June's Highlights and Favorites: wrapped up in a sentence or 2 a day

 We had a pretty great month with a lot of hiking and fresh air.  We had a wonderful family vacation despite the less then wonderful weather and added 2 "new" vehicles to our family of cars.

1. I spent a quiet morning reading on the patio & most of my day trying to get caught up on the blog. 4,725 steps. 

2. It was a scorching hot day and I spent part of my morning on the patio and the rest of the day inside. I finally began researching hikes and things to do in & around Shenandoah National park.  We ended our night with a series of thunderstorms and a quick stop by the new ice cream stand A La Mode that opened up down the street. 3,097 steps. 

3. Saturday was freezing (seriously we had a 50 degree temperature drop overnight) and cloudy and I spent much of it reading and working on the blog. Ian and my husband took off for the entire afternoon looking for a new truck for Ian. 3,292 steps. 

scrambled egg wrap with clementines for breakfast

4. Another cloudy, cold day but Evan, Ben and I headed to Bj's anyway to pick up some groceries and then Ben and I headed to Lowe's to pick up his early father's day gift-- a new smoker.  The boys helped him put it together and we finally got to eat smoked chicken around 7:30 at night (a good 2 hours later than usual!).  5,403 steps. 

5. Monday dawned coll and rainy again so I scrapped my plans of hiking and decided to run a bunch of errands instead- the bank, the library, the post office, the grocery store, etc.  4,838 steps.

by lunch I got to break out my tank tops again!

6. Evan and I had dentist appointments early in the morning then we went on a nice long nearly 2 hour hike to what we thought was going to be a new waterfall (only it turns out the waterfall was one we've hiked to a lot from a different trail/side/park).  Ian picked up his new truck! 15,269 steps. 

Ian's new truck 

I changed into shorts after our hike! 

Ended our night with some hail and thundershowers

7. Despite another day of air quality warnings, Evan and I headed out on a quick hike around Pulaski park then spent the day inside.  Alec came home from school not feeling well (keeping my fingers crossed it's a quick 24 hour thing and he doesn't miss his last few days of school!) 9,908 steps. 

I changed into hiking pants real quick before we left

8. Alec stayed home from school again but Evan and I still headed out on a short hike (still with air quality warnings) then I brought Alec in to see the doctor since his school is requiring a doctor's note for his absences.  

See the deer?

I even caught the tail end running away!

9. Alec was feeling a bit better but the doctor had already told him he should not go to school on Friday either and to take time to rest so that's what he did.  Ian headed off to get his learner's permit for his CDL (commercial driver's license) and Evan and I went for a walk along the rivertrail.

VERY hazy today!

used another colorstreet nail wrap on my nails today

10. Saturday both my husband and Ian headed off to work. Evan and I headed out on a hike around Ross' Pond then I spent my afternoon reading on the deck. 

There was mountain laurel blooming ALL over the whole trail! 

Showered and changed after our hike

11. My husband and Ian took off fishing and Alec got ready to go into work. I spent some time on the deck reading and took a trip with my husband to Runnings to get some grass seed.  Finished out the day with a jet ski ride with my husband to try out Ian's jet ski-- it is fast! 

12. Once everyone headed off to work or school, I headed out to the grocery store; just getting a 1/2 order since we were getting ready to leave on our vacation.  I started packing my bag and printed out our parking pass then I went around and added some plastic self-watering plant bulbs to all my outdoor plants. 9,192 steps. 

13. Despite some sprinkles, Evan and I headed out on a little hike and then I spent some time working on cleaning the house and prepping for vacation. 13,801 steps. 

Alec got the excellence in culinary award for the 3rd year in a row!

14. It was Alec's LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (for his junior year anyway) and since he had an award ceremony at 8 I decided to just drive him in and sit in the car reading my book until the ceremony.  By 8:15 the ceremony was over, I had signed him out for the day, and shortly after getting home Alec, Evan, and I headed out for walk along the bike trail.  It was a beautiful, relaxing day. 11,752 steps. 

