I think all of Charlotte is lovin’ the unseasonably warm weather and taking full advantage of the sunshine.
Saturday
Our weekend kicked off with a backyard cookout on Friday night since we wanted to keep things low key and close to home after a busy, travel-filled week. We set off to explore Charlotte first thing on Saturday morning!
After a quick cereal breakfast to take the edge off our hunger, we headed into the city for a visit to Discovery Place.
We typically take Chase to Discovery Place Kids in Huntersville but the original Discovery Place is definitely more interesting for older children and adults which meant my parents, Ryan and I had a little too much fun with a handful of the interactive exhibits.
Chase was in heaven and we spent a solid hour at Discovery Place before walking a few blocks to 7th Street Public Market for breakfast (2.0!) and lattes.
The market was hoppin’ and we loved the vibrant energy around us as we ate our crepes and sipped on hot drinks from Not Just Coffee. We made it back home around lunchtime and Chase was ready for a nap.
His naps last week were almost non-existent (two days in a row of 30-minutes or less when we were in Raleigh) and he finally made up for it on Saturday. Chase slept for a solid three hours which was incredible and gave us some time to relax, read outside and take Sadie on a long walk while my mom offered to take over baby monitor duty.
We ate a lunch of cookout leftovers from Friday evening’s barbeque before Chase was back up and ready for action! We decided to head north to Hope Park which is one of our absolute favorite parks in the area. (For the locals, it is located right next to the YMCA in Mooresville.)
Chase wanted to show his grandma and grandpa everything at the park and went down the slides a bunch of times before giggling up a storm as they pushed him in the swings.
Our park playtime came to a close when our stomachs told us it was time for dinner. Since we were already in Mooresville, the decision to swing by Alino Pizzeria for a couple of pizzas was a no-brainer.
Alino’s is, without a doubt, our favorite pizza in the area so we were anxious to take my parents there so they could give it a try. It got rave reviews from everyone and the four of us had no problem polishing off two pizzas.
Before we were ready to call it a night and head back home, we made one final stop at Whit’s in Davidson for frozen custard.
I ordered a small vanilla custard with strawberries which totally hit the spot! I’m usually more of a chocolate person than a fruit person when it comes to dessert but there’s something about strawberries ‘n’ cream that’s hard to resist.
We made it home a little before 7 p.m. which gave us just enough time to chase Chase around the house (his favorite game of the moment) before it was time for his bath. Bedtime followed soon after for our energetic toddler and then my parents, Ryan and I spent the rest of the night hanging out on the couch, sipping cocktails and coming up with our own narrations for the BBC series Planet Earth which was way too amusing to us at the time. (Side note: I’m not sure how I’ve never seen Planet Earth until now but it’s incredible and the footage is absolutely stunning.)
Eventually we made it up to bed and I began reading In Farleigh Field when I saw it was free to download on my Kindle. (It will be released March 1 to the public.) Historical fiction is my favorite genre and when I read the positive reviews for this “action packed” novel set during World War II, I knew I wanted to give it a try.
Sunday
Sunday morning began the sweaty way with a 7:30 a.m. Orangetheory class! Ryan and my dad had plans to work out together so I took advantage of my mom’s offer to enjoy a grandma-grandson breakfast date with Chase and worked up a sweat on the treadmill and rowing machines.
The workout was a tough one. I spent the first half of the workout on the treadmill and wasn’t really in the mood to tackle a bunch of intervals for 30 minutes. Thankfully once I was done on the treadmill I was a happy camper again and enjoyed the second half of the workout much more! I rotated through a series of strength training exercises paired with short bursts on the rowing machine and left feeling that post-workout high I adore. OTF workouts always kick my butt!
After all of our workouts were done and we ate a quick breakfast, we headed to Sunflour Bakery for Morning Glory muffins and chai lattes. (Best news: I was able to get the recipe for Sunflour’s Morning Glory muffins to share with you guys!!!! Oh my gosh they are so delicious and you MUST make them the second I post the recipe! I am hoping to photograph the recipe to share on the blog within the next week or two.)
After finishing our food and lattes, we headed to Freedom Park to walk around and enjoy the sunshine for an hour.
A little after noon, we made our way back home for Chase’s nap.
