July 2025 Recap

July feels like it was forever ago now, but it was really just a couple weeks ago. The beginning of July feels like it was REALLY long ago now. Which is strange, because at the same time, the summer has simultaneously flown by and it feels like just yesterday that school got out. Ha. Basically, I am coming to terms with the fact that time no longer has any meaning and apparently will continue to feel warped now for the rest of my days. 😆

We left for Florida on August 1st, so I didn’t have a chance to sit down and do my monthly recap for July. Thinking back, it was a nice month overall! We had just recently come off the big high of our Copenhagen trip in June, and the boys especially were really ready to just settle into SUMMER.

They both had big aspirations to lean into what they consider “real time off” (i.e. not traveling- which is certainly fun, but as teens, they want to just be home more than ever before).

Asher had tons of lifeguarding shifts lined up and big plans to golf and fish w/ friends constantly plus do summer swim team.

Ethan also had work shifts at Panera, some bigger local outings (waterpark, Brewers game) planned with friends, summer soccer trainings + lifting daily, volunteer shifts, summer schoolwork and he was eager to spend looooong stretches at night settled into his video gaming chair with his headset on, wired up with all his friends for group Xbox gaming sessions.

We had a good mix in there too of family time (4th of July holiday, Ethan’s 17th birthday!, a swim meet weekend away), some summer fun like blockbuster movies + ice cream + long summery walks, plus we checked some bigger task items off the to-do list, too.

On the flip side, I felt intermittently stressed juggling a busy July at work (project deadlines before my PTO in August), plus just “everyone home and underfoot” and Asher needing so.many.rides and chaotic schedules all over the place (that people were terrible about putting on the calendar). Ethan got in a car accident at the end of June and there were also some other “unbloggable things” going on behind the scenes with extended family impacting us. I do feel ready for the return of more regular, consistent schedules as school resumes!

Accomplish List:

• volunteered at a swim meet
• dealt with insurance + car repair stuff (mostly Ivan did this, but still)
• massive work on cleaning out our storage room!!! (a goal from 2020!!)
• pulled weeds in the yard….repeatedly. Why are the weeds awful this year?!
• drove Asher around a LOT
• bought plane tickets to go to Nova Scotia!
• wrote x1 past blog travel recap (Mesa Verde National Park)- this was part of my 2025 goals list
• cleaned the house
• oil change appt for my van
• worked on updating our finances spreadsheets
• spent a weekend away with Asher at Regionals swim meet in Milwaukee
• Asher cleaned out the garage- and did a surprisingly great job!
• was pretty consistent overall with gym workouts (still room for improvement though)
• finally bought a new table for our sunroom
• went to Ethan’s students vs alumni soccer game on a Saturday
• took loads of stuff out of our basement to Goodwill (Ivan hauled it)
• shopped for and bought some new beach sandals
• got a haircut
• got a pedicure for first time in ages (this felt like a necessity, not a luxury…trust me! 😬)
• did the usual pre-vacation chores (fridge clean out, errands, arrange care for house, packing, etc.)
• took Charlie to the groomer

Happy/Gratitude:

• walking to the gym
• a walk to the gas station w/ Ivan and Charlie for cold drinks
• phone calls with my mom or dad
• celebrating the 4th of July at my parents’ house for a couple nights
• a lot of perfect hot summer weather
• a crystal-clear night for 4th of July fireworks + mosquitoes miraculously not too bad
• great family time that weekend- walks, meals, chats on the patio, etc.
• attending a soccer party with Ivan and meeting some new people
• a wide open, much needed re-set day after a weekend away
• watching Sirens with Ivan
• many PERFECT summer morning walks with Charlie… those warm beautiful mornings heal this Midwesterner’s soul
• spending more time away from my phone (kept Facebook and email deleted from my phone for much of the month)
• Ethan and Ivan went to Six Flags Great America with cousins and had a total blast
• a quiet night reading by myself in the sunroom with the screen door open, then watching an episode of Gilmore Girls in bed. 🙂
• a cozy thunderstorm
• walking Charlie to McDonald’s with Ivan and letting him eat some ice cream 😉
• reading Harry Potter
• Ethan completing most of his 100 required volunteer hours almost 2 years in advance! Proud of him.
• going to see Superman in the theater and eating popcorn
• texts with friends
• Asher swam great at Regionals and we had fun together
• I enjoyed reading my book + relaxing in between his events at Regionals
• the ability to run and pick up our new sunroom table on my lunch hour! Thankful for that flexibility.
• a quick couch nap
• watching Harry Potter movie #3 with Ivan and the boys
• starting to watch Anne with an E on Netflix with Ivan… I really like it
• that I finished my work projects before the deadline!
• breakfast out with Ethan, just the 2 of us
• home yoga videos and Emkfit’s Pilates videos (not “real” pilates really but I tried them and enjoyed them!)
• some good chats w/ the boys
• Chipotle
• that my neighbors were willing to water my plants while we were away
• Ethan and his friends successfully implemented their first ever tailgate and Brewers game
• that Ethan was willing to drive Asher around for me a lot, when I couldn’t
• that Ethan’s car repairs + insurance stuff is mostly all worked out

