At long last — the 2019 installment of June in June! I delayed and delayed on editing this one because life is busy, yes, but also because I had this little voice in the back of my mind saying “you didn’t get that many good clips” and “there’s no way you’ll top last year’s.” (To be fair, last year’s was really fun. One whale!) Filming was particularly challenging this year, as we struggled to hold a phone and a wiggly baby at the same time (and navigated a subject that is increasingly aware of the camera).

But once I finally pushed through and just did the thing, this fourth installment came together easily and quickly, as they always do – because while our life together is messy and ordinary, it is also beyond precious and perfect to us. This little girl fills every day with sunshine in a way that’s hard to even think about without tearing up… so instead, I invite you to simply enjoy this peek into one month with our favorite three-and-a-half-year-old.

The password is JUNE.

Ready for a walk down memory lane? See Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3. (And just try not to cry a little bit.)

Here’s the thing: it is as idyllic as it looks. It’s blue ocean as far as the eye can see, and blue sky as far as the eye can see, and salty-seaweedy air, and cool evenings, and eating blueberries off the bush, and cousins who love each other, and reading all afternoon, and charming shingled cottages with actual lobster buoys hanging on the side.

And here’s something else, something I am becoming increasingly aware of with each passing year: these things don’t just happen, they are made to happen. This place, it takes people making budgets and writing by-laws and picking up brush in the sun and asking after each other’s children to keep humming along so beautifully. These family cottages, they take people agreeing on common rules and doing the dishes even though they’re on vacation and abiding alongside each other even when they couldn’t be more different.

It’s easier to go it alone, but it’s not more beautiful. That kind of beauty is hard to show in photos, but somehow, it seems to be reflected in the scenery of our beloved island in Maine, and that I can show you…

For those who are new: “the island” is a small community off the coast of Maine with 36 cottages and one truck. Two of those cottages belong to my Dad’s side of the family and my Mom’s side of the family (that’s how they met – both have been in their families for generations, and they grew up going to this place each summer, just like I have!). The one truck can be used to help move the big suitcases (and VERY excited kiddos), but everything else gets pushed and pulled in Gardenway carts. Good thing Pop Pop has lots of help :)

Shep had to wait almost a whole year for his first trip to Maine, but I think he’d say it was worth the wait!

The daily reading club :) No, June is not yet reading chapter books – she just wanted to do everything her big cousin was doing!

The view from my Dad’s family’s cottage. How???

We had an early riser in our crew many mornings which, while not my preferred outcome on vacation, was hard to be grumpy about with views like this.

One night we had a fire on the beach and roasted s’mores. It was so nice to wear a sweatshirt after the North Carolina heat!

My stripes guys :)

Even the color and pattern of the rock here is as familiar and comforting to me as the back of my own hand…

I saved a few of my favorite photos for last. They’re not the best lit or perfectly composed, but they capture that beauty I spoke to at the beginning of this post.

Snuggles, hugs, and lots of giggles.

I’ll leave you with this girl gang. So lucky to be together with these gals (and our guys!).

Maine in previous years:
2013
2014 (and a video – one of my favorites!)
2015
2016
2018

It had increasingly become a matter of personal embarrassment to John that his wife, despite having lived in North Carolina for ten years, had never been to the Outer Banks. (To be clear, he had also never been to the Outer Banks in these ten years, but since he had visited several times as a teenager, he felt that absolved him somehow.) Admittedly, I was also feeling increasingly chagrined, and so when our Michigan plans changed (due to two family pregnancies whoo!), we all jumped at the chance to experience the Outer Banks together.

Here are a few favorite pics, if you’d like to see!

We were accompanied by the East Coast Thomases, including John’s parents and his sister, our brother-in-law, and their daughter, who is a few months older than June. For weeks in advance June talked about how much she was looking forward to sleeping in the same room as Maisie, and I don’t think the experience disappointed – there were many heart-meltingly sweet convos overhead on the monitor! :)

Being a little behind in the planning game because of our late-breaking change in plans, John searched the whole Outer Banks for rental properties. We landed in Corolla, the second most Northern town on the beach (this is the house we stayed in). It ended up being a perfect fit for us – beautiful, quiet, and historic!

