Recently we took this approach with the fishing derby we attended last month and it blew us away! We had the same attitude going into Spring NatureFest, an event presented by Davidson Lands Conservancy at Roosevelt Wilson Park in the late morning on Saturday.
Apparently we are two for two on killer community events lately because NatureFest surpassed all of our expectations. Our three animal and nature-loving kids thought the event was fantastic and we had so much fun learning about local plants and animals, holding multiple reptiles, observing insects under a microscope, fishing in the small pond near the park and watching a queen bee lay multiple eggs right in front of us!
(Chase’s insect hat he got from my sister got a lot of love at this event!)
Everyone we spoke to at the various tents was so knowledgeable and passionate and it was such a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Everyone who attended the event was also given the opportunity to take a small tree home to replant and our boys thought this was the coolest.
They each picked a different kind of tree so it will be interesting to watch them grow!
Once we made it back home, we ate lunch and then Rhett took a nap while Ryan took the big kids fishing and I caught up on work. Rhett and Ryder were both sick for one day last week which blew up some of my work time so it was nice to have a couple hours on Saturday to dig myself out of the weeds a bit.
By the time Ryan, Chase and Ryder made it back home, Rhett was awake and we were ready for another adventure. Our pool plans on Friday night got scrapped due to the weather so we promised the boys we’d take them to our neighborhood pool on Saturday since it’s officially open for the summer! We spent the rest of the day splashing around before dinner and bedtime.
Sunday
Sunday was one of those days where we didn’t really do much and never left the house but at the same time our day felt quite full.
Ryan is currently training for his third Half Ironman (his race is less than 2 weeks away!) and all three boys are registered for a short IronKids race two days before Ryan’s event. The big kids will be running 1/2 mile white Rhett will be doing a 100-yard dash. They think “training” with Dad is the coolest and on Sunday mornings, once Ryan arrives home from his long runs, the big kids join him for a 1/2 mile run. It’s adorable to watch and they absolutely love it!
Rhett, Pepper and I tagged along on Sunday and cheered as Chase and Ryder did their short out-and-back run.
Once we made it home, to the surprise of no one, the boys all wanted to go for a bike ride so we biked to a little rocky trail near our house so they could do some “off roading.” Chase and Ryder are obsessed with riding their bikes on grass, mulch and basically any surface that’s not paved and usually they handle this well but on Sunday both kids had big wipe outs. They were fine after a little love and some snacks but seemed to want to hang out on the couch and rest for a bit when we got home.
Everyone perked up pretty quick when I began unboxing the shave ice machine I received for Mother’s Day!
I know this is quite the random gift but it was the only thing on my Mother’s Day wish list this year because it seemed like a fun thing our whole family will enjoy all summer long. I actually had it on my radar as a birthday gift idea for the boys (Rhett is next-level obsessed) but mentioned it to Ryan for Mother’s Day since I figured that would let us maximize using the machine during the hottest months of the year. My only request to Ryan: Please find a machine we can use with ice from our freezer that makes lots of snow cones at once and also find a machine that makes very, very fine shave ice like Kona Ice rather than hard, crunchy ice. Ryan did his research because our new Vevor shave ice machine knocked it out of the park yesterday! I see a lot of snow cones and shave ice happening in our house all summer long and I’m so psyched!
Other than bike crashes and shave ice, our main Sunday adventure took place on the lake. We piled onto our boat and took it out for our first boat cruise of the season!
This boat ride went a lot smoother than our last one when we got on the boat only to realize our boat needed a new battery. Oops!
After we were done on our boat adventure, we spent some more time in our backyard outside. Ryan, Chase and Ryder also took the kayaks out to a little island and returned home with a variety of bird feathers to add to their feather collection which had them on cloud nine. I love our nature-loving boys so much.
We spent the rest of our Sunday doing the usual winddown routine: Baths, jammies, dinner, movie night, stories and early bedtimes. It was a good weekend from start to finish and I’m feeling ready for the final full week of school for the boys before summer break!
I hope you all have a fabulous Monday!
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This sounds like a great weekend! Your family is precious. Your comment about opening the bar the wrong way made me laugh out loud! My son also flips if it breaks in half a bit. It must taste different when that happens haha.
This is sort of out of left field- but did you ever think of hosting a blog reader meet up? I often think how fun it would be to meet you and some of your readers!? Like a yearly tradition or something. Internet friends are somewhat of a strange phenomenon… I feel like I really know you from following your life but how cool it would be to meet some of this community. Have a great week and try to stay afloat w all of the end of the year activities!
yesss rhett is VERY much still our sweet and spicy kid. haha! a broken bar is a catastrophe over here. and i love the idea of a reader meet up!!
Loving the idea of snow cone machine! My boys would love this! Question – what brand syrup are you using to make them?
ha! funny you should ask this — so I tried ordering this organic, dye-free strawberry syrup thinking we’d all love it… annnnnd it got a hard no from the big kids (rhett was okay with it). honestly, I didn’t like it either because it tasted like strawberry jelly. so, to answer your question, i’m honestly not sure! if you have any recommendations, please let me know! i’m okay with going with the “real” stuff even with the colors/dyes on occasion but was hoping to avoid them if possible.
Is it possible for you to write about how you handle when outings don’t go well? On your blog your weekends usually sound perfect. I have three kids under 5 years old and I get so disappointed when I put effort into an outing and it flops.
How do you handle your kids when they have behavior issues? How do you manage your own disappointment on off days?
Love your weekend recaps !!
Fun fact: I am from Louisiana and a snowcone is ice. A snowball is fine powder that looks and has the texture of snow that you add syrup to.
Hope you have a fantastic week.
oh interesting!! yes, here “shave ice” is the fine powder but “snow cones” are harder/crunchier ice!
Good to know about the strawberry one haha. And yes I agree, “real” stuff is fine on occasion, but also would love to find another option. I’ll keep you posted if I find anything :).