Sometimes the sign of a good weekend is a very limited amount of pictures and considering the amount of activity we squeezed into the past few days, I don’t have a ton of pictures to show for it, so I figured I’d scrap my usual lengthy recap in favor of a Labor Day Weekend Top Eight post and share the highlights with you guys instead. Also, a three-day recap would probably be 5,000 words with the way I write, so this is probably for the best. (I also apologize in advance for so many grainy on-the-fly iPhone pics but I think you guys are probably used to that by now around here!)
Labor Day Weekend Top Eight
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Sister Time
One of the things I miss most now that we live in North Carolina is the amount of times I get to spend with my sister every year. When we lived in Florida, Ryan and I were only two hours away from Leslie, Ross and my parents which made weekend trips quite easy but now visits take a lot more planning so we don’t get to see each other nearly as often. It stinks but we do still manage to see each other several times a year and the time we do have together is just that much more special and wonderful. Leslie is truly the kindest, most thoughtful person I know and spending time with her is the best. We chat non-stop and the added component of seeing Leslie and her husband with Chase fills my heart with so much love. Chase loves his Uncle Ross and Aunt “Wessie” (Leslie is a tough name for a toddler) and I only wish we all had more time together!
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Chase’s Love for Kona
The love Chase has for Kona, Leslie and Ross’ chocolate lab, is borderline obsessive and way too cute. He prays for Kona every night (in fact when I ask him who he wants to pray for, the order usually begins with “Dad, Sadie, Kona…” followed by the rest of our family) and seeing Kona again this weekend made him so happy! Whenever he’d wake up for the day or from a nap, he’d immediately ask for Kona and request “kisses” from her and got all weepy anytime we’d leave the house over the weekend and he’d have to say goodbye to her. Chase is definitely a big-time dog lover, that’s for sure!
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Labor Day Cookout and Sunset Boat Ride
My friend Carrie’s parents hosted a Labor Day cookout at their house on Lake Norman on Sunday night and were kind enough to invite our whole gang. It was great to have our friends meet each other and we all had so much fun digging into ribs and wings and splashing in the lake together. Chase had a ball with his toddler BFFs and since we boated over to their house, we were able to enjoy a sunset cruise on our boat ride home which felt like a special treat. Ryan and I agreed we really need to get the boat out in the early evening more often because there’s something so peaceful about being on the water when the sun is setting.
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Game Nights
This weekend we hosted two game nights at our house with our guests and some of our Charlotte-area friends and I laughed harder than I have in a long time as we sipped wine and played a bazillion rounds of Catch Phrase and Heads Up. There’s something about both of those games that make them the perfect party games for a big group and while we were tempted to change up the games for round two the following night, we kept things simple and stuck with the classics! I may be showing my age with this statement but I’d rather hang out at home and play random games with friends over going out to a club or bar any day so I was in heaven with two game nights this weekend. Woop!
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Pizza Party
On Saturday night, we had a babysitter come by to watch Chase while we headed off to Alino’s with our guests and some friends for a night of pizza and wine before we made it back home for game night at our place. The weather on Saturday evening was beyond gorgeous (low 70s), so we grabbed a long picnic table outside, ordered a bunch of pizzas and took our time eating, drinking and chatting away. It felt like such a laid back, leisurely summer night and the ability to unwind and chill out with some of our favorite people felt so simple but so special at the same time.
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Ella’s Birthday Party
On Monday evening, we headed off to MyGym to celebrate Ella’s second birthday! I’ve only been to MyGym with Chase once or twice in the past but that was months ago and now that he’s much more mobile and physical, he was ALL IN at MyGym and had the best time rolling around in the ball pit, jumping on the mini trampolines, hanging from the bars and sprinting around and around. And none of the kids complained when it was time for cake!! Ella looked like she had such a wonderful time at her party and we loved celebrating such a special little girl!
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Zeppoles
Years and years ago, our friend Pete introduced us to zeppoles, little balls of mozzarella cheese wrapped in pizza dough, fried in a deep fryer and then tossed in powdered sugar. I’m not lying when I say zeppoles are one of my top five favorite foods (and also the reason Ryan gave me a deep fryer for my birthday last year) and since Pete was in town and is the master zeppole-maker, we quickly accepted his offer to make zeppoles for dessert on Sunday night. I don’t even know how many I ate but holy cow they were just as good as I remembered.
