Hey, hey, hey, it’s What’s Up Wednesday!
If you don’t know what that is…on the last Wednesday of every month, Sheaffer and I host this little linky party where we share what’s going on with us right now. It’s a little food, a little family, a little what we’re wearing, a little what we’re doing, a little what we’re watching and a little bit of everything else all in one post.
Grab your iced coffee and settle in as we see “what’s up” here on this July 29th 🙂 .
We are eating all the fresh seafood.
Sushi.
Lobster.
Scallops.
Crab.
Tuna.
We are eating ALL of it.
These two are about to be a JUNIOR and a SENIOR in high school!
Stop it right now.
I took this pic a few weeks before Kensington started kindergarten. A lot of life has happened between now and then, but goodness, it feels like yesterday.
It is HARD to find a photo of me not wearing…
…a necklace from Love Shack (Lola) here on Nantucket (and my girls too!)…
…I get asked about them all the time…
…I have been buying them for years, and I mix and match the pieces every day…
…if you have been curious about them…
…you can find THEIR ONLINE SHOP if you can’t make it to Nantucket.
If you do make it to Nantucket, they are open during the summer season and you will LOVE their cute little shop!
Somehow I blinked and…
…this cutie grew to be a big 16 year old boy who…
…took me on his own little boat to TUCKERNUCK ISLAND!
Four years ago when we first started living on Nantucket over the summer season, Smith and I went on an “adventure” at the end of the summer. We had so much fun that we do it each year now. We always pick something different (we don’t repeat), and we always explore something new/go somewhere kind of remote and spend the day together.
This year, Smith is a boat owner, and he has been telling me since the end of May that our adventure was going to be boating over to Tuckernuck Island…
He was very very confident that on a great weather day, we would have no issues getting over there. We have several friends here who are locals and work in commercial boating/fishing on Nantucket. They all were encouraging him, giving him their best tips, routes, time of day…it has been very sweet this summer to see these men (who own and operate BIG commercial boats) build up a boy with a nine foot inflatable dinghy. On Monday, even as we were getting our boat fixed up and ready to take out of the harbor, a captain pulled up and docked next to our dinghy. He was whistling and smiling and chatting with us, and when Smith told him our plans he said “it is a beautiful day to head to Tuckernuck”. I just love seeing these guys (this one a stranger) encouraging a young boy who is trying to learn how to captain a boat.
Tuckernuck Island is incredibly remote. From what I understand, almost all of the homeowners on this island have other homes on Nantucket. These are *bonus* places. There are only a handful of houses, and they all run on generators. There is no power on Tuckernuck. No actual roads. Not one shop or post office or anything. This is a deserted island with a handful of people who have (somehow?!) built a handful of homes (because really, I don’t understand the logistics of building houses over there!). It’s a little island with not much on it right off the western end of Nantucket.
That’s Tuckernuck across the ocean.
Side note: Smith told me I was on “depth duty”. I actually put myself on shark duty instead.
We see seals all the time on Nantucket, but on this day, I saw more than I’ve ever seen…all so up close and personal.
Our first stop was this beachy area on the far eastern end of Tuckernuck. It only took us about 45 minutes to get from the Madaket Marina to here…
…we made it! We touched down on Tuckernuck!
I felt like Christopher Columbus. Bahahaha!
This first spot was very beachy.
We took a little stroll and decided to…
…head north instead…
…to this part of the island. See the houses?
We anchored our boat and walked to shore…
…this part of the island had a rockier coastline.
…here we are! See us!
We walked up the hill and look at the views…
…just so pretty, right?!
We were excited to explore a bit.
There was a sandy road at the top of this little hill. One direction looked back over the ocean where we had just come from…
…and the other direction looked like this…
We decided to follow this little road…
…off we went. Barefoot, of course 😉 .
