Happy Friday! I am excited to be here with some favorites today! It has been over two months since I wrote my last Friday Favorites post. I am going to share a few highlights from our trip with you today, but I am planning on sharing more with you next week. This week’s favorites are definitely not in any particular order. Let’s get to them!

Favorite 1: POWER!! While we were away, our neighbor texted that we lost power on the 4th of July. When we arrived at home on Monday, July 6 at 8:45 am, the power was still off. The power company estimated that it would be restored on Tuesday at 11 pm. When we walked outside to check out any storm damage, I noticed the flood light came on. Can you even believe it?? Our power came back on about 5 minutes after we got home. What a gift! With the power back on, I cleaned out the fridge and freezer. I got rid of things in the fridge – cheese, condiments, etc. – but there wasn’t much in there since we were go for so long. I even took all the shelves and drawers out and gave the fridge a good deep cleaning. My friend took a bunch out of our freezer, so we didn’t lose to much in there. I didn’t even care because I was so happy to have power so we could stay home and get all that laundry done, sleep in our own beds, and start settling back in. Thank goodness for power!

Favorite 2: ALASKA!! Oh my goodness! There is so much beauty in Alaska. The mountains, the water, the glaciers, the animals, the people, the iceberg bits, all of it! I knew this wasn’t going to be a relaxing vacation, but we didn’t do much sitting around at all. I even struggled to read knowing that there could be something beautiful outside the window. Everywhere you looked, it was like a painting. I loved everything we did, everything we saw, sharing it all with our family. It was absolutely incredible!!

Favorite 3: BOOKS!! I did struggle to read on our trip, but I managed to read a few books that matched the time. I read Abby Offsides, which isn’t directly about the World Cup but is about soccer/football. I read The Mother-Daughter Book Club while on a trip with my mom and my sister (and the rest of our family). I read Our Perfect Storm in western Canada. It was fun to have those real life connections with the books!

Favorite 4: WORLD CUP!! Our cruise ship played all of the World Cup games and you could watch most of them on the big screen out by the pool. The games were so exciting and it was fun to watch them with a big group. There weren’t any live games in Vancouver while we were there, but you could feel the World Cup excitement across the city. We did watch part of a few games in Jack Poole Plaza. TSN, a Canadian sports channel, was broadcasting live from the plaza and they were showing the games on two big screens. We got to see some Norweigian fans do the row after the Norway win. We saw some Mexican fans getting ready for their game with horns, speakers, and a mariachi type band. There were jerseys everywhere! It was really cool to experience!

Favorite 5: CONCERT!! My friend and colleague is a huge Wheeland Brothers fan and she got tickets to their concert on Tuesday evening. They were playing in a super cool venue. The name is Hi-Lites Tiki Bar, but it is literally someone’s backyard. It isn’t a giant backyard either. It was so cool to see the Wheeland Brothers play in such a small setting. We had front row spots (you bring your own chair) and I even got to help sing a little bit. I love the Wheeland Brothers and this was an incredible way to see them play.

We have been back to our regular routine this week with swim team, lifeguarding, and summer. We have a pep rally at the pool tomorrow night and a home swim meet on Saturday morning. Don’t forget that Saturday is 7/11 so it’s free Slurpee day if you have a 7-11 convenience store near you. You know we’ll be celebrating!!

I am planning to share more from our trip next week and I want to share a summer reading update because I have finished 6 good books since my last update. I hope you have a great weekend full of sunshine and SUMMER BEACH books!!