July Favorite and Highlights; One Sentence A Day

 July was another pretty good month for the most part.  You'll notice all my step counts are missing; I ditched my counter within the first week of July since I realized I was exercising less and relying on just walking as my "workouts" and that was just not working for me. I spent my month working on reinstituting a 30 minute a day workout. 

1. Evan, Ian and I headed out hiking right after breakfast (Alec and my husband were at work) before the heat of the day then spent the rest of my reading Glucose Revolution. After dinner we went to visit with a few family members at the lake then headed into town to watch the Fireworks.

2. It was a rainy day so we all headed to the movies to see the new Indiana Jones then went to lunch at Olive Garden and over to Bass Pro shops to try and find Ian some new work boots, & t-shirts.

So many of my favorite places in one sign

3. Ian headed off to work and my husband was doing all sorts of odd jobs around the house and town so the younger boys and I hung around at home. I got lots of laundry and blogging done and enjoyed some time out in the sun reading my book. 

4. The 4th of July was filled with thunderstorms and lots and lots of rain; Alec was working at a cookout (that turned into a cook in) and the rest of us pretty much hung around the house watching TV all day. 

Can you see the rain coming down? 

A tossed salad with a tiny scoop of pasta salad and a Boca chick'n patty on top for dinner

5. I headed off bright and early for a day of shopping & lunch with my mom-- it's our annual tradition for my birthday though the sales weren't nearly so spectacular this year.  

My birthday dessert from Longhorn-- it was delicious!

Finished off my evening on the patio reading

6. The younger boys and I packed up the car and cooler and headed to see our friends down at the beach- they rent this house each year and for the past few years we've made it a point to visit them at least once since it's such a beautiful spot. I did get sunburned but getting to walk along the beach and make some new friends (with her other friends that visit!) was totally worth it!

I love this deck and view!

7. Friday morning my husband and I got up and got ready to head to Maine. After eating breakfast we hit the road and made it to Kennebunkport by 11. We walked around the town, got some lunch, and did some shopping.  Our hotel was lovely! (I did 2 recap posts of our trip!)

Our lunch view

Such a charming town. 

Ignore the sunburn from yesterday's beach trip... I got two more over the course of the weekend!

I spent lots of time on the balcony reading.

8. We walked to breakfast and then back to our hotel. We picked up the car and went to check out a nearby nature trail then decided to head down to Ogunquit for a scenic boat ride to Nubble lighthouse. It was a lovely ride; even if the fog did move in 1/2 way through and make it hard to see the lighthouse.  We spent the rest of the day walking around Ogunquit. 

Maine black bear-- raspberry ice cream with raspberry filled chocolate cups

9. Sunday dawned rainy and cloudy so we checked out of the hotel early-- around 7:30, and got breakfast before heading onto Kittery for a bit more shopping. We headed home, stopping for groceries, on the way. We were home early and had everything all put away, food prepped, dishwasher going, laundry started etc. by 3:30. We headed to the family cottage to see some of my husband's family and then enjoyed a leisurely dinner at home getting caught up with the boys and their weekend. 

10. It was pouring down rain with a flood watch in effect so I knew it was going to be a mostly quiet day at home cleaning, getting caught up on housework and blogging. We did invite my mom and step father over to dinner so Alec made some jam tarts.

my mother in law bought me this tank for my birthday

Ian bought me some birthday chocolate and a card-- I wasn't expecting anything since my birthday had gone by

11. I helped Alec pack for his 4 day stay at college and then we went to Barnes & Noble and Crumble.  It was an expensive and delicious day. 

The university sent a helpful packing list!

He talked me into cheesecake for lunch

And we bought a box of cookies for "later"- -he's such a bad influence!

12. I spent my morning making cards and my afternoon reading a book in the shade; though it was quite hot out even in the shade it was so nice to see another sunny day. 

13. On Thursday, Evan and I went and ran a few errands in the morning and then I spent my afternoon driving Alec to Providence and saying goodbye until Sunday-- I was so much more nervous than he was and so excited to see what this weekend at college entails. 

This little bird seed thief always sneaks onto the deck behind me as I'm reading

Made it to and through the city to drop Alec off without getting lost or taking a wrong turn once!

