Our weekend kicked off with some unexpected sunshine on Friday. It was SO gorgeous outside and we spent Friday night hanging out in our driveway while Chase and Ryder played in the yard and Rhett did his tummy time thing.
We ended up spending a decent portion of our weekend in our driveway because our boys love riding their bikes and scooters and playing in the yard and Ryan and I love putting a blanket down for Rhett while we enjoy simple things like the sunshine and the kid chaos around us.
I know this is a weird thing but I always love seeing people and families hanging out in their yards and I feel like this stems from my childhood in Palatine, Illinois. We lived in a cul-de-sac made up of seven homes and kids were always running around outside all over the place. Whenever I see kids and families chillin’ in their driveways or backyards I remember having so much fun as a kid playing kick the can and ghost in the graveyard and hunting for and toads and drawing gigantic cities on the concrete with sidewalk chalk. I hope a lot of our boys’ memories from their childhood center around being outside and being with each other, too.
Saturday
Everyone in the Fagan household was awake before 7 a.m. on Saturday. Ryan was up earlier than everyone and finished his workout by 6:30 a.m., so I had my chance at 7 a.m. while he hung out with the boys.
I did a lower body workout that looked like this:
(You can see pics + demos of the mini band exercises in this post if you’d like some clarification: Mini Band Booty Workout.)
Once I was all done, I headed inside to nurse Rhett and put him down for his first nap of the day before grabbing a quick shower and joining Ryan and the big kids in their fort building adventures.
About 90 minutes later, Rhett was up and we were all ready for some time outside since the rain that was originally on the forecast held off until the late afternoon. We went on a “butterfly walk” in search of butterflies (Chase’s obsession last summer that seems to be bleeding into this year, too) but they still aren’t out in full force yet so our walk was more of a stroll around the neighborhood.
At least Rhett seemed to be lovin’ life in the baby carrier!
Soon after we arrived home, we dug into lunch and then my father-in-law joined us for an afternoon of fishing followed by water fun in the driveway.
(That collapsible wagon was easily one of our best finds of last summer. We use it all the time for everything from garage toy storage and hauling stuff to and from our boat to short rides to the park near our house since the boys clearly like to ride in it and pull it, too!)
We didn’t have any luck on the fishing front — probably because we didn’t come prepared with our usual hotdog bait and clearly that’s what the sunnies near us like! — but Chase and Ryder were psyched to see a baby garden snake so the adventure still got two thumbs up from them.
My favorite part of our weekend occurred after we arrived home when we broke out the boys’ kiddie frame pool for the first time this year!
I have such strong memories of the beginning of quarantine (a YEAR ago — what!?) and the hours and hours we spent in our driveway and backyard as the boys played in their kiddie pool or splashed around on their sprinkler splash pad mat. (Oh and who could forget the time I thought adding water beads to their kiddie pool was a good idea? Spoiler alert: It wasn’t and cleaning them out was a disaster because we let them sit in there waaay too long.) I didn’t realize quite how ready I was for warmer weather until this weekend arrived and now I’m feeling way too excited for long summer nights and tons of water fun in the coming months!
We stayed in the driveway for as long as we could until the rain made us turn in for the night. We said goodbye to Greg and then Ryan took the boys upstairs for a bath while I got Rhett down for another nap.
Once everyone was in their jammies, we rounded out our Saturday evening with movie night! Ryan had the boys all amped up to watch Space Jam and they were SO into it. We rarely make it through a full movie on movie night (it’s often split up into Saturday and Sunday) because someone loses interest or we start too late and bedtime creeps up but this one kept everyone engaged the whole time and spawned hours (and I mean HOURS) of indoor basketball on Sunday.
Sunday
See… I told ya!
So much basketball!
Our Little Tikes basketball hoop got a lot of love and we had the boys take turns deciding on the height since Chase clearly wanted it a lot higher than Ryder at this point. And let’s just say Michael Jordan has his newest super fan in the form of a 5.5 year old because Chase pretended to be him every time he’d try to dunk the ball.
Sunday was a dreary day but we made the most of it with a trip to Lowe’s, some grocery shopping and afternoon workouts in the garage while the boys rode their bikes in the driveway and Rhett napped.
We rounded out the day with a family bike ride and early baths and bedtimes for everyone. It was a pretty chill weekend but a good one!
