Our weekend began with another Friday night soccer game. Chase had quite the fan club in the form of his little brothers on the sidelines and ended up scoring his first goal of the season!
Chase’s little fans cheered but were admittedly even more excited about the tiny cubes they built during the game.
I previously bought some of these tiny building blocks from the dollar section of Target (they are sold in long tubes) and they’re one of my favorite easy entertainment toys to throw in a bag for soccer games, restaurants, etc. Keep your eye out for them if you need a stocking stuffer for little ones this year!
(Top: Old Navy / Jeans: GAP / Shoes: Reebok)
Saturday
Our first official autumn weekend kicked off with apple picking on Saturday morning!
(Denim dress: Amazon — I’m wearing the “roadknight blue” color / Boots: Soda / Bag: Target / Sunglasses: QUAY)
We try to go apple picking every year because we all love it and enjoy making various apple-based recipes with our haul but we often don’t get the timing quite right. In our area if you go too early, you may get some decent apples but you’ll be picking them while sweating your face off in 90-degree weather. If you wait for cooler weather, you risk getting stuck with the rotten apples.
Thankfully we somehow hit the apple-picking sweet spot this year and had tickets to pick apples at Carrigan Farms on the first cool weekend of the season. We met our friends Kevin and Chandra and their three boys at the orchard and were thrilled to find tons of deliciously ripe apples hanging on low branches for the kids to pick.
We took our time picking apples, visiting the small number of animals on the farm, snacking on apple cider doughnuts and chatting with our friends before heading home for lunch.
Rhett surprised us by falling asleep for 10 minutes in the car on the ride home (the kid does NOT nap in the car) and that was apparently all the sleep he needed to blow up his afternoon nap. He wasn’t having it when I tried to put him down in his crib and his lack of nap ended up working in our favor because we were able to head out as a a family and boat over to my friend Carrie’s parents’ house for her daughter Lilly’s birthday party!
The boys were thrilled to spend the afternoon with their buddies and had a blast on the giant bounce house. We enjoyed talking with our friends before calling it a night and rounding up the boys for a boat ride back home.
We spent our Saturday movie night watching an episode of Alaska Animal Rescue and digging into homemade oatmeal apple crisp before heading to bed.
If you need an apple recipe to make with your apple picking haul this fall, my oatmeal apple crisp is our family’s go-to because it’s so easy and made with ingredients we always have on hand. I highly recommend serving it hot with vanilla ice cream. SO good!
Sunday
Our Sunday was an early one and we had everyone out the door by 7:30 a.m. We picked up my father-in-law at his apartment and then made the 50-minute drive to the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, North Carolina. We had tickets for A Day Out with Thomas, a Thomas the Train-themed event, complete with a real train ride, games, activities, food and family fun.
(Top: Amazon / Jeans: GAP / Boots: Amazon / Bag: Target)
I’ve had friends recommend the event to us in the past but I had no idea it was going to be as awesome or involved as it was until we experienced it ourselves.
The whole event definitely exceeded our expectations and we easily spent more than three hours watching the boys play with train toys, run through a hay maze, pop giant-sized bubbles, ride mini Thomas the Trains and play blow-up basketball, baseball, football and soccer. They had the best time and we only left when we did because we didn’t want Rhett to miss a nap two days in a row.
Once Rhett was down for his nap, I needed to knock out some work so Ryan took the big kids grocery shopping and then on a bike ride so I could have a little computer time. Once everyone was home and awake, we spent the rest of our Sunday close to home, cleaning up around the house and getting organized for the week ahead.
All three boys are off school today but we have plans with a friend for a play date which should be fun. I hope to have time to share a few more blog posts this week so hopefully I’ll see ya back here again soon. Have a great Monday, my friends!
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We went to a Day Out with Thomas on Saturday and my 4- and almost 2-year olds loved it!
Thomas also goes to Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock every year – the past couple of years it has been in June. It’s mostly the same Thomas stuff but the addition of the rides at Tweetsie makes it a full day!
Oh that’s awesome!!! We need to visit Tweetsie! We’ve only been once over the holidays and had a blast!
Hey Julie! I’ve never commented before,but was curious about the denim dress from Amazon. What size did you order? I’m always nervous not being able to try on.
Hi Amy! I am wearing a medium. It’s a very flowy, billowy dress so I’d definitely size down if you are between sizes. I opted for a medium because I did not want it to be too short. Also, if you have Amazon Prime, you can return it for free if it does not work out!
Hey Julie! This may be the most random follow up question ever, but how did you start movie night with your kiddos? It sounds like such a lovely tradition but I worry about my 2 year old going to sleep after watching tv close to bed. (Yep, first time mom if you can’t tell 🤪) How old were the boys when you started? Do you do bedtime routine before? Thank you so much for considering my super random question! Ha!