Saturday
Our weekend was filled with family fun since my father-in-law came in town. Ryan’s dad is a very go-with-the-flow kind of guy so our visits with Greg are typically similar to our usual family weekends at home which is so nice. Greg shares a lot of our interests and is always up for our random family adventures. He also really enjoys working out with Ryan so we kicked off our weekend with a big family trip to the YMCA!
You better believe I used our trip to the gym as an excuse to blast The Greatest Showman Pandora station again. Can’t stop with that one! We settled the boys in childcare while the adults hit the weight room floor and I peeled away to do the following upper body burner:
It was a good one and a great way to start the weekend on an active note. Since weekend workouts aren’t a given around here, I find myself really loving and appreciating Saturday mornings that incorporate some kind of movement, whether it be a gym workout, boot camp class or a long family walk. It just seems to set the tone for a fun and active day ahead!
(Quick shout out to my new Adidas sneakers! They were a total impulse buy when I saw them on Zappos. I’m a huge sucker for olive green anything and they called to me! If you like them, definitely order at least a half size or maybe even a full size down because they run BIG.)
After our time at the gym, we drove over to our friend Ben’s neighborhood pool for some swimming, splashing and sunshine! Ben’s pool is the BEST because it has a shallow area for kids that has water slides. Chase LOVES them… as long as Dad goes with him to help him be brave.
We made our way back home around lunchtime and dug into chicken adobo that I prepped earlier in the morning with Chase’s help. Chase went down for his nap a little after 1 p.m. and every other man in our house — Ryan, Greg and Ryder — followed suit. A quiet house!? On a Saturday!? I took full advantage of the four sleeping boys and worked away on my computer before wrapping two gifts for upcoming birthday parties, scanning some documents for our accountant and cleaning up around the kitchen. Fun stuff, I’m tellin’ ya.
Once everyone was back up, we hung out at home, ate a snack and then headed off on our evening adventure. Ryan randomly drove by the Iredell County Fair on his way home from a work event last week and said he thought it might be something the whole family would enjoy. It’s been a hot minute since I’ve been to a county fair so I was pumped!
It was rather toasty outside but we made the most of the time we spent at the fair and had a ball watching Chase ride a bunch of the kid-friendly rides. Ryder was such a champ and chilled in his stroller with his portable fan. Angel baby, I’m tellin’ ya!
Chase’s favorite rides at the fair were the merry-go-round and the rides that let him drive a tractor and a firetruck. He was in his element!
We also let Chase play a fishing game that won him a prize of his choice. It’s no surprise our marine-loving child picked the giant inflatable dolphin but I maaay have steered him in that direction since every toy that inflates can be deflated at home. Parenting pro tip right there!
As we made our way around the fair, we saw a giant slide that immediately piqued Ryan’s interest and he got Chase all hyped up about it, too. I was shocked at how Chase immediately headed up the stairs with no hesitation and had a blast as he flew down the slide with Ryan. I wanted in on the fun and took Chase for round two. Let’s just say between me and Chase one of us was significantly braver on the giant slide than the other.
By the time we made it home, we had just enough time for later-than-usual baths and everyone crashed hard. Such a fun Saturday!
Sunday
We eased into our Sunday morning and hung out around the house for the first few hours of the day. Eventually we made it to Carrigan Farms for some late morning apple picking and a hayride! The apples were rather spotty and mushy this year but we found a few “jackpot trees” filled with some yummy looking apples and managed to fill our bags.
The hayride was the highlight for Chase and I have a feeling we’ll be doing our best to make it on as many hayrides as possible this fall! (We brought our jogging stroller for Ryder which worked well since he ended up snoozing in his car seat most of the time.)
With so many apples on hand, I knew I wanted to make a few apple treats for our crew and whipped up a batch of whole wheat apple muffins and apple crisp when we arrived home. I placed the apple crisp in the fridge so we could easily pop it in the oven for dessert later that evening.
The rest of our Sunday was a good one! Ryan and his dad headed into the city for the Panthers game and I took Ryder and Chase over to a friend’s house to celebrate a birthday after nap time. The party was a lot of fun but it was the kind of party that left me feeling like I talked to everyone and no one at the same time because the minute Ryder would start fussing, Chase would need something and vice versa. Let’s just say I was more than ready for an early bed time when we made it home!
I think the week ahead should be a good one! My father-in-law is in town through tomorrow morning so we’ll be soaking up the last of our time with Greg before getting back into the normal swing of things around here. I hope you all had a great weekend!