Our house was a one-minute walk from the beach and next to some sort of protected area, which made it feel extra serene. We spent plenty of time at the beach – including one full morning – but it was wonderful to be so close so we could pop back and forth throughout the day, which we did frequently. Our favorite time to go was after naps and before dinner, when it was a little cooler and the sun wasn’t so strong! We did bring our pop-up canopy to help shade us on days we were out for a few hours.

As you can see, the beach was basically empty, and the sand was gloriously soft!

As you can also see, Shep’s preferred beach activity was napping – he was not the ocean’s biggest fan :)

Though Corolla was farther up the Outer Banks than some more well-known destinations, there was plenty to do aside from the beach! We played mini golf, visited a farm stand, and made several trips to Whalehead, a historic home and park that includes the Currituck Beach Lighthouse.

Both kiddos hiked up all 220 lighthouse steps with nary a peep of complaint, though the wind at the top was a little much for June!

Though we opted not to do a wild horse tour (we have been spoiled from seeing them on Shackleford Banks and Cumberland Island!), Joe, John, and I snuck away one naptime to the Corolla Adventure Park. No pictures of that, but trust that it was REALLY fun!

I am a well-known scouter of charm wherever I go, and historic Corolla Village did not disappoint. Don’t miss The Shack for coffee in the morning and drinks in the afternoon (photo from Our State above!) and Corolla Village BBQ for dinner!

Other food favorites: bagels at Lighthouse Deli, acai bowls at Island Smoothie, and Italian at La Dolce Vita. We also, of course, got Duck Donuts from the original location – yum!

On our last night, we ordered pizza from Wave and ice cream from the shop next door, then took in the sunset from the Duck boardwalk – the perfect way to cap off an evening!

Of course, as much as we enjoyed finally experiencing the Outer Banks for the first time (together), the best part of the trip was the stuff that could have happened anywhere, but was made more wonderful by the picturesque setting: cousin giggles, leisurely naps spent reading, memories made being chased off the beach by a crazy windstorm (!), a pastel sunrise, plowing through a well-stocked game closet, and cobbled-together meals around the table.

Wishing you some of all of those things wherever your summer adventures take you! And if you have more OBX questions, I’m happy to answer them :)

Ever since I completed up my 60 Before 30 project, I’ve been considering options for a new iteration. My experience with longer-term goal sets has been overwhelmingly positive; I love allowing them to shape and mark a chunk of my life!

But how to theme it? 65 Before 35 just didn’t sound as jazzy. As I pruned and shaped my collection of ideas for a potential next list, and considered what our life is likely to look like for the next few years, an idea began to take shape.

The driving force in our family right now is paying off our mortgage*. We expect this to happen in the next three to six years, depending on the market’s performance, and until then, we will be making some aggressive trade-offs and sacrifices – forgoing vacations, reducing our grocery budget, delaying clothing purchases, cooking at home, (almost) never going to the movies, not purchasing alcohol, and more.

We believe the freedom of owning our home will be more than worth it, but we’re also not willing to put our young family’s life on hold for the next five years, eating PB&J every night and spending only the absolute minimum.

And here’s the thing: we’re convinced we don’t need to. The fact is, there are amazing amounts of fun and memories to be had for very few dollars. In fact, I’d argue that this list gets at the very best parts of life, the ones we’ll continue to chase long after we’ve put our mortgage to rest: the patience to move slowly, the softness to be delighted, rich and agile minds, deep relationships, confidence in our own ingenuity, a deepening bench of skills, and – above all – golden-hued memories. If these things aren’t luxury, I don’t know what is.

Each item below was carefully chosen, for reasons that may not be immediately clear. Some are unusual, some are pedestrian, and many you might never think to raise to the level of being put “on a list.” You might find it amusing that I included them at all, or worse, Not Fun.

Am I “flattening things that should be enjoyable into tasks“? Am I not fun??