Now it’s time to get this Monday started! The boys’ spring break is 1.5 weeks and begins on Thursday so this week will feel like a short one over here. I hope you all have a great Monday and, as always, thank you for making PBF a part of your day! I always love having you here!
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I cannot wait for consistent warmer weather here in Cleveland! Sun would be lovely also!!
I love your weekend recaps!! Would you consider doing a post on living in Florida v. North Carolina (e.g., proximity to family, weather, community)? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I love this idea!! Do you have any specific questions you’d like included?
Hi Julie, I also LOVE seeing other families and kids playing outside. We spent the entire day on Saturday in our driveway and backyard and it was heaven. Sidenote: have you heard of the 1000 Hours Outside initiative? If not, check it out on instagram, it seems right up your alley. It’s basically just a free challenge to spend 1k hours outside in a one year period (doesn’t have to be a calendar year). You can print a free tracker for each kid and they color in a space for every hour spent outside, so it’s a fun little way to encourage more outside time!
ah yes!! i thought that sounded familiar and just checked and actually follow that account but never see their posts — ugh the instagram algorithm kills me!
I always love seeing your weekend adventures! We actually hit up Lowe’s with our boys on Sunday, too! You brought back some serious childhood memories with the Space Jam mention, too fun.
i forgot how amazing the space jam soundtrack is and now we’re listening to it on repeat, too! so catchy!!
That pool looks fun! Is there a cover for it? I noticed it doesn’t come included so just wondered if you bought one separately or it was ok without one? Thanks so much!
we don’t have a cover! it does get some leaves and dirt in it but it doesn’t really bother us since our kids are used to swimming in the lake and i am in the “a little dirt won’t hurt” camp. 🙂 it’s fairly easy to drain and re-fill, too!
Great, that’s nice it’s pretty easy to drain and refill. Dirt is definitely a given with kids! 😊 Thanks!
Aw so fun! Love the spring weekends and hints of summer on the way (same in Virginia for us!) Random question: would you consider doing a post on when you put the boys down (ok probably mostly baby Rhett – our fist is his age 😊) at night/when you guys go to bed and how you fit dinner etc in? Curious because you guys are up early too and we’re still very much learning how to manage an evening routine with a baby without one or both of us going to bed at 11 and both up at our usual 5:30 🤪). Will also never put water beads in a pool. Good tip!!
absolutely! i actually had a request for a day-in-the-life post from rhett’s perspective and could definitely include this info in that post! hope to have it up soon!
I’d be really interested in that too! Also, do you have any tips for helping baby take longer crib naps? My son is only 7 weeks so much younger, but we NEED some crib naps. First time mom here who is super impressed by all you do!
Hi! Random question – but is the Fiddle Leaf Fig in your family room real or fake?? It’s beautiful!!
fake!! i bought it on wayfair after seeing it a friends’ house and it looked so real!! we got the 72” –> https://bit.ly/39pC4AG
Could you possibly link the basket that you keep yours in too? Love the entire look, thanks so much!!
Hey Julie –
Do you usually nurse Rhett before your workout (once he’s up for the day)? Im nursing my baby and always feel too full for a morning workout
I do! Buuut that’s because he’s not sleeping through the night — haha! his first feed of the day is usually at 4 a.m. so that helps a lot with not feeling too full.
I love Space Jam! My husband and I watched it a few months ago, and it is so nostalgic. It looks like you all had an amazing weekend! I’m ready for warm weather too.
I am looking at getting my kids this butterfly kit thing for this summer to do. Wanted to share with you.
https://www.insectlore.com/products/live-butterfly-garden-shipped-with-live-caterpillars-now
Have a wonderful week!!!
Are you guys supposed to get cicadas this summer? I feel like they could provide weeks of entertainment for your boys! Haha
I have been reading your blog for YEARS and I never knew you grew up in Palatine. It’s such perfect timing because my family is currently looking to move to a suburb of Chicago from Madison, WI and Palatine is at the top of our list! As a mom now, would you recommend raising a family there? We have an almost one year old and want this next house to essentially be our ‘forever home’.
Looks like a great weekend! I was wondering if you have any tips for how to get cleaning done on the weekend between all of that? It would be so helpful to have a post about how you balance it all!