Monday, June 30, 2014

river, reading, and summer goals

























Don't get me wrong, I love the ocean.  But the more time we spend at the Rappahannock River (where we were last week) and Lake Anna (where we're heading later this summer), the more I see the appeal of vacationing near water other than the ocean.  The drive is shorter, the water is calmer (good for the littles), there's less sand, and there's just as much fun.  Our week at the river was full of great family time, good food and drinks, lots of jumping in the water, a ride on PaPa and Jean's boat, some crab crackin', kayaking, reading, a mid-dinner-prep dance party, ice cream, happy kids, early morning sunrises, star-gazing, fishing, and relaxing.  Just what we needed to really kick off the summer. 

Early mornings, late evenings, good nap times, and kids who were so content to play on the shore and build in the sand afforded me the unheard of luxury of finishing not one, but two books during the week.  I read Wendell Berry's "Fidelity" and Zoe Weil's "Above All Be Kind" and really enjoyed both of them.  I've all but abandoned my knitting lately in favor of reading which has been a nice change of pace during the summer months.  I did knit up a swatch for a sundress for Annabel the other day, and over the weekend I bought some new yarn for a blanket for a friend's new baby.  So there will be knitting in the near future but at the moment, I'm really enjoying all my reading.  In fact, over the weekend I also read through my favorite gardening-with-children book called "Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots" by Sharon Lovejoy (if you like to garden, you should totally check this book out - a sunflower house?  Yes, please!) and also finished reading Gladys Hunt's "Honey for A Child's Heart" which is a fantastic resource for children's books from ages 0-12.  So glad our relaxing week at the river got my summer reading off to a great start since that's one of my "things I want to do this summer."  Here's what else I'm hoping to do this summer:

1.  Read*
2.  Swim*
3.  Collect inspiring quotes*
4.  Knit something
5.  Eat popsicles
6.  Work out*
7.  Write something
8.  Cook out*
9.  Ride bikes*
10. Kayak*
11. Make something creative
12. Walk after dinner*
13. Wake up early*
14. Drink coffee on the porch steps
15. Eat lobster
16. Hike
17. Go somewhere new
18. Have a bonfire
19. Invite friends for dinner
20. Look at the stars*
21. Write letters*

I've already been able to do the ones with the * after them so I'd say I'm off to a good start, wouldn't you?  Maybe tomorrow I'll take my early morning coffee and book out to the porch steps.  Sounds like a plan to me.  

Wishing you a lovely last day of June and a great start to your week!

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