I have so many adventures to share on the blog! It’s been over three weeks since posting a recap, so I tried my best to pull the highlight photos from my phone album.
We didn’t get much of a spring here in South Carolina. It went straight into the 90s, and the heat has been intense this year. It’s been 98-99 degrees the past two days, and I’m hoping it’s temporary. It’s hard to stay inside with a toddler all the time, so we’ve been trying to make the best of it. My son loves to be outside, so we get out early in the morning for our walks, spend the day at the pool (or anything related to water), and find shaded areas to hang out in, like the park or walking trails.
One of our favorite activities is visiting Anne Springs Greenway. They have the best outdoor forest playground for kids that promotes sensory skills. It’s not a typical playground with a bunch of equipment. It resembles the woods with climbing structures, outdoor kitchens, and little tree houses. My son loves it, and it’s all shaded.
Anne Springs Greenway also has a restaurant, stables, walking trails with horses, and a children’s farm where kids can feed and interact with animals. My animal-loving child is in love with the horses. He asks them if he can give them a hug every time we walk by.
He loves watching construction equipment, too. We sat on the rock wall watching a man pick up cinder blocks and drive all over the dairy barn, and he noticed my son saying, “Wow!” and asked if he wanted to come sit on the skid steer thingy mabob. I do not know what this thing is called. It made my son’s day!
I’ve been deep-diving into “I’m a private chef in the Hamptons” TikTok accounts, and they always inspire me to ditch the frozen chicken nugget bags and make something delicious for dinner. If you haven’t started watching those videos, you’re missing out! I live for them when summer starts.
For this dinner, I pan-fried chicken breasts using Italian bread crumbs, eggs, and all-purpose flour. They were so crispy! I used our air fryer oven to make the carrots, potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. The pasta was dressed in pesto, parmesan, and black pepper.
I have been in a book dry spell for a long time. Being a mom, running a business, attempting a social life, and trying to keep the house together makes it tough to sit down and read a book. I usually fall asleep after the first chapter, or a wave of guilt comes over me as if I should be doing something productive instead of reading. Although I never get that wave of guilt when I sit on my phone scrolling social media. Funny how that works.
I had so many people recommend ACOTAR, and while looking for a book to bring to the pool with me at Target, I grabbed it off the shelf and thought I’d give it a chance. This is NOT the genre that I would ever go for. These are not the types of books I’d even consider reading, but I was hooked after the first chapter. I can’t stop thinking about it. I finished the first book in a few days and had to sprint to Target to grab the next one. I’m reading book number two right now and halfway through it. I’m trying to savor it and not rush through it too fast since everyone is telling me they wish they could relive reading it for the first time.
I am itching each night to read a few chapters before bed and thank goodness I have a husband that lets me talk about it 24/7. One of my good friends reads it, too, so it’s fun to chat about it.
We enjoy quiet time on the porch with crafts in the afternoons while the fan is on blast. Amazon has many toddler activities, and even Hobby Lobby had 50% off all their kid’s summer crafts, which I took advantage of last week. I bought so many of the painting rock and stepping stone kits! I don’t know what it is about painted rocks, but my son loves them. You can also buy river rocks at Lowes for $13 a bag; those are also fun to paint! We put them all around the garden. I have an Amazon shop with many of my favorite activity purchases. I try to update it weekly. Let me know if you like to do any activities with your toddler! We’re always looking for fun things.
On Saturday morning, I had a coffee and brunch date with Becca. We headed to Pineville for coffee at Waterbean and Lunch at The Garrison. We did a bunch of errands together and planned some future trips.
I was so excited about a mom’s day out I planned for one of my good friends, Jhulianna, for her birthday. We have toddlers the same age, so we deserved to get dressed up, head Uptown for a delicious brunch at Coquette, and see one of our favorite musicals, Hairspray!
I made our dinner reservation two hours before the show so we could sit down and enjoy every course without rushing.
First, we ordered their delicious coffee drinks. I always get an oat milk cappuccino when I’m out. It was so smooth and flavorful.