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Lake Norman State Park Hiking
We had the chance to take our gang up to Lake Norman State Park over the weekend for a five-mile hike on our favorite trail! Everyone was in the mood for a little activity and a hike along the lake sounded appealing to everyone on Sunday morning so we hit the trails! The hike went by in a flash and Ryan and I loved showing our friends and family one of our absolute favorite places in the area. Thankfully Chase did well on the hike and still seems to enjoy his view from the hiking backpack! I sure hope that lasts!
Question of the Day
Now that it’s Wednesday, this question may be a little past its prime but… What is one fun thing you did over the weekend?
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I’m usually not here this early but hello and good morning! I’m glad you were able to enjoy your weekend and take some buffer time – we all need that! It looks like it was a BLAST! My favorite times are when I hang at some friend’s house and play social party games too. Listening to your friends yell out ridiculous things is one of the BEST things ever. Plus those zeppoles look amazing! I’ve had them at our state fair here many times – soooo yummy!
Looks like such a fun weekend – and I agree, nothing beats a summer evening boat ride. Soooo peaceful. One of the fun things I did this weekend is go to my state fair! It was awesome.
Glad you had such a great time seeing your family and friends. Hope it was healing for you too! <3
So fun! Our state fair is coming up next month and I’m really hoping to go!
Oooo I hope you get a chance! It will be fun to see if you can get zeppoles there too, and to watch Chase react to all the craziness of a fair!
There’s nothing like sister time! Our holiday weekend centered around water – pools, lakes and the splash pad. Soaking in the sweet days of summer.
You always stay so busy on the weekends, I would definitely need a few days to recover after that! I live far away from one of my sisters, but whenever we get together we spend hours chatting and doing all our favorite things. Sister time is definitely much needed every so often!
Looks like you had a great weekend with your family! Family time is the best.
I ran a 10K with my family this weekend in the rain…it was ridiculous but it was a good time 🙂
so fun!!! i LOVE family races!
your weekend looked like the perfect way to close out summer!! i’m with you on the photos thing – i feel like when you’re really having a great time, you don’t think to pull out your phone for photos every 2 seconds. while it’s kind of a bummer in the end, at least you know you were living in the moment!
i was in the outer banks with family for the long weekend and am still here, so it doesn’t exactly feel like vacation is over 🙂 hope you’re having a great short week!!
hope you’re enjoying every second. the outer banks is SO fun!
Game nights are one of my favorite things in the world! When I get sad about my little guy getting older, I remind myself that him getting bigger means we’ll be able to do more fun things together like play boardgames…they are the best!
Spent the weekend at our family beach house for the last time this Summer. Even though it rained one day I was more than happy to cuddle my nephew and hang with family. I also played nine holes of golf and did okay, tough sport to learn but its so nice to be outside and enjoying the peace and quite.
sounds like a great weekend to me!! i’m hooooorible at mini golf and have never played “real” golf! i’d love to try though — seems like such a nice way to spend time outside.
I love the game nights! How fun. We had a good weekend mix of chores and bbqing wife friends and family.
With, not wife ?
Is it mozzarella cheese or ricotta in the powdered sugar zeppoles?
fresh mozzarella! he uses the kind that comes in a big ball and it’s unreal!
Sorry but thats NOT a zeppole! as an italian they are always made with ricotta not mozzarella. nonetheless, i’m sure they were delicious, but def not a zeppole!
Agree, mozzarella in the dough and usually some tomato are panzarotti’s and putting powdered sugar on that combo sounds REALLY interesting, but not in any way traditional ;-)… Zeppoles are just the fried dough and powdered sugar.
Whoops! Pete’s Whole family is Italian and that’s the way they make them so I totally thought that was the traditional way. Regardless they sure are delicious! I’ll have to try them the “real” way, too!!
My Nonna made a similar but savory dough ball with an anchovy inside. I think she also a did plain one with powdered sugar.
The picture of you and Leslie with a light wind in your hair is seriously so pretty! If that were to happen to me, my hair would be in my face lol. I think having few pictures shows that you were too busy having fun to even bother to take a picture. So happy you had such a great weekend with friends and family Julie!
You definitely had a fun filled weekend with so many great stops and company. Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I couldn’t agree with you more that sister time is the best! I was lucky to spend Labor Day with my sister and her family and every moment was a blast. We’re also on the same page about wanting to stay in and play board games with friends. Have you ever played the Adult Charades board game? Soooo fun!! Glad you had a great weekend!
xoxo
Brooke
The mozzarella with powdered sugar sounds interesting – I’d have to try it. I’m Italian and think the classic preparation is with ricotta which might lean a bit more mild and sweet! See what you think if you give it a try.