Bummers:

• expenses and hassles related to Ethan’s car accident + repairs
• storms interrupting Ivan’s soccer party that he was looking forward to
• a rather subpar diet most of the month…. blah
• Asher’s rides to lifeguarding complicated by storms/ weather sometimes (e.g. one day there was a TORNADO WATCH and he still had to go to work (for a little while) because apparently they can’t “cancel” open swim until there’s actually lightning seen or a certain (too few) number of patrons are there after opening…. felt very silly to drop him off knowing that open swim would be cancelled eventually and then have to turn around and go back for him… 😫)
• skipping some workouts that I shouldn’t have needed to
• the boys “struggling” to keep their bathroom cleaned up… 🙄
• calendar/ scheduling headaches (kids failing to update….)
• some health + other challenges with extended family
• driving through a downpour on the interstate on the way to a swim meet
• some confusion/ anxieties over our next summer plans- too many moving parts between family, different school dates, sports, available PTO days, kids’ preferences, planned events, pre-senior year things that will have to fit in… making my head spin!
• my favorite beach sandals wore out and I tried to get an identical version but of course they had to change them so they’re not the same anymore.
• a couple days of waking up at 3:45 a.m. and never falling back to sleep

Reading:

I finished up a fiction read, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which I liked a lot!

I also finished Harry Potter #3, finally! I promptly picked up the massive #4 but sadly have not started it yet! Hopefully I can renew….

I also read most of the non-fiction book Time Anxiety, which seemed like a great topic (recommended for people who consistently feel like they “don’t have enough time” or suffer from “time blindness”), but felt like mostly a lot of regurgitated information I’ve already heard before. Maybe 3/5 for me, max.

Upcoming in August:

Well, this is a bit anticlimactic since it’s already August 16th, ha, but for the record:

🔷our Panama City Beach, Florida trip from August 1-10. (Done- it was great!)

🔷 Ethan goes back to school (done, this past week) + soccer tryouts (all next week) + soccer season kick off (scrimmage weekend at end of August + a soccer family picnic tomorrow)

🔷 Asher has a “team bonding” event for high school boys swim at a waterpark in Wisconsin Dells (tomorrow)

🔷 Asher will wrap up his summer job when the pool closes at the end of the 3rd week of August, and then, knowing him, he will likely be “bored” for the last week of summer until school starts after Labor Day… 😅

🔷 I seriously need to finish up the storage room (and restore order to the basement rec room which is currently housing…. everything, until it gets finished and rearranged)

🔷I sketched out an “ideal week” for the new school year and am trying to really nail my workout schedule. I feel better and LOVE LIFE MORE when I exercise consistently, so this is important to me.

🔷 Ethan has a newfound interest in maybe also cleaning up his diet a little/ focusing on fueling his body better for this soccer season, so I want to be more intentional heading into fall about healthy meal planning (and involving him in it, prep + cooking!)

🔷soak up and cherish the end of summer while also slowly starting to build excitement for…. FALL!! I can’t help it, I’m already excited. (Pre-season Packers football game on right now in the background as I type this…even the sound of the announcers talking makes me think “fall”! :))

There are lots of big things on the agenda this fall for me/us, so I also have a little sense of “this is the calm before the storm” right now.

Happy end of summer! 🌞