Things I’m Loving Friday #478

It’s Friday and our Florida fun is coming to an end. The past two weeks we’ve had with family in Florida has been such a gift and we’ve loved our time together so, so much. This trip also marks the end of our summer travel as school begins for Chase in just over a week. Gah!

We’ll be making the drive back to North Carolina on Sunday but until then I’m off to spend the last bit of our time here with family! Thanks for checking in today and I hope you enjoy this week’s roundup of Friday favorites!

Things I’m Loving Friday

• More Jacksonville Family Fun

We’ve made the most of our time in Florida and filled the past few days with beach and pool time and a few outings with family. Chase and Ryder requested a trip to the Alligator Farm which has become somewhat of a Florida summertime tradition for our family.

Our boys are reptile-obsessed so this place is always right up their alley. The alligators were much more active than we’ve seen in past years and feeding them when they were all about the little pellets we tossed into their habitats was a definite highlight.

More fun adventures took us to The Caffeinated Cat where the big kids love cuddling with adorable adoptable cats and kittens, Jeremiah’s for gelati (yes, again), mini golfing and to Sunshine Park, our favorite park in the Jacksonville Beach area.

We also had a blast decorating shirts with puffy paint and a tie-dye kit (another summer tradition) and the boys were all about extra time with my sister and her family and Mae and Pop. They made homemade lemonade and cookies and read books with Mae and swam in the pool and the big kids even tried out a regulator for scuba diving in the pool with Pop!

Is any wonder our kids always ask to come to Florida!?

• This Swimsuit!

This swimsuit got a lot of love from you guys when you saw it on Monday’s post so I figured I should include it in today’s roundup of favorites because it has certainly been a favorite of mine this summer. I love the Beach Riot swimsuits that look just like this one but when I ordered one I just could not get behind the booty coverage. I need my cheeks more covered than a lot of swimsuits seem to offer these days and this bathing suit thankfully has much more moderate booty coverage. (It actually covers my butt even better than the pics online show.) It’s been a swimsuit I’ve reached for over and over again this summer because it’s very mom-friendly and allows me to swim and play and move in the water with the boys without worrying about anything popping out.

I ordered it in a medium but the top is admittedly a little big for my small chest. The price point is so good I’m honestly thinking about ordering it in a small, too, just for the top and giving the small bottoms and medium top to a friend who is more blessed in the chest area than myself! It also comes in a handful of colors (including a cute red, white and blue option I wish I would’ve seen for the Fourth of July) and the material is ribbed and nice and thick. If you give this one a try, I hope it works out as well for you as it has for me!

• Berry Crisp

My oatmeal apple crisp is a favorite in our house year-round and I think I’m *this close* to deeming the recipe the crisp recipe that works with any fruit. It’s worked well with  the fruit I’ve tested this summer like peaches and, most recently, berries! I used a big pack of frozen mixed berries in this recipe to serve to my family with ice cream and it was a big hit. I followed the recipe as written but added the cinnamon directly to the crisp mixture and baked it for the full 45 minutes. We all loved this one so much and I especially loved the fact that this one came together extra fast thanks to frozen berries. I’m keeping this one in mind for summer cookouts in the future!

• Friday Flashbacks

Super Seed Oatmeal (No lie, I’ve had this for breakfast every single day during our time in Florida. My mom’s recipe and my favorite seedy, fiber-packed oatmeal!)

10 Preschool Lunches (A peek into preschool lunches I’ve packed for the boys for anyone gearing up for the school year and looking for easy lunch ideas.)

Question of the Day

What is one thing you’re loving this week?