This summer has been a whirlwind of activity for our family. Whoever coined the phrase “lazy, dog days of summer” forgot to whisper it in our direction. The summer kicked off with gatherings in our home, then moved to planning and sharing in a special family wedding, and culminated with a cross country road trip clocking 3250 miles of driving in just six days (which included the family reunion time).

That trip ended just three days ago, and besides the fact that it was entirely too close of quarters for seven family members (with three of them being large teen boy men) to drive for 58 hours, one distinctive theme continues to resonate with me in regards to our family reunion time.

Simplicity.

Yes, it was a week of simplicity.

A week that truly reflected a theme that threads throughout my entire blog, “It’s the Little Things that are the Big Things.”

With 28 people staying in one home, you would not think that simplicity could be used as a descriptive word, yet the beauty of this family time together was just that – we were together. We had no agenda, no plan, no hustling to get from one place to another. We just enjoyed life together. In fact, we only only spent one day outside the house, otherwise all our meals and fun were right there together.

We had far too many great home cooked meals. (I had fun organizing a bit of that, like our infamous Burrito Breakfast Bar, but gained a few too many pounds in the process.)

We had lots of snuggling times with cousins (and the girls watched Black Beauty for the first time.)

Our evenings consisted of simple pleasures.

Imagine sparklers for 28 people all going at the same time (with the kids being double fisted the majority of the evening.)  We spent an hour together just having good ole fashioned “kid” fun, and it wasn’t even the 4th of July.

After a full day of swimming in hot weather, it cooled off and we gathered around the bonfire outside.

Cooked marshmallows and made s’mores,

and then shared laughter, tears, and stories from years ago. We spent time appreciating and showing gratitude for a committed family unit.

Yes, we spent a week of doing nothing and it was wonderful.

It was the little simple pleasures of life, and to me, those are the ingredients for some of life’s best summer memories.

Wouldn’t you agree?

What have been some of your favorite summer memories this year?

I’d love to hear what some of your favorite simple summer memories have been so far?

Remember, it’s the Little Things that are the Big Things.