Hiiiii!
I’m back! It’s so good to “see you” again! đ„° How was your summer!?
Slowly getting back into the swing of things after my summer breakâand wow, let me tell youâI savored every second of it. â„ïž It was much needed. It went by so quickly and at the same time, July also seems so far away from us now. I think we nailed the balance between “too many activities” and “not enough activities”âwe traveled quite a bit, but we also had some wonderfully slow downtime with family and friends.
On Wednesday, I’m headed to Michigan for our second annual lake house trip with a big group of friends (and all our kidsâI think there are 12 adults and 9 kids under age three? We’ve lost our minds.) I’m so excitedâit was so much fun last year (and we thought we were crazy then, but in the last year several friends have had more kids to add to the mix and ALL the babies are now toddlers đ pray for us.)
Anyway, I’m not quite back to my regular posting schedule yet (aiming to get back after the lake house tripâsqueezing ONE more week out of summer!) but in the meantime, I thought I’d share a small snippet of photos from the summer. Let’s go! We’ll start from the beginning of June!
Life Lately: Summer Recap
We kicked off summer with a two-stop trip to visit my family in Oregon, stopping in Denver on the way home to visit friends! This is my nieceâshe and June are obsessed with each other and it’s just the best. â„ïž (This was taken the day of her “preschool graduation.”)
We didn’t have a birthday party for June, but sang Happy Birthday three different times with three different groups of family! So happy we got to celebrate with my family when we were in Oregon too! My sister made her this sweet cake! She wasn’t sure about the cake but LOVED when everyone sang to her!
Girl dads on our hike in Denver! â„ïž (This hiking pack is the best and highly recommend!)
On June’s actual birthday!
It’s so crazy looking back at this picture that as just a few months ago because she looks so much older now. đ
My birthday is just a few days after June’sâwe celebrated with breakfast at West Town Bakery. (Which I highly recommend!) June gave me a kiss for my birthdayâwhich, if you know June, is a big deal. She is VERY stingy with them these days. đ
Shaheen, Anna and I got to go visit ABLE’s headquarters in Nashville and to say it was an absolute treat would be a massive understatement. It was so cool to meet the team who makes their magic happen behind the scenes and it made me fall in love with the company and their mission of helping women even more than I already was. They’re simply a wonderful brand and I’m so proud to be one of their partners! (BTW, my code JESSKEYS15 is always on and always gets you 15% off!)
One of my favorite shots of summer.
June and her friends looking like the cutest little pack of rugrats. â„ïž And by “June’s friends” I mean my own friends who also have toddlers. đ These four had so much fun togetherâit’s so cool to watch them all get over and start to interact and develop their own friendships!
Two of my favorite things this summer: my Carlyle Lane cups and Vo custom beaded stack!
One highlight of the summer was definitely our camping trip! (June’s first!)
It was not without it’s struggles đ but it was so much fun and she LOVED it. We camped at Kettle Moraine South and this is on one of our hikes on one of the nearby trails. It was so beautifulâJune also fell asleep and is tipped over on the other side so you can’t even see her in this photo. đ
Post-hike parking lot happy hour. (This hiking pack is the best and highly recommend!)
And speaking of happy hours, we managed to take full advantage of daycare, sneaking in a few happy hour dates before pickup! (This is much easier to pull off than dinner and no need to get a babysitter!) Queen Mary is one of our favorites in our neighborhood!
We went to Ada Street to celebrate my birthdayâit’s one of my favorite restaurants in the city and we hadn’t been since right before June was born. That was a trip. đ€Ż Wearing my “Elisa” dress I designed with Elisamama! (More details hereâthere are a few pieces still left!)
Random post bath shot but one of my favorites đ This little bear towel robe is SO CUTE.
Another big highlight of summer was our Ireland tripâwhich was SO much fun! (My two part Ireland guide coming soon!)
On the rooftop of Killarney Brewing & Distilling’s new facility just outside of town in Killarney!
Neal’s Uncle Liam is one of the founders and several family members (us included) are investors, so we got to go for a pre-grand opening investor weekend. It is absolutely STUNNING and I can’t recommend stopping here enoughâtheir restaurant and rooftop are not to be missed, and of course, if you’re a whiskey or beer lover, you must do a tour! They’ll be open to the public very soon! đđŒ (Wearing my Maha leather jacketâyou can get 15% off with code JESSKEYS20âjumpsuit is oldâand Amazon slides!)
Somehow during the summer my baby grew into a kid đ (Shoes + outfit!)
Another big summer highlight: My trip to Lisbon with Whitney on a scouting trip to finalize the details of our Atlas Adventures Lisbon this October!
We discovered the cutest public pool (Pulaski Park!) not far from our house!
We took lots of long walks through the neighborhood. (Stroller reviewed here!)
We had some great patio evenings with Auntie Sissy (my SILâwe all call her Sissy) and discovered a love of tater tots. So grateful she lives so close and we get to see her so much! Many of our day nights and overnight trips are also possible because of her. â„ïž
Speaking of sissyâwe love visiting the bar she works at on Sundays!
(This portable high chair is truly the best BTW. It can self-stand on the ground/table or has two different straps to secure to the back and underneath of any chair! (Note the bar rag as a bib đ)
I went on a purging/organizing tear because I reached a breaking point with the clutter in our house and it felt SO GOOD. (Shirt is a favorite from Madewell!)
June left her sunglasses on for about 2 minutes so that’s a big improvement đ
Another neighborhood cocktail favorite: Smoke Daddy (our favorite BBQ spotâalso very kid friendly!)âwe loved their fresh watermelon cocktail!
Just can’t handle those little legs and feet đ (Found her sandals in store at BuyBuyBaby!)
What felt like the first day of fallâLabor Day at the lake house. June’s sweatshirt says “Junebug” on it and is from Rey to Z (a local mom-owned brand!) You can save 20% with code JESSKEYS20 at checkout!
June and Nani on the beach. Nani was another MVP of the summerâcouldn’t have done it without her and my SIL helping out, especially during our travels!
This past weekend watching Moanaâa rarely snuggly moment! She looks like such a big kid here. đ I never realized that you really only get one summer with a “baby” and while every age gets more fun, it simultaneously breaks my heart that she’s growing up so fast and is already a full-fledged toddler!
This past Friday night we did our annual staycation to celebrate our anniversary-5 years!
We stayed at the Waldorf, which is where we got engagedâright in this circle drive! You can see a recap of previous staycations here!
Before I leave you, some moments NOT captured on film for levity: Multiple bouts of sick days (the last year of daycare has been a crash course for my immune system)âthe worst being hand foot and mouth (that June then passed to me and I could only eat Panera soup for 4 days because everything else hurt to eat đ”), June puking on us multiple times due to motion sickness on plane rides and car rides, getting torrentially downpoured on during the camping trip, me crying missing June in Ireland, the phase she just went through where she wanted NOTHING to do with me and only wanted daddy, Nani, Sissy or seemingly anyone who wasn’t me, the 15 month sleep regression we’re going through right now, and so on. đ
Lots of parenting struggles for sure, and it’s never the *easiest* choice (in fact, it’s often the hardest one!) to make plans with a toddler, take a trip with a toddler, take a trip away from your toddler, and so, onâbut for us, it’s always worth it. Just remember, I’m still right there with youâeven if these moments aren’t always captured!
Again, just a tiny collection of the best momentsâI hope you enjoyed coming down memory lane with me. I’m truthfully so sad that it’s already fall, but I am SO grateful for the memories we made. Every summer with this girl gets better and better. â„ïž I hope you had a wonderful summer as well!
