Ah, Summer.

School is out, the heat and humidity are here, and there is a new rhythm to life. We can talk more about that later, but I don’t want to get distracted from the biggest news to hit the Palmer family this month. We got a dog!

Miss Arlie practically fell in our laps and we are now in love!

Left to right, top to bottom: That’s L with her favorite new co-pilot who loves to go with rides, especially when her person, Caroline, is in the car. Arlie showed me some love on Father’s Day and hung out on the patio couch with me while we lazily watched the US Open and caught up on Garden & Gun. Let’s make no mistake, Arlie is primarily Caroline’s dog, who has waited patiently for her since she was probably about seven or eight years old. She sleeps with Caroline and that has pretty much imprinted on old Arlie who can sometimes be found lying outside the bathroom door when Caroline takes a shower. Jennings and his new pup…reminds me of being in Memphis the second time around when Jennings developed a soft spot for our friends’ dog - he was previously terrified of them. Henry wants every time to be snuggle time – he’s still learning that playing a little hard to get sometimes might work better than all out smothering. Charlotte getting some rare snuggles on the couch herself…the trick is getting your big sister out of the room!

We had always told Caroline we would get a dog once the renovation was complete and we were back in the house. Ever since moving back, we have just not had the time or space to put much thought into it. Heck, I just finally moved out of our storage unit on Father’s Day weekend. Yes, a little gift to myself. But, Arlie found us.

Lauren, bless her, had been praying for wisdom and for God’s plan around when, how, what, etc. related to the dog. One of the bigger deals was making sure we didn’t get one that she was deathly allergic to - we had seen that movie already with the cat we had when we were first married. She had some allergy testing and confirmed there would be no limitations on a K9 joining our family. I was hoping to have to end up with some type of non-shedding, hypoallergenic pooch. I’ve had kind of an aversion to dog hair ever since dating a girl in high school that had Shelties - I’m fairly certain I left with more hair on me than they had on them every time I went to her house. The allergy thing was the last real barrier to getting one and with that out of the way, I think L doubled down on her prayers. I think God knew just how good this would be for our teenager who would have a lot of extra time on her hands this summer without gym practices.

It was the Friday before we were set to leave for the beach and Lauren called one of her good friends who is a dog-lover and a big volunteer / foster mama for a rescue in Fort Mill. It just so happened that her friend had just picked up Arlie that morning who was in need of rescuing and was in the process of trying to get her processed into the system. When her phone rang, it clicked for her friend - Arlie would be the perfect dog for Lauren’s family. Lauren actually pulled Caroline out of her last day of school to rush over and meet her before we left on our trip.

Needless to say, the logistics worked out. Arlie was looked over by a vet and deemed healthy, a foster family agreed to take her for the week we were at the beach, and the moment we unloaded the car once we got home, L and Caroline were on their way to pick her up.

She has been an absolute gift and joy. She is a pure bred Golden Retriever, who we think is about two years old. She is house trained, sleeps through the night, and is super chill - the perfect demeanor for a family that has four kids who are really not any of those things. 😂 It’s really incredible how great she is and how quick we all fell in love with her. Lauren has the same instincts and emotions as if she was our fifth baby. In fact, we call her that half the time. And despite not really ever being a dog person and never having had one before, I think I am now officially a dog person. She has converted us all in no time flat.

I mentioned the beach trip we took pre-Arlie. It was to our favorite beach, Ocean Isle, but much earlier in the “summer.” That’s because, this year, it was my entire family’s beach trip. My dad booked the house for all of us since my brother and his family were close by in Fayetteville, NC for a change. They’ve been in Germany for about 10 or 11 of the past 13 summers and for the other ones, they were in California. It was fun to have everyone together for vacation and the cousins had a blast…even if my dad booked the house without checking the CMS School Calendar which meant they missed the last three (party) days of school. Here are several from that trip 👇

Left to right, top to bottom: With 13 of us total, we only made the attempt to go out to eat once - that’s all the cousins in one of the only real outfits they wore all week. Jennings’s favorite beach activity, getting buried in sand. I love to fish in the surf and got in quite a bit…the first day was the best though when I caught several of these small sand sharks. The house had a great deck that overlooked the ocean and had sound views as well, which made dining al fresco hard to beat. That’s Jennings’s other favorite beach activity, riding waves…and he does not discriminate between body surfing and boogie boarding…he went until sundown that particular night! The Sunset Slush man hit the honey hole every time he passed by our spot on the beach. Henry had the best time exploring the end of the island at low tide finding unique shells, shark teeth, and other treasures. The last row is our attempt at some family photos at sunset over the sound. Henry nailed the perfect photo bomb on mom & dad’s smooch and I found a full family version where all but one had their eyes open.

It was a great week. I treasured the time together with everyone while lamenting the fact that its so hard to pull that off these days. I can only imagine how much intentionality and effort it will take on all six of us to ever have weeks like that when our kids are grown. I pray that we would all be willing to do it, though.

Honestly, those two events, getting Arlie and the beach week, took up the majority of our June. It’s been a great end to the school year and fun transition to summer. I mentioned at the outset, but I love summer. I tend to be a creature of habit regardless, but the school year necessitates a routine and a schedule. The kids need their sleep and have to get up, these days, before they want to for school. I love how God created the world with seasons and instituted other human rhythms so that life gets shaken up. The summer is definitely that for us, especially with the kids getting older but not yet driving. Often times, they don’t even know what day it is and we let them stay up on the weeknights until we all go to bed. My mornings stay pretty early, but for me, it’s worth the sacrifice of a little sleep to stay up later and hang out as family. We find ourselves hanging out in our new, larger family room just being around each other…sometimes watching TV, sometimes doing four or five different things, but the togetherness is what I’m thankful for.

Here’s a few more from the more typical summer days:

I think Lauren has already coordinated three lemonade stands this summer. Bless her and our generous neighbors. The kids are able to do more of the “work” at least now and the boys were actually using the lemonade stand to raise money for a car washing business they are hoping to get going this summer. L has been really intentional about helping them to that end and teaching them along the way…I’m so grateful for how she pours into them. Jennings had a little sleepover with a couple of his best buds since he didn’t get a “friend party” for his birthday. The last one is the twins showing some twin love during a swim meet. They were the only two that wanted to do swim this year AND we were out of town for a week in June, so I feel like we really got off the hook when it comes to the schedule insanity of swim season! Not hating it.

It’s crazy to think it’s almost July. We’ll celebrate a big birthday for our nation and take our big Palmer family of six trip this month. I’m doing my best to enjoy the journey of this summer and not let the couple of weeks here and there in between the big events slip by without notice. Downshifting into a slightly different gear as a family, even if it’s only in some small ways and not full picture with work, etc., is such a gift and I’m doing my best to recognize it and cherish it. Cheers to summer!

Thankful for a creator God that gifted us with variety and rhythms for our lives here.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” Ecclesiastes 3:1