Happy happy Thursday, friends!
I hope you’re all having a great morning!
We arrived home on Monday to FALL at our house.
Kensington and my mom had been to Anthropologie and bought me two pumpkin candles. They had been to Bath and Body Works and stocked our house up on Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin body wash and lotion, AND Kensington had put her Halloween sheets on her bed.
Needless to say, the apple…er pumpkin…doesn’t fall far from the tree around here 😉 .
BUT…before we get all pumpkin crazy around here (and you know we will), I have to wrap up summer.
Over the last four years, I’ve done a little “look bACK” on our summers. It’s just a really sweet time, and I don’t want to forget the bits of random goodness that stand out each year.
Thank YOU for being with me this summer. It’s always so much fun to share our family time and Nantucket time with YOU.
Okay, here’s a look bACK on the SUMMER OF 2026…
#1: IT WAS THE SUMMER OF JUGGLING!
Listen, when Smith Shull puts his mind to something, he excels. He has always been a Renaissance Man. He can play multiple musical instruments, a variety of sports, he can surf and snowboard and crush a golf ball. This kid is an academic at heart, can do one of those really loud whistles that can be heard a hundred yards away, win at darts, plus…he hunts, he fishes…and now, he juggles.
He doesn’t just “normal” juggle. Oh no, no. This summer, not only did he learn how to do a basic juggle with three balls, he learned how to do a very wide variety of “non-traditional” juggles. The waterfall, the shower, columns, mills mess…the list goes on. I will forever and ever think back to this summer as the summer of my kid juggling anything and everything all.day.long. Ha!
#2: GOLF, GOLF, AND MORE GOLF
My boys started playing nine holes several days a week. They realized 18 took too much time out of their day, but an early morning round of nine holes was perfect.
#3: BARBIE, BABY!
Mades got in to watching the animated Barbie shows on TV this summer and somehow, the whole family started watching. There was one afternoon when I walked in the living room and some teens were watching. I asked where Mades went and they said she left but they wanted to finish the episode. Bahahaha!
#4: CROSS COUNTRY TRAINING
Ashby runs cross country and wanted me to train with her this summer. You guys, I am a runner and let me tell you, this summer, I RAN. At one point, I wasn’t sure if Ashby and I were training for a two mile cross country meet or a full marathon because we were running so much each day. I absolutely love, love, LOVED running with my girl. We had so many great little conversations (in between breathing hard!) and a lot of laughs. It was really sweet.
#5: BOAT LIFE
The highlight of Smith’s summer was his little boat. He just beamed every single time he went aboard that nine foot inflatable dinghy. Maybe next summer, he’ll master juggling on it? 😉
#6: COLLEGES & CAMPS
And all of a sudden, our summers started involving college things! Smith went to five different universities’ football camps this summer, and Kensington went to visit several too as she’s starting to narrow in on where she wants to go. One minute they’re little and the next, they’re hoping to play college football and thinking about where they’ll be living this time next year. College and football camp talk was a big part of our summer.
#7: SAT & ESSAYS
And speaking of college things, this was the summer of SAT tutoring and essay writing too. Both of my bigs put in a ton of time this summer getting “college ready”.
#8: TENZI
This little dice game was a big hit this summer at the Shull’s house! We played so many rounds together.
#9: BPM
Do you guys know what BPM is? It stands for “beats per minute” and there is a Sirius station called BPM that only plays that one genre…and I swear to you my family only played it just because they knew it beat me down. Bahahaha! Every time we got in the car together (which was many times a day!), that darn station would be on. All of a sudden, mom was the only one not “cool enough” to “get” these songs. Call me crazy, but they all sound the same!
#10: TUCKERNUCK
Well, I wore both the brand all summer long AND visited the little island. 😉
#11: ALL THAT DRIVE TIME
Even with BPM on the radio, driving around all summer with all my people is a memory I will have forever. As convenient as it is for my kids to drive themselves everywhere during the school year, I certainly miss driving around with them. Over the summer, I spent countless hours in the car with my kiddos…and loved it.