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Where are your denim shorts from? So cute!
thank you! they’re free people good vibrations shorts –> http://bit.ly/2N31SJN i actually sized up and wear them lower on my hips than the model does since i can’t really pull off the short-shorts/high-waisted style but love them for a baggier fit lower on the hip!
Sorry to hear the apples weren’t great but it looks like you had such a fun weekend! I’d love to get your apple crisp recipe!
I made the oatmeal apple crisp recipe I found on AllRecipes.com and it was great! https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24127/apple-oatmeal-crisp/ The only change I made was that I reduced the amount of sugar I sprinkled over the apples. So good — especially served with vanilla ice cream!
I love the olive cold shoulder dress!! Where is that from?
You guys always look like you have the most fun filled weekends! I definitely need to get on board. Rarely do I have anything planned and we just sit around all day saying, what do you want to do today? ??♀️
Can you share the recipe for the whole wheat apple muffins? They look delicious!
It was another Pinch of Yum recipe but cleeeearly I didn’t dice the apples finely enough because mine look WAY different! https://pinchofyum.com/healthy-cinnamon-sugar-apple-muffins I also didn’t make the topping because I used all of our butter in the apple crisp but they were still good!
Can you share the recipe for the whole wheat apple muffins?
What a fun fall weekend! Ryder is getting so big! I don’t know why but when he was in his careseat it just seems so much bigger. I’m so glad your father in law could come for a fun weekend!
Have you started using your Instant Pot more? It took us forever to start using it but recently gotten into it and love it! 🙂 That water slide looks exactly like the one we have in our neighborhood; must be the same manufacturer. As a side note, do you stop with gratitude sometimes when you now say “the boys” instead of just Chase? 🙂 Been a follower since the beginning and so happy for your family, Julie!
YES. Absolutely! Saying “the boys” still feels almost surreal. Ryder is smiling all the time now and just looking at his sweet little face absolutely fills my heart right up. Thank you for your sweet comment! Oh and yes, I’ve slowly been becoming more comfortable with the Instant Pot and made an awesome chicken and broccoli dish (recipe from Lexi’s Clean Kitchen) the other week that we loved!!
Hey Julie! Thought of your family when I saw North Carolina in the “cone” of hurricane storms- hopefully it passes by you!
What a FUN fall weekend, Julie!! I always love hearing about your weekends, you guys always do something fun!! So glad you found a jackpot tree for apples, I would have been super bummed about mushy apples, but it looks like you made some deeeeelicious desserts with the good ones! Yum! I hope you are having a great start to the week! Xoxo
You guys are the most beautiful family!!
Sounds like a super weekend! I love the tip on picking toys that Deflate! haha!!! 🙂
I worked at a summer camp during college, and we had an inflatable slide out in the lake. It really wasn’t *that* tall – maybe 10-15 feet or so – but I dreaded having campers ask me to go on the slide with them, because I thought it was so high and scary! Nothing like having little kids be way braver than you when it comes to heights, haha.
Ha!! Yes! Kids can be fearless!
How do you balance nursing Ryder with all of your adventures? I have a 6 week old and am tired of being home. I want to join my hubby and take my 3 yr old out and about. You are my inspiration!
We try to be incredibly flexible with timing whenever possible and almost always leave the house right after a good nursing session. I’ve also become a lot more comfortable nursing on the go and nurse in the (parked) car all the time. I keep a Boppy nursing pillow in the car which helps with my comfort a lot and always try to bring a muslin blanket along to drape over myself if I need to nurse in public, though Ryder doesn’t really like being covered so I’ll often just do my best to find a secluded area to nurse. Sometimes it can be tough but since most of our activities are only a couple of hours at the most, I can usually get away with nursing in the car and at home in between our adventures though I’ve nursed in public a LOT more with Ryder than I did with Chase!
Sounds like a good plan. I’ll give it a whirl ☺ thanks!!
im going to need those apple recipes please!
woops!! i see them above! <3 cant wait to try the muffins tomorrow morning!
Julie, you seem to balance life so beautifully! And i LOVE the fact that even though you were all about health and fitness, you still make/devour 😉 Y.U.M.M.Y full sugar and fat treats often! Life is a balance!! <3 Love from CA!
You do such a great job with your blog!! I love reading it. Looks like a fun weekend!
Loving his mohak still! Hope you guys are preparing for Florence and stay safe!!
I always love the day-in-the-life, weekend-round-up posts. Commenting late, but read it when it came out! There’s something about September that makes a person REALLY start jumping into apple mood. Mealy apples are the worst – but those baked goods look amazing! Glad to hear Ryder is such a chill baby. Really helps when you have more than one!
Thanks for the great recap as always.