Hey! Happy Summer, Pictures From Europe And How Are You?

Happy Summer!

Hello, friends, hello! How’s your summer so far? Mine’s been great! But, kind of JK. For three weeks I’ve been trying and failing to get a blog post up, and it keeps not happening, and it’s stressing me out.  Between my kids, their summer jobs and extracurriculars, and 100 degree days in Utah, I’m getting nothing done.

Zilch.

Also, did I mention my kids are home all day, hanging out? I didn’t?  Oh.  Well.  My kids are home, and well. All day every day they’re home. With me.  I’m fielding about 100 million questions per day, and ‘look at me‘ and ‘check this out‘, and ‘I’m bored‘, and ‘can you take me to ____?’ and ‘I’m hungry‘ and ‘entertain me‘. And my kids are great and I l0ve them, a lot, really. But mama needs a little space.

I usually love summer, but whoa, this summer I’m getting nothing done at all. I’m trying to soak it all in, all this time with my kids and fun! fun! fun! but honestly, I’m pretty tired.

On Facebook I asked my fellow work-at-home friends if they were experiencing the same thing, and basically I got a lot of, ‘sister, I feel this‘ and ‘please kill me now‘, (I’m paraphrasing) and ‘forget it, my life is ruined‘ (again, paraphrasing). I even got a few parents who reported, exactly down to the hour, how many days they still have left trapped at home with their precious babies. And they’re precious, don’t get me wrong. But I’m considering making a paper chain, like we do to count down to Christmas, only it will be how long until I can go without being interrupted in the bathroom.  So far, it’s zero days this summer.

Anyway.  I’d love to hear what you’re doing and if you’re going on any cool adventures, or if you’re at home binge-watching Netflix. For the record, binge-watching Netflix sounds like heaven to me right now. There are so many good shows to catch up on right now. But that’s neither here nor there. We’ll get to Netflix another time.

Right now I want to talk travel to whet your appetite for the fun stuff I’m going to share (eventually). My family went to France and Spain for three weeks at the very beginning of the summer and I think it was our best family vacation yet.  My kids were much younger the last time we went to Europe 6 years ago, so I wasn’t sure what to expect this time with older kids.  I have to say, all the traveling we’ve done with our kids has paid off.  Family trips can sometimes be challenging with littles, but every trip we’ve ever taken up to this point prepared us for this trip and it was completely wonderful from takeoff in Salt Lake City to landing three weeks later, back in Utah.

I have a lot of details and funny stories and helpful travel advice to share, (I have no less than 7 blog posts in my drafts folder)  but my kids are eating my time in 10,000 calorie chunks.  As I type this I’m sitting poolside at a hot, humid, overly-chlorinated swim team practice. I’m sneaking in work in 20 minute increments and, I have to tell you, I’m not having much success. I mean I need to start with being able to hide in my bathroom for five minutes at a time, and work my way up to blog posts. So instead of digging in today, I’m just going to share some photos of my family in Paris and Barcelona. It’s been such a happy summer, and hope our travel creates some wanderlust in you so you book that trip you’ve always wanted to take.  Really.

Anyway.  I’d love to hear what you’re doing and if you’re going on any cool adventures, or if you’re at home binge-watching Netflix. (For the record, binge-watching Netflix sounds like heaven to me right now. There are so many good shows to catch up on this summer.) But that’s neither here nor there.

So, I want you to be having the best happy summer ever. I really want to hear what you’re up to, so drop a comment and let me know! Are you counting down the days to a fun trip, are you getting your hair done and it looks extra gorgeous? Do you spend your nights on your porch sipping cocktails and watching the sunset? Are you at the pool or beach or lake all day? I want to know.

FRANCE + SPAIN:

Have a happy summer, friends!

Allison

Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!