Good morning, my friends!
How was your weekend? We had a lot of fun and spend most of our time outside which is just the way I like it!
Here are some highlights:
- Tubing in Ginnie Springs
Before I moved to Florida, whenever I thought of tubing, I always thought of a boat pulling a tube behind it. We’d go tubing all the time in high school at my friend Ryan’s lake house in Wisconsin in the summer and it was one of my all-time favorite activities! Well, there’s a different kind of tubing you can do in High Springs, Florida at Ginnie Springs and it involves floating down the Santa Fe River!
The Santa Fe River provides a natural lazy river and you can slowly float down it in tubes, kayaks, canoes or paddleboards for an hour surrounded by gorgeous greenery! Ryan and I rented a double tube to share and had a blast relaxing on the water and watching some pretty impressive tubes float by! People go all-out with their tubes and buy rafts that seat 6+ people that have built-in coolers and stereo systems. It’s awesome.
- Boating in Cedar Key
We spent all day on Saturday in Cedar Key with friends and I tried fishing for the first time in a few years!
Our friend Eric has a boat and he drove all of us out to a sandbar where we were able to stand and fish. Naturally Sadie had to be part of the action.
She’s a water dog through and through!
We caught trout, catfish (ick!) and a bunch of little fish. Around 4 p.m. the rain clouds started rolling in, so we made our way back to the dock before it started pouring. It was a fun day!
- Lazy Sunday Night
After a fairly active weekend, Ryan and I were ready for some couch time around 8 p.m. on Sunday night. Sadie was also more than ready to relax and could barely keep her eyes open once she snuggled up under a blanket and wedged herself behind my legs.
Going…
Going…
Gone!
And now to explain the title of this blog post…
#30SummerDays Photo Challenge
Have you guys ever participated in a photo challenge before? I’ve seen the 100 Happy Days challenge floating around Instagram where people share photos of things that make them happy every day for 100 days straight. I think the whole concept is a lot of fun, so when Staples reached out to me about their summer photo challenge, I thought it could be a cool thing to share with you guys!
If you choose to participate in the challenge, simply upload a photo that follows the daily themes to Instagram, Facebook or Twitter and tag it using the #30summerdays hashtag so we can all follow along! It’s supposed to be a fun challenge, so you can pop in and out as you choose and share photos that correspond with themes that intrigue you. (You better believe I’ll be participating on June 17!)
At the end of the month of June, check back for an awesome giveaway featuring the camera Staples was kind enough to send me to use to participate in the challenge. (It’s pretty sweet and has wifi capabilities!) The timing could not have been better since I lost my point-and-shoot over my birthday weekend. It feels good to have a camera again and I hope you guys will join me in this fun challenge!
Here are the daily themes once again just in case you have a hard time reading the small font in the above image I created:
Week One
1 – Rabbit, Rabbit! What brings you good luck?
2 – Monday, ugh! What’s keeping you going today?
3 – Who made you smile today?
4 – Look up. What do you see?
5 – #TBT Share a photo from a past summer trip!
6 – National Doughnut Day! Snap a pic celebrating! Or, what did you have instead?!
7 – Saturday! What are you up to?
Week Two
8 – Time to relax before the start of the week. What does relaxing look like to you?
9 – Manic Monday! What’s giving you a case of the Mondays?
10 – Is the sun out? Snap a pic! If not, what’s it like out there?
11 – Get over the hump of the week. How were you productive today?
12 – Treat yourself, it’s almost the weekend!
13 – Friday the 13th! Are you superstitious and ducking for cover, or out and about?
14 – Flag Day! Got one flying in the warm breeze?
Week Three
15 – Happy Father’s Day! Snap a pic or share one of an awesome dad!
16 – Monday motivation. What motivates you?
17 – Got a pet? Share them with the world!
18 – Stretch those legs mid-week and go outside or for a walk. Snap and share!
19 – #OOTD, what are you wearing? Got your summer clothes on?!