14. We were woken by thunderstorms at the crack of dawn and decided to cancel our plans to head back to our friends' beach house since it was supposed to rain all day; I did manage to get out for 2 quick walks between rain storms and then spent the rest of the day cleaning the house. 

15. I spent my morning organizing photos and working on a few scrapbook pages before Evan and I headed out to a little pool party at our friend's house.

I changed into cooler clothes for the party

16. We woke to pouring rain and both tornado and flood warnings but were so thankful the weather cleared just for the hour or so that we needed to run and pick Alec up.  He had the BEST time baking and getting to know the campus better and told us he was so sad it was already over; he would have happily stayed longer! 

17. Alec and I spent most of our day working on getting his car all settled, finishing up his schoolwork for the college course he's taking this coming fall at school (he had a book to read and a series of questions to answer that he's been making his way through this past month)-- we got on so many discussions of economics and business practices!  We ended the night at the Verizon store updating a few of our phones (that were from 2016!).

so much rain; we have little waterfalls everywhere right now.

18. After picking up Alec's phone with him, I spent most of my day reading and then walked up to spend time with my mom in the afternoon. I managed to get there right before the thunder and downpours rolled through. 

19. After the older boys headed to work Evan and I headed out hiking; it was hot and muggy but it felt great to be out hiking again. I ended the night going out for ice cream with my husband. 

20. Evan and I headed out on another early morning hike and got eaten alive by mosquitoes this time! 

21. Friday my husband, Alec, and I headed out to New York to check out another college- the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and while it down poured on the drive there and the drive home it was thankfully sunny and beautiful while we were there.  We toured the school and learned so much about their programs offered. 

tried gnocchi for the first time ever-- not a fan but so glad I finally tried it. 

22. Evan had a friend over and I puttered around the house while the other 3 guys were gone to work (or CLD driving school) for most of the day; we did end up visiting Alec in the evening taking Evan's friend out to dinner with us at Alec's restaurant. 

23. Another beautiful sunny day. My husband started smoking a pork shoulder bright and early at 6:30 in the morning for dinner (at 5:30 at night!) and we spent the day hanging around the house and swimming in the lake while Alec was back at work and Ian was back at school.

24. I started my week off grocery shopping then headed to the library and after lunch Evan talked me into a kayak ride around the lake while Alec headed off to his friend's house for a haircut and color. 

25. Evan and I headed out on a very early morning hike and ran a few errands (like picking up ingredients for Alec's bread recipe).  Alec spent his day making bread and we ended our afternoon at the golf course/ ice cream stand getting some ice cream with my mother in law.

26. We had heat advisories in effect for the afternoon (and through the weekend) so I mostly planned to spend the day indoors-- I got the laundry done, cleaned out the filing cabinet, worked on the blog and spent my afternoon finishing up 5 or 6 scrapbook pages.

27. Alec, Evan, and I went hiking at the Thompson dam before heading out to lunch at Serio's with my mom.  We ended our day with yet another thunderstorm! 

clipped my hair up in an effortless updo to keep cool

28.  Friday Alec and I filled out all his parking pass info online and I headed to the library. We ended our night at A La Mode with 3 of the guys getting ice cream and sundaes. 

29. Ian was off at CDL school again while both Alec and my husband worked most of the day.  It was another hot, muggy day so Evan and I stayed inside; I most worked on getting all the laundry done and reading my latest book.  We ended our night with another big storm complete with power outage/ tornado/ hail/ etc. warnings. 

30. Sunday morning felt nearly fall like with it's cool, crisp air so after Ian and Alec left for the day my husband, Evan, and I headed out to hike Purgatory Chasm and stop to do our grocery shopping on the way home. We fixed up our beach and had my parents over for a large family dinner of smoke brisket and veggies. 

Tuna on pumpernickel with veggies and sun chips-- I needed a hearty lunch after climbing over boulders all morning. 

31. I spent my morning cleaning house, making banana bread, and listening to my audiobook. Then the boys and I went walking along the river trail and to see if we could find Alec some uniform gym shorts.  

blueberry banana bread with white chocolate chips

Egg and vegetable scramble on pumpernickel

Spotted a woodpecker on our walk

How was your month?

 

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