Man you did have a packed weekend, but everything looks like so much fun. You have such a great community of friends!
My husband and I rented a house with friends over the weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY for a wedding. We hit the horse race, went to dinner, cooked breakfast burritos, and of course danced (and ate) the night away at the wedding. I took a vacation day from work yesterday and hit the gym, grabbed a green smoothie, got 2 loads of laundry done and RELAXED!
Have a great week ahead!
That shot of Chase and his little friend sharing a cupcake is the cutest thing ever!
I’m very lucky that I live in the same city as my immediate family, though any extended family is in another country and a plan ride away.
The best part of my weekend was a date night on Friday with my boyfriend. We ordered delivery and watched a funny movie. Laughing felt so good!
Awe, sister time is the best time! So glad you had a great weekend! We had a fun weekend filled with my son’s first birthday celebrations, a long run/soccer game, and time with family! Three day weekends are the best.
Family time is the best time, especially when it includes ANYTHING covered in powdered sugar. The New Orleanian in me is crying out for beignets right about now! My holiday weekend was a good one! We (my boyfriend and I) kept it low key after coming off of some exciting weekend prior. We hit up a brewery, got in some great workouts, and flew through many episodes of Game of Thrones. We’re at the tail end of season three now, and it’s getting INTENSE.
http://www.poweredbysass.com
Wow, it looks like you guys had such a great Labor Day weekend!! Sister time is the best time, I am so lucky to have my sister so close to me, I would miss her like crazy if we were far away! My weekend wasn’t too exciting at all because I’ve been sick, so I spent most of it napping and watching tv shows on the couch. Boo. I was super thankful it was such a long weekend though, I definitely needed the rest! Have a great day, Julie!! Xoxo
We had a 1st birthday photo shoot for our twin girls who will turn 1 at the end of this month! Instead of a cake smash, we did a donut smash…so fun! Other than that, we had some much needed down time at home.
Your weekend sounds fantastic! Especially the sunset boat ride and your hike. One of my favorite things I did over the weekend was actually go for a hike, too. We live in Michigan but are on vacation in the San Francisco, CA area right now and have so many opportunities to hike here, whereas we have none at home. So we are totally taking advantage of it!
Does it count if the most fun we did was organized stuff in the house? LOL
Sounds like you need to get a Lab puppy. 🙂
I was just trying to survive the heat wave that we experienced here in Northern CA!
Despite the heat wave, I did my annual race on Sunday called the Race to End Summer.
Most the weekend, I did alot of catching up around the house and got prepped for an online food and workout challenge that will last until Halloween. I felt that during the summer, I was on the go, go, go!! With Fall approaching (although we do not get that season until mid-October!), I am taking the time to do stuff me and relax.
We went to the beach!! I love the Oregon coast because it’s not very hot, and because of that, not crowded at all!!
That picture of you and your sister is gorgeous! I can definitely tell you’re related 🙂 People always used to say my sister and I looked like twins when we were kids but now we look totally different!
Family time is the best! We spent our weekend relaxing with plenty of family time as well.
Enjoy your day!
This is off topic, but what is your current face makeup routine? I know you have blogged about it before, but is it still the same? Your face looks flawless in your Instagram video!
Sounds like a fun weekend! What hiking back pack do you use and do you like it?
I feel like I never have a lot of pictures from great weekends either heheh! It means you were in the moment, and that’s important! Love all of the fun times you guys had this weekend. And I’m WITH YOU on game nights. LOVE THEM! In fact, wine and games at home is my ideal friend hangout these days. Well, except I can’t have wine right now, but you know what I mean! 🙂
It was fathers day in oz so we had a day 4wding, riding dirtbikes and a picnic on the beach.
That pizza and wine night though?! Like I need that! haha. I worked this weekend, but I have a long weekend coming up that I can’t wait for!! 🙂
OMG! that toddler wearing the WVU tshirt (on the far left w/ the 4 babes) made my weekend! i went to school there so i get super excited when i see anyone sporting the gear. that little girl is THE BEST. just saying’ 😉 go eers!
also, the guy in the pic with ryan or ross is hot.
what a fun weekend. great recap!
Which hiking trail do you take at Lake Norman State Park? There are so many choices but I would love a recommendation for my family!
The Lake Shore Trail! It’s our favorite!