recap

Long time, no post!!! It's been busy! Linking up today with my favourite Kristen to chat about what's new. Go over and check out her blog to see what she and everyone else have been up to lately!!

I am actually sad to see July go - partially because it means that the summer is "half over" here (even though September is usually beautiful and wonderful!!) and because we just packed SO much fun into one month. This year, since I work 3 days a week (Mondays and Fridays off) and get 4 weeks vacation, Brian and I decided (well, mostly I decided) that I would take 90% of my vacation time in the summer and work less so that we could not put the girls into daycare (thus saving us $ 2000 ish). In July, they spent, on average, one day a week with my in-laws, one day a week with my parents, and then the other 4-5 days (Thurs-Monday usually) with me or with Brian. It has been great because we've had amazing weather, but it is flying right by. I can't believe how much we have packed into this summer.

Somehow (and maybe this is true for all of us in the northern hemisphere?!), I really live live live my best life in the summer. My girls are at an incredible age to bring to the beach now, and we can easily spend 5-6 hours of a day there in complete bliss. We live 12 minutes away from a beautiful beach with warm (to us!) water on the Atlantic Ocean. We are blessed to have wonderful friends who often join us there. The weather has been extremely hot here this summer (usually around 30 degrees) so there have been a lot of beach days.

I mean...we really, really love the beach

As I mentioned in my June recap post, we kicked off July and the Canada Day weekend by camping in Keji. We are REALLY trying to get back there in August but nothing has opened up yet for any availability.

Kite festival, deck work!!

Meanwhile, Brian has been rebuilding our back deck! He decided to do it himself with a bit of help from a few professionals and it has been A LOT of work. I have not seen him work this hard maybe ever. It is going to be wonderful when it is finished (he is hoping in time for my birthday so I can have a drink out there and enjoy the view!!) but we'll see - that's only 2 more weeks away and he hasn't taken a lot of time off work to do this.

Molly re-read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in July and then we celebrated Harry Potter's birthday on July 30 (his actual birthday was yesterday - the same day as J.K. Rowling's birthday). I shared a bunch of those pictures on Instagram stories but we basically made a bunch of treats and made some cute t-shirts. :) She is dying to have a Harry Potter birthday party but I have convinced her to wait until she is maybe 10 or 11 so that more of her friends have read the books or know the world.

Happy Birthday Harry Potter!

We also celebrated my mom's birthday in July, had a visit from Brian's sister and her husband, helped Brian's friend break in the pool at his new house, rode bikes, got some ice cream here and there, and just tried to cool off and relax. I watched the new season of Veronica Mars and loved it for the most part. I still have some very strong feelings about the ending so if you've watched it, PLEASE tell me so I can talk about it!! :) I read a lot of books but also had some nights that I was too exhausted to even open the pages of a book. LOL. That is what summer with the kiddos means to me :) The girls also did a soccer camp, which they loved, and I did some planning for my time at home in the fall. We went to a kite festival and a few other little activities around the city such as a loose play event in which many materials were available on a field for kids to build anything they wanted. We also went to watch the historic event of the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Elizabeth leaving the harbour after being in port together in Halifax for the first time. It was incredible to watch although I think I enjoyed it a bit more than my family ;)

Cruise ships in the Halifax Harbour 

That's about it!! I am looking forward to August. I'm working next week and then I have two full weeks off which amounts to 18 days!! We are not going anywhere exciting for vacation this year but we will do a few day-trips around the province and I think Brian is taking off my birthday so we will find something fun to do that day too. I am really just trying my best to soak up these fleeting moments with my beautiful children and just be grateful for where we live and how lovely it is.

Phew. Long story short --what's new with you?!