#12: THREE SQUARES A DAY
Almost every day, Andrew would say how much he loved eating three meals a day with his family. I loved it too.
#13: WISDOM
The first Shull kid got her wisdom teeth removed this summer and it went surprisingly so well! I still have PTSD from when I got mine removed a million years ago, but gosh, things have changed because this summer’s extraction was a breeze.
#14: IMPOSTER
This was the summer of Imposter! It was Ashby’s idea to download the app on my phone and often at dinner, we would play as a family. If you want a quick, fun little game to play with your family, this is a great one!
#15: WATER GUN SEASON
One day, I was in ACKcetera (a little drug store) with all four kiddos and Smith asked if he could buy this tiny little water gun. Stupid me, I agreed. For the remainder of the summer, the five of us were sitting ducks. His favorite thing to do was sneak up on you and spray you with that silly gun and/or wait behind a door/wall for you to turn a corner. The water gun was only about two inches long but man, it caught me off guard every time I turned a corner and got sprayed. Smith would say it was the best $3 I ever spent.
#16: TRADER JOE’S
This was the summer we finally made our way over to the Trader Joe’s in Hyannis! It was such a fun little morning adventure. We enjoyed our Trader Joe’s snacks and condiments all summer long.
#17: SHORTEST AND SWEETEST
This was our shortest and yet sweetest summer on Nantucket. We crammed as much as we could into the time we were there, but we all feel like we left a lot on the table too. The older our kiddos get, the more just spending time together means to Andrew and me. It was short but really really sweet.
Goodness, I love my people.
The kids and I left on Sunday, and on Tuesday, Andrew closed up our house for the very last time because next year, we will open up a new one 🙂 .
Y’all, we are absolutely GIDDY.
There is one particular house in our neighborhood that I have walked by, run by, and biked by for years. I love this house. I even texted Andrew and our realtor a picture of it on March 31st last year and reminded them both how much I loved it (and they reminded me that it would never go on the market because the family had owned it about 30 years). But I don’t know…just standing on the street in front of it, it just felt like home to me.
Well in a nutshell, this spring, a friend texted us one day and said the house I loved was going to be put on the market 🙂 .
We have spent the summer enjoying every minute of our current house knowing it would be our last while simultaneously working with our builder and architect on the new one. We packed everything up over the weekend, the movers came on Monday to store all of our things, Andrew closed it up on Tuesday, and the new owners move in tomorrow. We are going to spend the next 9-ish months renovating the new house before next summer arrives.
I cannot wait to share it with you. Sea Shulls is getting a new address on Nantucket in 2027 🙂 .
And that, my friends, is a little look bACK on summer: 2026!
Don’t forget, you can also take…
a look bACK on summer: 2025 EDITION
a look bACK on summer: 2024 EDITION
a look bACK on summer: 2023 EDITION
Plus, as a reminder, you can see all the posts on our now former NANTUCKET HOME HERE.
And if you still want a little bit more Nantucket in your life, here are some of my most popular Nantucket blog posts you might want to check out too…
HOW TO GET TO NANTUCKET
FIRST TIMER’S GUIDE
A DAY TRIPPER’S GUIDE
A PERFECT DAY ON ACK {WITH ASHBY & MADES}
NANTUCKET RESTURANTS
NANTUCKET LUNCH SPOTS
NANTUCKET BEACHES
HOW WE “OPEN” THE NANTUCKET HOUSE
HOW WE “CLOSE UP” THE NANTUCKET HOUSE
Whew!
We are clearly still in summermode, so don’t worry, I’m not sharing a pumpkin spice recipe tomorrow…BUT now that we’re back (and school starts next week!), the Shull fam is certainly starting to transition into that next season. We LOVE fall around here and with four kiddos, it keeps us really really busy. Andrew and I do our best to do all the things/be all the places/savor all the experiences, but it’s more complicated with the schoolyear schedules…which is one big reason we really savor summertime.
Alrighty, I hope you all have the best day!
I will see you back here tomorrow! xx
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