Summer 2026 ☀️

At the end of my first day as a high school counselor I walked into my co-worker’s office (who was also new) and said, “What just happened??” The day had flashed by in a haze of non stop teenagers needing help with scheduling change requests, college application questions and high school drama.

Flash forward to life now as a homeschool mom as we approach the end of summer 2026 and I kind of feel the same way. This summer was BUSY and has FLOWN by. I’m finding myself asking that same question as I did back in my school counselor days. What just happened?

Feeling like I couldn’t even remember what we’ve been doing for the past two months, I went through photos to refresh my brain and realized that it was full in the very best ways.

Our summer looked a little like this:

Podcast

The kids started a podcast with a few of their friends about a video game they all love. They put out six episodes so far that you can listen to on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Started a Brand New Adventure

We bought a waterfront house to use as primarily as an Airbnb for now as we pay down the mortgage. Our closing date was the end of June and it was booked already for the entire summer. We had about a week and a half to quickly learn the property, inventory, declutter, put some systems in place, restock and figure out how to be Airbnb hosts, all well Jamie was in New Hampshire turning over and renovating multiple rental properties down there. Phew!

We’ve had seven families stay with us so far and only one of those families was less then ideal. The other six were fantastic, lovely, appreciative of our home and the fact that we were sharing it with them and just overall awesome.

This house was expensive and we aren’t entirely sure if it will be with us forever yet, but it felt like ours from the moment I saw it and all I know is we have it for now and we will see what happens in the future.

Visits with Family and Friends

We got to go to my mom and stepdads house two times to celebrate each of their birthdays. My dad spent a week with us at our new house for the 4th of July during an open time period and went on a camping trip with us to Lily Bay. We celebrated Jamie’s sister’s birthday with her with a Christmas in July themed party and she cooked a Thanksgiving in August dinner. Jamie’s cousin and her kids came up for an overnight visit too.

With friends we had an end of the school year celebration at a local lake, attended a play that our friends were in with other friends, went to a Pokemon Card store, and had picnic and playdates in the park.

Summer Camps

Jake did two summer camps solo this year and he loved both. Anika and I had some one on one time that we haven’t had together since before Jake was born.

Movies

We went and watched Minon’s versus Monsters and the Moana live action in the movie theater.

Strawberry Picking

We’ve gone strawberry picking every year since Anika was born.

Camping Trips

We went on four camping trips, Rangely and Peaks-Kenny with just us, Lily Bay with my dad and one other camping trip with a big group of our homeschool friends.

Rangely Lake State Park, Rangely Maine

Lily Bay State Park, Moosehead Lake Maine August 2026

Tie Dyed T-shirts

It’s our annual tradition to tie dye t-shirts every year!

Lucky 1st Birthday

Lucky turned 1!

Fort Knox and our 16th Maine State Park Passport Stamp

Jamie surprised us by randomly taking a Monday off so we did a spur of the moment trip to Fort Knox. We’ve been doing the Maine State Park Passport Stamp book and this marked our 16th state park visit and we each got a patch!

Afterward we went to nearby Sandy Point Beach and followed that up with fried clams from Crosby’s Drive in.

Ice Cream

So many delicious ice cream trips this summer!

Summer Reading Programs

The kids and I love the library and LOVE summer reading programs. The kids did the ones at four different libraries and I did two. They encourage us to read things we wouldn’t normally, do things we wouldn’t normally do and check out cool events that the libraries have to offer.

Book it at Pizza Hut

Go Karts

Whew! Full but busy summer! ❤️