We saw several houses after about a mile walk up this road. At this house, a dog barked at us and we waved to a woman in the doorway. We saw about eight other people out and about working some property. They were cutting down trees and doing some yard work. I bet I counted about fifteen different cars parked in various spots. I have no idea how those cars got to this island…the whole thing was really fascinating to me.
Views for days.
Old Glory flying over Tuckernuck.
We spent about an hour exploring and then headed back…
…to our little boat.
On the trip back over to Nantucket…
…we saw a lot of horseshoe crabs…
…we anchored and went for a swim on a sandbar…
…and we saw the largest group of seals we’ve ever seen. They were watching us watch them.
And that was our adventure to Tuckernuck.
Next year is going to be hard to top 🙂 .
You will not be surprised to read that I am dreading going from…
…this to…
…this.
Sigh.
You know me well enough to know that as much as I don’t want summer to end, I am very excited about BACK TO SCHOOL SEASON!
It really is 🙂 .
I fully believe that even when I don’t have kids in school, I will still get excited about school starting back up. For me, it’s even better than the January 1st refresh/new year/new beginning.
It’s SHARK WEEK and we have been…
…watching it all.day.long.
We LOVE Shark Week.
We haven’t watched anything else. Ha!
Like I just said…
…Shark Week 😉 .
Well for starters, DRESSES on repeat this summer…
I love THIS NAVY & SKY BLUE DRESS! Love. Also, my earrings are HERE.
A TEE SHIRT DRESS for the win! It comes in solids too, but I loved the stripe!
A DRESS WITH SEASHELLS? Yes, please! I love that they’re embroidered on the dress.
How adorable is THIS DRESS?! So so cute, right?
How many times have I shared THIS DRESS with you? It is my very very favorite LBD, and it absolutely goes back and forth with me. It’s loose fitting yet not too baggy, it has deep pockets, it does not wrinkle, it’s so comfortable, it comes in a wide variety of colors, and it’s only $32. Love, love, LOVE.
THIS SKIRT was a summertime fave! I typically try and keep Nantucket clothes on Nantucket and McKinney clothes in McKinney, but this skirt is FOR SURE coming back to Texas with me. It is so soft and like wearing a pair of sweatpants or shorts…but it’s a skirt. It comes in SO MANY other colors too!
THIS TOP legit says SUMMER! You won’t believe how many compliments you receive when wearing it. I am wearing it with my FAVORITE TENNIS SKIRT.
THIS TENNIS SKIRT is blue and white with whales. A Nantucket “must”!
And if you’re looking for athletic wear that looks SO SUPER CUTE…
…these are THE CUTEST SHORTS! Can you believe they’re actually ATHLETIC SHORTS?! They’re lined, they have pockets, they’re comfy…love.
Soaking up the last bits of Nantucket.
As sad as we are that summer on Nantucket is coming to an end, there is SO MUCH GOODNESS ahead in August including…
…Friday Night Lights in Texas 🙂 .
Friends, on Monday, it will be the 19TH ANNIVERSARY OF MY BLOG.
Nineteen years!
Doing anything consistently for 19 years is something to be proud of and to celebrate. I’m not celebrating alone though because I could NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU. Period. End of story. The only reason this blog is turning 19 years old is because YOU. I don’t care who you are or what your story is or why you come to my site…but your time is valuable, life really is very short, and you will never get these minutes of your day that you spend here reading about my family back. This is valuable time you’re spending, and I know you don’t have unlimited time, so thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for stopping by. I am humbled and honored and grateful for each and every one of you. Truly, I am.
How does someone spend their 19th anniversary of blogging? By not blogging 😉 .
I’ve done this long enough to know that there are some moments when you need to step away, and that’s my plan beginning today. I am going to take Thursday through Monday off to enjoy my last days on Nantucket with my family, and then I will be back with you on Tuesday, August 4th for our July Book Review.
Again, THANK YOU for being here with me these 19 years. You showing up here has forever changed my family’s life. Sending you all so much love and gratitude. xx Shay
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