Perhaps not. I am a creature of habit, and despite my best intentions, it’s easy for life to become routine. So, just like we put extra mortgage payments into our budget instead of hoping to stumble upon “extra” sums of money, I am intentionally setting out to create the conditions for delight instead of hoping delight will somehow shoehorn its way into my full life, with the financial constraints we are voluntarily putting on it. What we prioritize, happens. It’s always taken someone’s effort to plan the picnic, organize the lake day, or flip bunny-shaped pancakes. Just because something has been considered and planned doesn’t make it any less magical.

Alright. After that very lengthy preamble, I present to you…

Start: February 28, 2019
End: ??? (Somewhere between 2022 and 2025!)
Items completed: 16
Last updated: July 2022

1. Host a croquet tournament
2. Make potstickers with Mama Jean (December 2021)
3. Teach June the Lord’s Prayer (March 2019)
4. Make a month-by-month landscape tending list
5. Go trail riding at the farm with my family
6. Visit Hammocks Beach State Park (June 2022)
7. Camp at Grayson Highlands
8. Take June to a local high school’s musical (April 2022)
9. Complete a month of thank you notes
10. Host Chinese New Year fun for friends
11. Dance at a ceili
12. Go to BINGO as a family (July 2019)
13. Undertake a nature scavenger hunt for each season (spring 2020)
14. Spend two weeks in a row at the Island
15. Update our Advent calendar with our home’s colors
16. Eat at Waffle House (epic late-night visit with some of my dear coworkers in August 2019!)
17. Go swimming in a mountain lake
18. Host a book swap party (July 2019)
19. Work on a Habitat build
20. Take June to tea at the Carolina Inn or Fearrington (May 2021)
21. Order historical photo albums to get us up to date (2005-2009, 2010-2014, 2015-2019)
22. Enter something in the State Fair
23. Square dance at our town’s arts center
24. Lake day with the Rays
25. Buy bunting to hang on our home for patriotic holidays
26. Listen to all of the Harry Potter books
27. Finish my EFM guide to the Triangle
28. Host a pie party
29. Become an expert at French braiding June’s hair (officially given up on my own)
30. Lead another service at the Island (July 2022)
31. Watch a review at the CGA and go to lunch at the Officers’ Club
32. Take another family on an outdoor souffle adventure
33. Do a home swap with a friend or acquaintance in a place we want to visit
34. Make a new neighborhood BFF couple
35. Put together an ice cream sundae bar, just for us (August 2019)
36. Commission a special art print and give one copy to each family member
37. Take June to her first outdoor movie and pack excellent snacks
38. Organize another Great Island Race
39. Do something with the upstairs bathroom (shared February 2021!)
40. Host a chocolate chip cookie taste-off
41. Touch up the paint throughout our home
42. Teach June to sing patriotic songs
43. Go to rooftop yoga at The Durham with friends (April 2019, with Lisa)
44. Make “For God so loved ____” art for June and Shep
45. Golf as a family at Knight’s Play
46. Take the train somewhere (May 2019 – to Charlotte with June!)
47. Hike another bald
48. Have a full family sleepover with the Rays
49. Teach June to jump rope, trace her body with chalk, and play hopscotch and Spud
50. Finish the path in our alley
51. Plant lots of daffodil bulbs in our backyard
52. Memorize a favorite poem
53. Learn to cut June’s hair (and John’s and Shep’s – May 2020!)
54. Borrow a canoe and go on an adventure
55. Get back in a regular rhythm of playing tennis with the Terhunes
56. Party it up in a glow stick bath
57. Make a better display for my jewelry
58. Real estalk and visit the playground in Trinity Park
59. Explore Morehead Planetarium
60. Introduce June to the art of painted toe nails (May 2019!)

Many of these cost no money. Some cost more than that. More importantly, they all require our attention, capacity for delight, and thoughtfulness. I hope to get to tell many of these stories over the next few years, but if you’re particularly curious about one, by all means – ask away!

*As you may have gathered, we have changed our approach to paying off our mortgage. A Marvelous Money post addressing the topic is coming soon! :)