I Took The Summer Off

Well, I certainly didn't mean to be gone from the good ol' blog all summer long but I guess that's what happened. Home improvements have kinda stalled out but they're about to be picking up again here soon so that will be some new news in the soon to be future, I hope!

The past couple months we have been laying pretty low,  minus our European vacay, and it's been a complete delight!  Theron's been mostly agreeable so that makes life fun--you know how that can be. 

Do you hear me, moms?

We definitely did our fair share and probably every kid's fair share in the county of being outside this summer. My kid could live outside if we'd let him.  I joke with David that I've spent more time outside this summer than I have in my previous 31 years of life. And I promise that is not me being overdramatic. 

Here's a super-fast, super-vague rundown of our European trip for you if you haven't already seen it on Instagram [@Joidan82--my new daily blog--haha!]...

We went to Greece, Italy, and Spain three days after school finished and we took a group of 16 other people! Being a teacher has its perks because David and I got to go for free. I still pinch myself when when I think about it. A dream come true for us.  

Greece was kinda a let down, or at least Athens was.  Yes, the Parthenon was amazing but the city itself was just so dirty. And there was graffiti everywhere.  We did do a Greek Islands tour and that offered us some very picturesque spots of Greece!

I seriously think my husband gets better with age.  

Here's a shot of our whole group! We referred to ourselves as "Illinois" since the other schools we were paired up with were from two different states, Kansas & Nebraska. 

Frolicking in the Mediterranean and making it look a lot warmer than it actually was!

Italy was absolutely dreamy and we were lucky enough to visit both Florence and Rome while we were there. I think the kids liked Italy the best and I can't say that I blame them.  Our tour guide took us to Rome pretty much on a whim and we packed a ton into a 5 hour timeframe.  We had two great Florence tour guides that were actually two of David's favorite former students who were studying abroad there for the summer. How fun and convenient was that?

Dave's two faves, who also got engaged during their time in Florence! What an unforgettable and magical memory, I'm sure!

I think this is my favorite picture from the trip! Have you seen anything dreamier? Ahhh!

Last was Barcelona, and it was just as sweet as I remembered.  The shopping was great and the kids got to go to the beach so they were happy!

Made a pit stop at a Convenient Mart to pick up my all-time favorite Spanish chips!

I met the second love of my life in Barcelona...chocolate croissants. 

So many fun places for #ootd pics!

The only thing that went wrong was when we returned to the United States our flight home was canceled along with a ton of other flights.  I had to stand in line for nearly 4 hours and coordinate new flights and figure out where we would be sleeping.  It was CRAZY but we managed and the kids learned a lot about patience and a positive attitude. I learned a lot about being patient, too.  Definitely not one of my better traits.  

The rest of our summer has been rather chill and uneventful.  We were lucky enough to have some of our best friends visit for July 4th and we made a one-day trip to IKEA! Like I said earlier, we've been outside nearly all-day every day and I'm not quite ready to return to school next week! 

How was your summer? 

xoxo