I ordered the Salade aux Choux de Bruxelles et Lardons. It had crispy Brussels sprouts, lardons, apple honey vinaigrette, a fried egg, gribiche, and shaved apples. It was to die for! The fried egg was at the bottom, and the yolk all over the fried Brussels sprouts was delicious. We also ordered some fries with aioli.
Next was the creme brûlée! The best creme brûlée I’ve ever had!
After lunch, we walked down to the theater to see Hairspray! Gosh, I was so excited!
The musical was INCREDIBLE!!! The dancing, the set, the costumes, the acting, literally everything was flawless. I’d see it again 100 times and still be amazed. It was seriously the best day!
My husband left for Germany the following week. He would be gone for over two weeks for work, so my mom came to help me while I worked, and we planned many fun activities to pass the time.
And here is a cute picture of the boys after I picked them up from the groomers. The first thing we did was hit up the Matthews Farmer’s Market! They have some of the best produce! We picked up some carrots, potatoes, heirloom tomatoes, and fresh cheese!
After finishing up at the market, we walked to one of my favorite spots, Brakeman’s, for coffee!
I ordered two oat milk cappuccinos, a kid’s horchata, and a coffee cake muffin. We sat outside on the patio for a bit before heading to Southpark Mall to do some shopping and waste some time in the air conditioning.
Later that afternoon, we headed to Optimist Hall for lunch and met up with friends! I can’t believe this was my first time visiting Optimist Hall! It’s AMAZING!! We ordered kale salads and juice at Village Juice and chicken and french fries at Boxcar Bettys.
We ended the outing with some sweet treats from Suarez Bakery!
Lately, I’ve been making a bunch of lunch trays for my picky eater, and they’ve helped him eat! I think it’s just fun for him to have food laid out like this instead of his boring highchair. I usually bring it out by the pool, or we sit on the porch and eat.
We’ve still managed to do our three-morning breakfast miles each day. I bring breakfast, and we walk around looking for garbage trucks, maintenance trucks, or ducks on the retention ponds.
To me, summer is all about fresh flowers from the garden and homemade bread! I get so excited about both of them.
If you missed it! I shared a blog post on how to make a sourdough starter!
We were living off the sourdough sandwiches for a few days!
My mom got my son this amazing inflatable bouncy house with a double waterslide and pool deck for his birthday. It has been the BEST gift ever. It takes five minutes to set up, and he plays on it for hours. Water is a must when you’re outside and live in a hot climate. I love laying out in the pool section of this bounce house while he jumps and goes down the slide repeatedly. This is what has been helping him nap during the day! I love this inflatable! It’s nice that we don’t have to pack a bunch of stuff to go to the pool, where I’m just chasing him around most of the time. We have set this up almost every single day. It folds into a small square that I put in a bin in the garage. This has made our summer so much better!
This tray works like a charm when I load it with lunch! He’s super into fruit and carbs right now.
Morning walks with our toddler bars!
We had a pool day with sandwiches and chips, and since my mom was there, I snuck away for a few chapters! Does anyone else have a hard time reading at the beach or pool? I get too distracted. When I’m reading, I need pure silence.
A day didn’t go by when we didn’t have at least one water activity planned.
Salads for dinner! Lettuce, Just Bare Chicken, cucumber, three-cheese tortellini, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, croutons, sweet peppers, and Caesar dressing.
I had to head into the kitchen for a massive wholesale order! I had five location drop-offs. I stopped at Waterbean for a bagel, cream cheese, and coffee, and then headed to the kitchen to start on the brittle.
The afternoon called for a pool day with the best snack boxes!! I did a blog post on these 🙂
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The next day, we did all the drop-offs for the brittle bags. We made Spring Farms our last stop to treat ourselves to peach ice cream!
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They gave us sugar brushes for the butterflies to land on. My son loved this! We did some homemade ones in the garden when we got home.
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For lunch, we drove up the road to Belmont to have coffee, pastries, and quiche at the Everyday Cafe.
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The next day we spent all morning in the backyard pool and I made another yummy lunch tray!
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We had so much pizza, and I’m still dreaming about how delicious it was!
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I made a honey lavender cake for a wedding shoot at the Five Blossoms Farm on Monday!