While Chase slept and my dad read and kept an eye on the baby monitor, Ryan took Sadie on a walk and my mom and I picked up some food at the grocery store before we spent some time baking sweet treats in the kitchen.
The rest of our Sunday was spent around the house, playing in the backyard, enjoying Happy Hour and ordering Thai takeout.
My parents left first thing this morning to head back to Florida and we are missing them already! I’m so, so glad we were able to enjoy such a nice weekend together and hope we see them again VERY soon!
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What a great weekend! TIme with family is the best!
Sounds like a perfect weekend!! We also enjoyed a ton of time outside! This weather has been great! We joined the YMCA last week and my husband and I did a 55-minute pure resistance workout which was killer haha! I’m always so impressed with you and Ryan’s commitment to exercise. Keep it up!!
-Sarah http://www.thefrugalmillionaireblog.com
that sounds awesome! lovvvve the ymca!
Would love to know what Chase’s nap and bedtime schedule is like these days! I remember you had trouble transitioning to one nap and I’m knee deep in that phase right now. Would love to hear how you got through it!
Ughhh that is such a rough transition!!! I feel for you! In the beginning it was just hard and there were a few weeks of unpredictability and horrific naps as we tried to figure it out so I’m sending supportive vibes your way! I think one thing that helped was allowing Chase to take is one nap earlier than I initially thought would work. Rather than make him wait until around noon, I started to let him sleep at 11 a.m. This meant his bedtime was quite early for a while there (6-6:30 p.m.-ish) but it worked really well for us for a couple of months. We JUST started pushing his nap and bed time back (12:30 nap, 7:30 bed time) and it’s working well but it took a while for Chase to be able to make it til noon without getting really fussy/clearly needing an earlier nap. It’s so different for every toddler so I wish you the best of luck! I know it’s tough!
What a great weekend with your family! We were loving the warm temperatures as well. And you have reminded me I haven’t made muffins in far too long, can’t wait for the Morning Glory recipe =)
I just went to a Whit’s a few weeks ago and it was SO good! I loved their cookie dough. I’m glad your parents had a great visit and the weather was fantastic. Ours was great all last week but then we had snow this weekend. boo. I could use the end of winter and beginning of spring, haha! Can’t wait for the muffin recipe!
Isn’t it fantastic?! So good! Hope you stayed nice and warm this weekend!
I love discovery place! looks like an awesome weekend, so glad you guys had a good time! Also, I’m a little jealous of your delicious foods.. pizza, custard, thai, chai, 🙂 🙂
Short naps are so frustratingt! The 18 month sleep/nap regression is the worst – hopefully he’s not trying to drop his naps all together!
What a great weekend! Having family visit is the best 🙂 My little guy’s naps have been really short the last few days, I’m hoping he makes up for it today! He was SO grumpy by the end of the day yesterday.
can’t get better than the sun shining! this weekend was a little chilly in st louis, but previously it was 70!! amazing!!
Looks like such a fun weekend, and the weather was gorgeous! We love Alino’s – we recently went for Valentine’s Day. I haven’t been to Whit’s yet, but I’ve heard good things!
Genuinely makes me happy to read how great your parents are and how close you guys are! Is that weird to say? Ha! Anywho you described my perfect weekend!! Also, the library infront of the 7th st market has story time at 10:30 on tues thurs and fridays! My friends and i always get bfast and coffee with the kiddos at 7th st and walk accross the street for story time! Cant wait to get the recipe for the morning glory muffins! Ive tried to recreate it and theyre never quite right! Have a great week!!
Thank you for your sweet comment, Cristina! <3 And thanks for letting me know about the library story time!! We will definitely have to check it out!!
What a perfect weekend! Have you had the Whit’s ice cream sandwiches yet? Made with homemade cookies or brownie slices???
No! I need this!
I thought 60s in February was normal for NC?! For some reason, I figured that far south it was never really cold. We had a warm weekend here in DC, too–it actually got up to 70! Everyone was outside in sandals and then the next day the temperature crashed to 50.
You have such a beautiful family! What a wonderful way to spend a weekend.
You packed a lot into one weekend! Sounds like you have some great parks around you! Are they all super close (like 10-15 minute drive) or are some a long drive to get to?
It varies! We’re lucky to live really close to three decent parks (one is walkable and two 5-10 minutes away). We often drive to some of the bigger/better parks on the weekends (20-30 min. away) for a little change of scenery!
