The Queen’s Chronicles – July Wrap Up

Summer has been busier than I would like at work and it is hard to believe it is already August. We managed to take a vacation to Colorado in early June, but my heart is still longing for some downtime even if it is at home! I’ve been somewhat quiet here in this space this summer too and, while I do miss it, the pressure to create has definitely been something I had to remove as I worked on myself a little. I hope to pick back up soon with renewed energy and focus. For now, here is a little July wrap up for what I like to call my little scrapbook of memories, The Queen’s Chronicles.

We kicked off July with a trip to Fort Worth with our Haisley girl but I knew I needed another getaway on the books quickly to soak up a little more summer before Carly heads back to school. While we are typically a head to the coast familly, I decided to switch things up and book a lake trip instead. Spoiler alert, it was definitely a nice change of pace! Canyon Lake is beautiful and held just enough fun combined with time to unwind and relax.

Initially I did not look at this little house because, while it indicated it would sleep 10, it only listed 2 bedrooms. I just kept coming back to it because I loved everything else about it and eventually saw it also had two loft areas with beds as well. We booked it and I’m so glad we did!

It had the perfect open concept for gathering for meals and hanging out but also had plenty of space to spread out and have time alone if desired. The outdoor space was as amazing as the indoor space and, while it is not directly on the lake, it is close enough that the breeze off the water made it feel cooler. Sitting on the porch every morning with coffee, we saw so many deer coming by and one really busy armadillo! I also saw a cardinal every single day and sometimes multiple times a day which made me so happy as they remind me of my daddy.

We also had one sweet little fox who was defintiely accustomed to receiving scraps from the house guests! He seriously just hung around and acted like a pet.

Here is a little glimpse of how we spent our days!

We spent one afternoon at Canyon Park. There are two swim beach areas that fill up fast but we took the road to the end where it is $20 to enter but there are covered picnic areas, bbq pits, etc. I picked up these floats during Amazon prime days and they were perfect for a lazy float on the lake. Carly brought two of her friends along and they were sweet enough to float with me!

On our second day, we rented a pontoon boat for the afternoon and set out to explore the lake. We found a little cove that wasn’t too overly populated with party boats, anchored up and threw out the flloating mat. We just chilled and it was so good. Keith did pull the girls for a bit on a tube but with a pontoon it isn’t quite the same.

That evening we got cleaned up and headed to The Gristmill for dinner. We initially planned to go to Gruene Hall for a little dancing but it was just so darn hot and we didn’t really think about the early closing time on Sunday.

Day three we headed to float the comal. I would definitely suggest floating the fiver on a Monday versus the weekend. Originally we planned this for Saturday but could not even find parking that day. We used Rockin R to reserve tubes and they were so easy to work with when we needed to modify our reservatioin. I had a bit of a scary 10 seconds as I flipped out of my tube on the first tube chute and did everything you are not suppose to do. In hindsight I probably could have just stood up but I totally panicked when the current took me under. Lesson learned….hang on to that tube! I lost my favorite hat too which was a bummer!

Later the same week my friend Holly and I headed to Austin for an overnight trip to see James Taylor and his big band at the Moody Center. We stayed at the Otis hotel where there are record players in every room and you can check out albums in the lobby. Of course we grabbed some James Taylor to listen to as we got ready!

The show was so good! I mean, I have always loved his music but he’s really funny too. The band and backup singers were incredible and so talented.

The next morning we took a walk around the University of Texas campus and the Texas State Capital. The reflection pond fulll of turtles and the memorial to those who lost their lives in the bell tower shooting was an unexpected find that we both loved.

Looking back always reminds me that even when I think life was too busy, there were some really sweet times mixed in too. Having something on the books to look forward to is also something that helps me push forward every day so when my friend Kelli called to see if I wanted to head to Lake Tahoe with her in September I couldn’t say yes fast enough! I’ve never booked a flight so fast in my life!

Carly is already back to Strutter practice and we are working to cross off some volunteer hours together before school gets back up and running August 17th. Then it will be all about those Friday night lights for the foreseable future.

Hope you are tying up your summer with some last minute memory making adventures!