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We still love ending the evening with a jeep ride!
I started playing old music from bands on YouTube, and my son kept drumming on buckets, so I bought him an affordable drum set that he is obsessed with. I’ll turn on Blink 182 or Sum 41, and he’ll start drumming away.
We picked up Dad from the airport on Thursday! 🙂
Saturday morning working the market! 🙂 I spend Thursdays and Fridays preparing.
On Saturday night, we headed to a friend’s house for smoked pork (the best-smoked pork I’ve ever had!!!). I made a yummy salad to bring as a side! You can get that recipe here.
Sunday Costco trips! We have to buy multiple bags of these That’s It bars. He loves them, and we take them out on walks, or I use them as bribery to get him into his stroller.
We have been having so much fun now that tomato season is finally here, and all the tomatoes in the garden are starting to grow and ripen! My son loves to pick them. He doesn’t understand that the green ones are not for picking just yet but whatever brings him joy.
Sunday dinner! We had rice bowls with grilled chicken, tomatoes, cucumbers, rice, lettuce, and habanero ranch. My son had a side of yogurt and berries with his.
This weekend, I have another farmer’s market to prepare for!
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I will soon post more blogs (my sourdough bagels!!).
Questions for you!
- Do you have any weekend plans?
- Is it hot where you live right now?
- What kind of blogs do you want to see?
Love love love this recap! Looks like you’re having a great summer so far 🙂 it’s been in the 90s here in Maryland but we put up a new pool this year so I’m in there almost daily!
For this weekend, I have an outdoor yoga class at a lavender farm which I’m really excited about! We get to make lavender bouquets afterwards to take home too.
So happy to see you post no matter what it is, but I’ll always love your recaps 🙂
Hi, Kelsey!
Thank you 🙂
90’s = pool weather for sure!!!
omg that sounds like heaven! I may need to travel to Maryland just for something like that.
I just love these summer everyday blogs! Your food is such an inspiration and exactly what I want to eat in this Louisiana heat! My 20 year old son and I baked some Focaccia and we are going to try your sourdough next. Thanks for sharing!
Awe thank you, Peggy!!
Love that you and your son bake together!!
Happy you posted a recap blog! I love these! They are my favorite kind of blog that you post. I’ve been reading your blog for the last 13-14 years–since I was in high school–so I feel like you’re a sort of long distance friend haha!
It’s over 100 degrees where I live.
I’m visiting family out of state for the 4th of July starting this weekend!
Hope you have a great week! 🙂
Thank you, Emily!
I can’t believe it’s been over 15 years of blogging! Thanks for sticking around for so long!! 🙂
100 wow!!!! so hot. I hope you have the best 4th of July!!
I love reading your blogs again! ☺️ Could you link or share where your green backpack is from? It’s so cute and versatile! Thanks!!🩵
Awww thank you! I got it at Target a few years ago! I don’t think it’s in stock anymore, but they have some similar ones on Amazon if you type in “green leather small backpack!”
I always love reading your weekly recap vlogs! One of these days I’ll venture down that way and see everything you’ve shared first hand!
We’re having a friend come over from Omaha and we’re taking the boys to Adventureland for the first time. I also have a bridal shower to go to for my eldest niece(now that one makes me feel old!)
It’s been pretty hot here in IA, though today it’s a comfortable 70 which is nice for almost July!
A comfortable 70 sounds amazing omg
Gosh I miss Adventureland! Just reading that made me feel nostalgic. I may come down for the State Fair/visit my grandma this year, so I’ll keep you posted!!!
Hi Taralynn!
It´s so great to read your recaps 🙂 I can´t believe it´s been 15 years of blogging already! I´ve been here from a very beginning 🙂
I loved the visit in Botanic Garden, it must have been a lot of fun for both of you! I would love to see more about your summer plans and trips and your beautiful garden and flowers!
It´s very hot here in Barcelona as well, we are lucky to have a pool so I think I will read a book at the pool and also go for a lunch to try a new restaurant 🙂
Sending you kisses!
I hope you’re having the best summer! 🙂 Perfect weather for books and reading!!