Can you believe Summer is almost over? It feels like yesterday that I was brainstorming ideas to add to our Summer bucket list, and here we are in the middle of September. It certainly flew by, but I can say without a doubt that our family’s season was packed full of precious memories.
I was ambitious at the start of the Summer. For whatever reason, I had it in my head that one activity per week from our bucket list would be manageable. Somewhere around the middle of the season I took a dose of reality and chose to let go a little. We were able to complete 13 out of the 19 activities we planned, and I managed to write about 7 of them. I’m thankful that Dutch now has 7 awesome memories, preserved and cherished within the archives of this blog.
We took our first Summer beach trip early in the season. I remember not feeling well that day and the weather was cold and gloomy. Dutch wanted to explore every square inch of that beach, leaving me exhausted after only the first hour in. I learned a valuable lesson about partner communication that day. You can read all about it here, Lessons & Memories From a Family Beach Trip.
On an edible note, we gave Dutch his first S’mores experience this Summer. We went about it a bit differently, preparing them at home in our kitchen oven. I shared the recipe, along with some lessons learned in this post, Perfect Oven Baked S’mores.
My Pinterest community loved this post over the Summer season, it’s since been viewed and shared a few hundred times.
We made homemade ice cream this Summer, sans maker. I uncovered an awesome recipe that required only 4 all-natural ingredients and a blender. With only a few simple modifications, it turned out delicious. I shared our experience in a post titled, Homemade Strawberry Banana Ice Cream.
Similarly, I experimented with some teething popsicle recipes. In this post, Easy Homemade Banana Popsicles, you’ll find a recipe that also requires only 4 all-natural ingredients and a blender.
Our biggest Summer project was planting and caring for our container veggie/herb garden. I wrote two posts about our experience. The first post, How to Plant a Container Veggie/Herb Garden, was about what we learned from purchasing and planting our garden in early July. The second post, Our Family Veggie Garden: Update & Care Tips, was written two months later and includes photo updates, care tips, and some thoughts on caring for our garden as a family.
Lastly, Dutch turned two over the Summer. We had an awesome day celebrating our little guy, including a family beach trip and pizza party. Just days later we took a Summer getaway to San Diego, California, where we visited the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, Old Town, Balboa Park, and Mission Beach. I created two video blogs to preserve these precious Summertime memories: Dutch’s 2nd Birthday VLOG and Our Summer Getaway VLOG.
Cheers to an awesome Summer, and a happy holiday season ahead!
Letters To Dutch 