More Miscellanea July 2020: Fourth of July and Road Trip

I have this endless debate with myself about whether I should branch out with blogging content, or keep it solely focused on interior design. In 2018, I did a monthly miscellanea round up of other topics I was interested in, and readers gave positive feedback about the more personal nature of the posts, but I slowed down on my blogging schedule in 2019 and cut that monthly feature out, despite the fact that it was one of my favorites to write. In the fall, when the kids go back to school (praying!) and I have more time to blog, I’m planning to bring in some more lifestyle type content, such as travel, books I’m reading, and possibly even budget friendly fashion ideas… So I’ve decided to bring back my miscellanea posts, just not on a monthly basis. We’re kicking this first More Miscellanea post off chatting about why I went MIA for most of July, namely, our Fourth of July at the lake and our first ever family road trip!

I know it’s been a few weeks since the holiday, but I hope you had a fabulous Fourth of July weekend. Besides Christmas, this is my favorite holiday. Every year we spend it at the lake with my family, where we have many traditions, and we also had grand plans for a family photo shoot. Unfortunately, I remembered to bring my “fancy cam” to the lake, but I seem to have misplaced the battery. Yep, that’s kind of an essential. So we did the best with what we had, which was various iPhones.

I can’t even explain what a blessing this place has been to our family, both immediate and extended. Because of the time spent here, Arabella and her cousin McKenna are so close, they’re almost like sisters! And our kids have great bonds with Grandma and Grandpa too.

Normally, we spend 10 days straight at the lake together over the Fourth of July, but because we also had a road trip planned in July, we did a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday.

And of course my sister Katie and I needed a picture in our Fourth of July gear!

Our other July adventure was a first-time-ever-for-the-Luhrings road trip style vacation. To be honest, I had no idea how my kids would do for so long in the car. For the first two hours, it looked like it was going to be a looooong road (see how I did that there, with the road trip and the long road:)…), but eventually we settled into a rhythm, and our first and longest driving day of 12 hours actually went by pretty quickly!

I’ll share more details about different stops over the next few weeks, but here’s a basic run down of our itinerary.

Day 1 – Drive to Kentucky
Day 2 – The Ark Encounter
Day 3 – Drive to Lexington, SC to visit family
Day 4 – Hang with family
Day 5 – Drive to Charleston
Day 6 – Fort Sumter
Day 7 – Beach!
Day 8 – Beach again!
Day 9 – Drive to Ashville, NC and tour The Biltmore Estate
Day 10 – Drive to Kentucky
Day 11 – The Creation Museum
Day 12 – Drive home

I have to say, as much as we loved all of the amazing museums and historical sites, the highlight for us was the beach time. We are just beach people at heart. And after all of the coronavirus craziness and political turmoil of the last four months, it was good for my soul to spend time with my three favorite people in the world, near the ocean (my favorite place in the world).

I don’t know if it’s in their blood or if they’ve just absorbed their love of the beach from me and Adam, but it’s definitely a “happy place” for my kiddos too. We were all so sad to leave Charleston and the beautiful beaches behind…