Alec made himself fried rice and a French omelets for lunch

15. My husband, Ian, and Alec all headed off for work and Evan and I met my mom for lunch.  8,610 steps. 

16. Friday morning Alec, Evan, and I met up with the hiking group to walk the river trail-- it was a beautiful day for a 2 hour walk and we spent so much time talking and catching up that I didn't take a single photo. My step counter malfunctioned but I know I hit at least 10,000 steps by the time we finished our morning walk. 

17. We spent the whole day in the car driving to Virginia; we said good-bye to Ian (who elected to work instead of coming on vacation), left home around 6:30, and arrived at our house rental by 5. Then we went grocery shopping and got settled in for our week of vacation. My step counter died by lunch. 

18. Our first full day in Shenandoah and we hiked Rose River falls loop; a pretty waterfall filled hike that we finished up before lunch at the Big Meadows Lodge 16,661 steps. 

19. Our second day of hiking in Shenandoah found us doing both a summit hike and a waterfall hike; it was fabulous but we were so sore and tired when we finished up! 18,278 steps. 

20.  It was a cloudy day and we all wanted a break from hiking so we drove over to King's Dominion to enjoy a day at the amusement park riding ALL the rides. 10,944 steps.

21. We went to explore Luray Caverns and were quite impressed with how large this cave system is, then we headed for a late lunch at a delicious pizza joint. 4,234 steps.

22. Despite another day of rain, we decided to head out hiking. Luckily it was only drizzling while we hiked and the real rain held off until we finished up.  We hiked 3 miles around the Lewis Falls loop.  11,201 steps.

23.  On our last full day in Shenandoah we went on one last hike and then checked out Grand Caverns. The sun finally came out again in the afternoon/evening so we took one last drive up on Skyline drive and took some photos at the overlooks. 11,571 steps.

24. We drove home from Virginia; making pretty good time while also stopping for breakfast and lunch on the way. 

25. We were up very early to go grocery shopping as soon as the store opened then we prepped food for the week, cleaned out the car, and went for an hour long kayak ride after lunch. 7,731 steps. 

26. The younger boys and I were up early and out the door by 7:30 to go strawberry picking. We enjoyed a donut at the orchard and then went to run a bunch of errands-- ordering the new microwave and chest freezer and picking up passport applications. 8,670 steps.

The donuts were freshly baked and still warm!

27. Thunderstorms woke us up in the wee hours of the morning and the rainy/ cloudy weather persisted much of the day.  I worked on the blog, made a couple of cards, and read quite a bit. 4,848 steps.

28. I woke to more rain and cloudy skies and decided to make it a baking day.  I made angel food cake for fresh strawberry shortcake and also some strawberry freezer jam then helped Alec track down supplies for making a pastry called lobster tails (but he'll have to wait until the semolina flour comes in another day to make them since none of our stores carry it!). He made some caramel sauce for macarons 5,856 steps. 

29. After helping my husband try one last time to unclog our kitchen sink (successfully!) I headed off to my hair appointment an returned home to find Alec making his macarons. Once he was done cooking we headed to the car dealership to look into trading his car for something newer, smaller, and with better fuel efficiency. 7,607 steps.

You pipe them out on a special mat

You have to let them sit and form a film before baking

Once they are fully cooled (several hours later) you peel them off the mat. Added added a caramel drizzle to 1/2 (the tops)

Then filled with a bit of caramel buttercream-- they were amazing!!  AND only 2 points on WW for 1.

Alec stopped to get ice cream on the way home from the dealership; I enjoyed sitting in the sun 

30. I was up early and headed to the grocery store and the library while Alec got to work making some lobster tail pastries. I spent my afternoon waiting around for a small appliance delivery and then met my husband at the dealership to sign papers on Alec's new car (really it's OURS but Alec will be driving it until Evan gets his license and they need to share). 5,364 steps. 

How was your month?

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