Everything is about to change.

We’re home from the beach, from our last trip of the summer, and school is officially starting in just a few days. And by “in just a few days”, I mean it actually started today but we drove all night (getting home at 5:30a), and they don’t take attendance on the first day thank god, so needless to say we didn’t attend school this morning.

Not the best way to start off the school year but we’re making it, okay?

In just a few days (they don’t have school tomorrow), the schedule and routine we’ve known for the last three months will come to an end and with it, a new season of life begins. Early mornings will become the norm again, and you know what? I’m actually really looking forward to it.

Thinking back to the school year last year, I loved waking up super early before anyone else, drinking my coffee, and getting the boys ready for school. Waking up their peaceful, tiny sleeping bodies when the sun is just coming up, gently rubbing their backs and whispering, “Time to wake up, come on, it’s time to get ready for school” is weirdly one of the highlights of being a parent for me. I have vague, but still sweet, memories of my mom doing the same to me when I was very little and it’s such a safe, comforting memory.

We’ve had a good summer. It’s been spent mostly at the beach, with the long rides down becoming routine enough that they don’t bother all of us as much anymore. The kids have been such troopers while we’ve been working on the beach house. They find ways to entertain themselves while we’re there: catching bugs and (trying to catch) lizards in the back yard, climbing trees, digging in the sand.

I worried that in this day and age, with all the technology and instant gratification that comes with it, that they might somehow be unwilling to play outside, or at least not enjoy it very much, but they love being outdoors more than being inside, especially at the farm (and luckily for us, at the beach, too).

When we weren’t renting Airbnb’s to stay in or working on the Beach Cottage, we were at the beach and pool, soaking up the sun and the sand and feeling the cold waves slowly start to turn warm as summer progressed. I have never been to the beach more in my entire life as much as I have in the last three months. I like the beach, and grew up going here and there, but never thought of myself as someone who loved it. That is, until we invested in a house down there.

Now I love the way we spend time there as a family. Anna went from being terrified to even put a toe in the ocean at the beginning of summer to jumping in so fearlessly and letting the waves wash over her. She is almost a completely different person (water-wise) from a few months ago. And Riah doesn’t even need his floaties in the ocean or the pool anymore. Meanwhile, Allan has always been our best swimmer. Always the first in and the last out.

I love that our babies are becoming little water babies.

But now we are home and I’m so looking forward to this school year. The months turning colder and fall starting to creep in as the school year kicks off. I have always loved this time of year, and it feels even more special now with the kids being in school. It’s kind of like we’re back in school in a strange way, isn’t it? The early mornings, the copious amounts of coffee we will be consuming to make it through the day, the routine, all of it. I am excited to see how everything turns out with all three kids in school at the same time this year. We tried it last year with Anna but it didn’t work out. She wasn’t ready, but I'm thinking this year she won’t even think twice. She is ready. She’s got this.

Goodbye summer 2022. You’ve been fun and challenging and breezy and difficult and busy and so good to our family.

PS: Felt like switching up the colors and typography on the site for the new season we’re starting. It always feels fun and different to switch things up as a new chapter of life begins, isn’t it?