We’re halfway through summer and we’ve found a certain sense of peace in staying close to home.

At the beginning of the summer, we took possession of a cabin that we’ve been slowly turning into a home away from home. It’s become a place of peace and total relaxation where we can escape the busyness of the city and embrace the outdoors. Our little refuge in the woods.

We’re close by to a large lake and one of our favourite things we’ve done over the past few months is spend summer evenings watching the hazy sunsets over the horizon.

As a family, we’ve embraced our new cottage and we’ve been getting the hang of “lake life.”

We’ve been spending hours reading on the deck, exploring our surroundings, and playing games in the evening.

While this summer wasn’t quite what we expected, it’s turned out to be one full of beautiful memories and peaceful evenings simply enjoying one another’s company.

Rather than mourn the plans we missed out on, we’ve created new ones – and they’ve allowed us to have a relaxing, joyful summer close to home.

As we enter into the dog days of summer, watching as the season enters its final weeks, we plan to embrace every summer favourite as much and as often as we can.

We’ll be heading to the beach, making s’mores, reading novels, and dining ‘al fresco’ as we enjoy all that this season has to offer before we head back into the routines of autumn.

Below are some of our favourite summer accessories that have accompanied us on all our cabin trips so far. We love bringing a cotton throw to the beach and packing up a picnic lunch to bring along on a hike.

Although we’ve entered into the latter half of this beautiful summer, there are still a few more weeks to embrace all the beauty around us and enjoy warm nights, and warmer days at the beach.

We encourage you to make the most of these last weeks of summer, too.