20 – Happy Friday! You made it! Smile and say cheese
21 – HAPPY SUMMER! Take a picture of what summer looks like to you to celebrate!
Week Four
22 – Sunday Pancakes! Do you have a Sunday breakfast routine?
23 – Got those sandals out? What’s your favorite pair?
24 – What made you happy today?
25 – Are the flowers blooming? Take a picture of your favorite!
26 – Whew, it’s hot out there. How are you cooling down?
27 – Last Friday of the month, what are you up to?
28 – Is today a beach day? Snap a pic and make everyone jealous!
Week Five:
29 – Go out for a picnic! Make sure to take a picture!
30 – Last day of June, how are you sending it off?
Questions of the Morning
- Share something fun you did this weekend!
- Have you ever participated in a photo challenge before? If so, which one?
- Which of the above themes from the #30summerdays challenge excites you most?
I’m most excited about the themes on days 17, 21, 22 and 24.
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21, 23, 26, and 29. Cool idea haven’t done it before 🙂
Love the photo a day idea!!!
I love the picture of Sadie jumping in the water! Pure joy.
my wknd was awesome — my bro was in town and we went Latin dancing one night and had a picnic in Central Park with a whole bunch of friends yesterday. perfect. 🙂
That sounds like a blast!
I started with Tina at Carrots N Cake yesterday on Instagram! I love this idea!
Woop woop!! Awesome!
I took the kids to the zoo…….does that count at fun?
Also to an indoor pool, still too cold here to swim outside.
Tubing is fun, but the older I get, the more I realize that tubing on the back of a boat driving by my bro-in-law who wants to knock me off doesn’t fall into the “fun”category. Plus I’m more sore tubing than working out! Go figure. Love that double tube, want one of those!
Love the photo challenge, will take you up on it =)
Cute dog pics as always.
Tubing is so much fun! I have not done that in forever!
I always love your Sadie photos! Until I get a dog myself I will continue to stalk others. :] I just participated in a photo challenge, #photoyourmay, but actually have to catch up. I am determined to finish but it’s no longer May! Oh well!
I love tubing! When I visit family in Florida we go to Adventure Island and enjoy tubing on the lazy river. So much fun!
#13- the superstition- I hope only good luck, because I am taking the MCAT that day!
Good luck!!!!!
I want to try the tubing there! But being in Florida, what about GATORS!??! EEK
That is exactly what I was wondering!! GATOR ATTACK!!
I love this challenge! Such a great way to kick off summer!
I went to two graduation parties and baked an amazing chocolate peanut butter bundt cake for one of them. It was one of the harder things I’ve baked, but it was so good and so worth the extra time!
What a fun weekend! A friend of mine has a boat and mentioned this weekend that we’ll have to go out a few times this summer…uhhh YES PLEASE!
Love those three pictures of Sadie falling asleep, so cute!! And how much fun would floating or paddle boarding down a river be?! I want to do that so badly!! And that photo challenge sounds like a lot of fun!! I definitely might do a few 🙂
I love photo challenges! Definitely joining this one.
We just called that “floating” in college (South Carolina) since people used various kinds of rafts. So fun!
Tubing is sooo fun! Reminds me of college, awwwwww 🙂
I was fishing this weekend too….well, watching!
The pictures of Sadie are hilarious! Love that.
Man, I haven’t fished since i was a kid…sounds like something i need to go do. Didn’t really have anything fun to do over the weekend. Just hung out with the family
This seems like a fun photo challenge. #7 on this list definitely excites me the most because I will hopefully be crossing the finish line of my first 70.3 Ironman! What better way to spend a Saturday?
Currently I am doing the #100happydays challenge, which has been going really well. It is definitely an investment and is making me mindful of the positive each day.
Good luck to you!!! 70.3 = amazing!
I love the pictures of Sadie falling asleep – so cute! That photo idea is cool! I’m doing the #100happydays photo challenge right now and I really like it too.
Love this idea! I actually need to start taking more pictures… letting people into my life outside of blogging so this is a great way for me to challenge myself!