What a great weekend! Your family is so sweet together – and you take beautiful pictures, too. I love Chase’s outfit on the swings, especially his shoes! And that pizza place looks delicious.. Have a great Monday!
The pizza you guys ordered looks delicious! I’ve been hearing about OTF everywhere lately. I haven’t tried a class yet, but I really should give it a go.
Look and sounds like such a pleasant weekend! We got some outdoors time, too – but definitely not without a coat.
One of the perks of living in Denver is that low-50s feels like mid-60s because we’re so close to the sun. You have to love every second of those sunny days, right?
Can’t wait to check out the recipe. It sounds delish!
XO, Jessica
P.S. I celebrated my birthday over the weekend and Ryan and Steve from Fremd came in from Boulder. Fun with the high school kids never disappoints does it. 🙂
So fun!!!! I’m so jealous you got to see them!!
Having lived in Charlotte before, I know that a sunny day (especially in February) is a rare sight! Glad your parents picked the perfect weekend to visit! <3
Have you read The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah? I was given it as a gift for Christmas and finally got around to reading it. If you love historical fiction I totally recommend it! It was very good.
I haven’t but it has been on my radar for a long time. Is it really sad?
I definitely shed tears. Part of the sadness comes from the circumstances of the time period. Other sadness comes through from the personal experience of the characters. But there is another component to the story that is completely uplifting and empowering. It is an emotional read but incredibly well written.
The weather was so perfect in NC this weekend. Today’s 50’s are killing me!
What a beautiful weekend with your parents and those pics of Chase with his grandparents are just adorable! He’s gotten so tall! His feet look like they almost touch the ground in the kiddie swing!
Your weekend this weekend sounded like mine last weekend! I’m in St. Louis so I bet you guys got our good weather this week! Enjoy it! Family time is always the best–I’m so glad you guys had a great time together!
I love the pictures of Chase with your parents! How precious.
Thank you, Kendra! I love them, too. <3 <3
It looks like you had a wonderful weekend!!!
Historical fiction is my favorite too, especially stories set in WWII era. I just finished The Boys in the Boat, which was actually non-fiction, but set in that era and an incredible story about the USA crew team beating out Hitler’s team for gold in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. I absolutely loved it and thought I’d pass the recommendation along.
Family visits are the BEST! I love how petite Chase is, I just want to squeeze him!!! He is getting more adorable by the second!!
Looks like a fantastic weekend! So glad you got to spend that time with your family! You have GOT to post about how you get all your cleaning/chores done around the house. I feel like I spend most of my weekend just trying to get the house in order, the groceries bought, and the baby (and us!) all ready for the next daycare/work week. And I’m dreading springtime because that adds hard work to the equation. Blech. You have to spill your secrets!!
This looks so fun – I hope you had a lovely day. x
Izzy |http://www.pinchofdelight.com
What a lovely weekend! Im loving the warmer weather even all the way up in PA! I love how Chases little legs look with the skinny jeans in the swing haha so cute!
You have a lovely family 🙂
Also wanted to share this health giveaway going on while i’m here: https://microbiomeplus.com/deal/ where you can win 3 month supply of probiotics, $100 towards a gym membership and a $50 Amazon gift card!
When I have kids, I think the firs thing I’m going to do is buy our family a pass to Discovery Place. You and your boy get so much out of it! It sounds like the perfect, educational experience with lots of fun mixed in. I only hope I can be half the momma you are to Chase when I have my own children. I worry about that a lot, so you’re giving me ideas all of the time, though I’m still a ways away. 🙂 Hope you have a beautiful week ahead of you, Julie!
Nothing like good old-fashioned family time, outside time, and, of course, muffins for breakfast! What a great weekend!
http://www.poweredbysass.com
These visit posts are always so fun. You must be so thankful that you and your family are able to get together as often as you do! It’s a blessing for sure! It looks like it was an amazingly fun weekend. love that you have the support of your family too. “It takes a village!” as they say, to raise a child. Glad you have a strong ‘village” of people around you.
I’m moving back to Charlotte (where my family lives) this summer and posts like this make me SO excited for the wonderful weather and the family time! You have such a beautiful family!
Elizabeth
elizabethstrickert.com