Saturday Farmer’s Market, Trail Walking, and Summer Recipes

It has been another week of long walks, eating healthy, and trying to find ways to stay busy with a toddler in the South Carolina heat. Luckily, we’re all packed up and heading on a beach trip today. He has been running around the house shouting “beach!” all week after we told him about our trip. One of his favorite episodes of Trash Truck on Netflix is the beach trip. I’ll blog about all our fun adventures together in Hilton Head.
 
One of our favorite mornings for a walk is on Thursday. That is trash truck day, so several trucks ride around the neighborhood, and he gets so excited watching them do their work! The workers are always so fun and honk at him when he waves. 

Thursday was the end of my spaghetti squash journey. I was finally over it after ten days of spaghetti squash for dinner. I’ve been trying to develop other healthier dinners that are easy for the week. When I return from my trip, I will prepare some grilled chicken and kale salads for all week. I love making kale salads because they don’t wilt in the refrigerator like typical lettuce. I wanted to hold off on doing meal prepping since we’re heading out for the beach, but when I get back, I will prepare all the delicious food to stay on track. I have officially made it to day sixteen of eating better, cutting out refined sugar, and staying on top of my daily walks. 

 
After our morning walks, we’ve been taking a box of rec toys to the big field in our neighborhood to play. This kid loves all things sports and likes to jump from one sport to the other. Sometimes, he’ll hit his baseball with a golf club, and sometimes, he’ll hit his soccer ball with a bat. It’s funny to watch his little wild self go. Right now, he has an impressive baseball swing for a two-year-old! I’ll insert the video in the recap on this page so you can watch it! He hits the ball left-handed even tho he does everything else right-handed. And, of course, like every other two-year-old, he trades in the sports equipment for acorn hunts, stick swinging, and climbing the big rocks. 

Watch this recap come to life in vlog videos!

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As if the field play wasn’t enough, we had a few hours to kill before nap, so I brought him to the pool to tire him out! We picked up Chick-fil-A for him to take with us because I figured I’d let him eat after he swam and then go straight to bed when we got back. And it worked!
 We decided to take a new route on our walks since we took our original one for months straight. We didn’t realize so many neighborhood cats would greet us!

Every cat we ran into was friendly, maybe because we had breakfast sausage. My son is obsessed with cats and kept asking to hold it. We are a dog-only household, but perhaps we’ll get him a cat one day. Looks like we’ll be going on catwalks when it’s not garbage day! 

A lot of baking on Friday! The willpower is always hard these days!
I was so excited to explore the Charlotte Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning! 

I had gone the previous Sunday, but I heard Saturdays were the best time to go. I am already eager to go back again! We picked up some of the best stuff and the most beautiful flowers. This is a fun outing with a toddler because my son gets so excited when we pull up to the market. He likes handing the vendors cash, putting vegetables in my bag, and picking fresh flowers.   
I wanted to return to the farmer’s market for the Mr. Stripy heirloom tomatoes. I was blown away by how they tasted when I tried them last week. I made sure to get a few pounds of those for the week. Oh, and the kale was so delicious and fresh!

I mentioned this last week in a post, but I want to show my son the importance of shopping small and local and supporting farmers. I know he’s only two, but it’s never too early to learn. After working at the farmer’s markets, I better understand how much time, work, and emotional drainage it takes to show up each week. They truly deserve all this success. And when summer is over, we’ll be there to support them by purchasing other seasonal products.

We wouldn’t leave without letting him pick out a croissant! He picked out the ham and cheese one this time.

 
These Zulia rolled breads were so good. I tried the pepperoni and mozzarella one, and it was delicious. My son had some to go with his lunch, and we froze the rest. Kyle was obsessed with the blueberry cream cheese one!
 
The flower arrangement I purchased was filled with peach and orange tones. It had me craving Fall, but it also fit a peach vibe.

For my lunch, I made a fresh farmers market salad with marinated kale, sprouts, heirloom tomatoes, avocado, croissant croutons, and a drizzle of basil vinaigrette.

We headed to Improper Pig for family dinner on Saturday night! I ordered my favorite salad and ate it so fast that I forgot to take a photo. If you’re curious, it’s the same salad I had in last week’s recap.

After dinner, we walked down the street to pick up some ice cream for my son. He was so happy sitting on the bench with his ice cream cone!

I had breakfast after my long Sunday morning walk! I had a farm-fresh egg, an English muffin, tomatoes, and guacamole! After this plate, I made a second cup of coffee and a chocolate rice cake with creamy peanut butter.

Sunday afternoon, I made a yummy chopped kale salad for lunch. I should have bought more kale from the market because we quickly went through it. I chopped the kale, washed it, and let it marinate in the basil vinaigrette for a few hours.

I added toasted almonds, walnuts, tomatoes, northern beans, avocado, sprouts, dried cranberries, turkey, and Arctic seasoning.

I bought a big crate of peaches at the market so we could make some healthy peach crumble! We have made this a bunch of times with apples in the fall, and since I love peaches so much, I was so excited to try this version of it, and it did not disappoint! My mom was over yesterday, had a bite of it, and started asking for the recipe immediately! She’s going to make this for my dad. 

 
After letting my son have ice cream, he kept asking for more. I had the idea to fill an ice cream cone with Greek yogurt, put it upside down in a cocoa bomb mold, freeze it, and give it to him! He loved it!! I keep making these and giving him one after he eats dinner each night.


We headed out for our Sunday treasure hunt when he got up from his nap.

We bring a bag to the trail, and he picks up sticks and acorns. Kyle keeps pirate coins and jewels in his pocket and walks ahead, putting them on the trail when he’s not looking. It’s so fun and a great way to keep him (and us!) active!  

On Monday morning, we met two new cats out on our walk! We made sure to give them a little piece of sausage.

I bought a bunch of fun painting projects from Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago, and whenever we need indoor activities, I’ll take one out. When I was little, my mom used the molds and made plaster projects for us to paint, and I kept forgetting to pick some up to make for him! Hopefully, I will remember, and that will go into my next recap post, but they’re super cute to paint and then turn into Christmas ornaments.


We like to pick tomatoes when he wakes up from naps. He’s so groggy, and getting outside helps him snap out of it!

I was cooking up the last of the farmer’s market haul! Gosh, I will miss these fresh vegetables when summer is gone.

I’ve been taking Leo on walks around 6 a.m. before my son gets up because we like to go 4-5 miles, and it gets way too hot for Leo to join us on those. I think he appreciates it for sure! 


We are turning into the animal club out here.
 
Yesterday, I spent the afternoon packing up beach snacks and our suitcases, filling a basket with new activities, and putting together a bin with fun treasures and nicknacks. My son loves little objects and small toys, so I think he will get excited when he sees this one! We’re saving it for the hotel room activities. I browsed Hobby Lobby for an hour, picking out little “treasures” for his bin. The green basket is filled with mess-free coloring books, and I packed watercolors so we could paint sea shells on the beach. I’m excited to share my beach trip blog with you next week!

We had a bad storm last night, so Tux ran into the playroom to hang out with us. My son kept rubbing his head and kissing his nose, telling him, “It’s okay,” and my heart was melting!

Thank you for stopping by to read the weekly recap! I have some fun blogs and recipes coming up!

QUESTIONS FOR YOU!

1. Do you like to shop at your local farmer’s market?
2. What is one goal you have for yourself right now?
3. Are you ready for Fall?