I’ve never participated in a photo a day challenge before, but it sounds like so much fun!
What a fun weekend spent on the water! Love the pic of Sadie.
I’ve never done a photo challenge, but this one sounds really cool! Also a lot easier to stick to than 100 days…haha.
Yeah 100 days is a commitment! 🙂
so many fun outdoor activities! eek I’ve never done a photo challenge and I’m a little daunted by it but can’t wait to see how it comes out!
I haven’t done a photo challenge before, but right now my friends and I are trying to do a “seflie a day” for a full year-so far it’s been really interesting to see!
We’ve always referred to floating down a river as “floating” 🙂 and “tubing” is being pulled behind a boat. So funny how different areas call it different things! We’ve rented a canoe for next weekend and we’ll be spending all day saturday floating down the Buffalo River in northern Arkansas for our anniversary! Sadie is SO cute..oh goodness 🙂
Floating makes more sense to me!
When you mentioned tubing the other day, being pulled behind a boat is exactly what I imagined, because that’s what ‘tubing’ was for us growing up, too. What you did this weekend looks like my kind of tubing, super-relaxing if you want it to be. Glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve never participated in a photo challenge before!!! 😛
This weekend I played with a bow an arrow for the first time ever and I loved it (even when I’m not so good at it) ahaha!
I love the picnic, pancakes, and pet idea!!!! The picnic just inspired me to do one next week when my boyfriend comes 😛 thanks for sharing!
I love tubing! Looks like you had a fun time! I’ve only gone tubing in a lake with a boat pulling me. I’ve never tried floating down a river before!
The photo challenge sounds like a lot of fun! A great way to see the beauty in every day:)
I’ve never done a photo challenge but I need to be more creative with my photos so maybe this would help! The first person from our friend group is having a baby and we could not be more excited! Her baby shower was yesterday and the hosts organized a onesie craft station with blank onesies, cute shapes, paints and printed cloth so each person could personalize a onesie! I thought it was such a cute idea.
Lol to Sadie’s featured pictures! I want a dog for many reasons, and I think taking pictures of her would be my favorite 🙂
My weekend was spent poolside and I loved it!
In Florida (born and raised) there are gators pretty much everywhere. You just have to be aware of your surroundings. You only really need to be cautious when you’re swimming alone in a calm body of water. But at Ginni Springs (and all other rivers and springs I visit), there are WAY WAY too many rowdy people for gators to come around.
Floating the San Marcos river in Texas is one of my favorite things to do! It’s so relaxing and you get to spend time in the water with a bunch of wild people. I like the Sunday Pancakes theme for the photo challenge. I always start out doing a challenge, but never finish it. Maybe this time I should give it another shot!
Those 3 pictures of Sadie melted my heart!
Best photos of Sadie falling asleep!!!
What a fun weekend!! When I think of tubing, I think of it behind a boat as well. But, I usually don’t think of it when I hear “tubing!” The photo challenge sounds fun!! Now, if only I can remember to participate… 🙂
Fun! I’m going to participate too.. I’ve never done one of these photo challenges before but it’s a good way to capture the moment.
After a hectic two weeks, my husband and I relished not having to do anything this weekend! We just got in our farmer’s market Saturday, spent the late afternoon cooling off in a stream, and Sunday we spent cleaning and cooking. Now I kind of regret staying home because it’s raining today and we’re stuck inside! LOL
Tubing looks like A LOT of fun! Totally up my alley! How do you guys get back after floating down the river? 🙂
#13 I’m getting Lasik done that day…am I CRAZY??? Hope not! They only offer it once a month. I’ve already put it off once, and I don’t want to wait another month. Everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed please.
What a fun challenge! I’m definitely going to try to participate. This weekend was a little sad, as I said goodbye to my boyfriend who is heading off to a summer internship in New Orleans… but I’m going out to visit him on June 28th, which isn’t tooooo far away! http://daybydaymasterpiece.com/2014/06/01/goals-recipes-for-the-week-of-61/