Mother’s Day Weekend 2021

Hi friends! How are you? Did you have a good weekend? I hope it was equal parts fun and relaxing. We managed to cram a decent amount of activity into the last few days and I’m sitting down at my computer this morning ready to fill ya in!

Friday

Our weekend kicked off on a great note with an early evening park playdate with friends.

We packed dinner and my sweet friend Lauren surprised me with belated birthday treats in the form of a gigantic box of cookies from Crumbl, a cookie bakery that recently opened in our area.

I’ve been dying to try their cookies after hearing great things and the big-time standout to me was the Mom’s Recipe cookie. It’s an oatmeal cookie packed with chocolate chips, toffee and peanut butter chips… so, basically, heaven. I already have dreams of picking up a box of Crumbl cookies when they’re warm out of the oven and serving them with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. YUM!

Saturday

Saturday morning kicked off our Mother’s Day weekend fun!

After our failed zoo attempt a couple of weeks ago, I was itching to get our gang to the zoo so when Ryan asked if I had any special Mother’s Day requests, a zoo day was the number one thing on my list!

Thankfully we knew enough to buy tickets earlier in the week this time and we arrived at Riverbanks Zoo & Garden in South Carolina at our designated time of 11:30 a.m. Our last visit to the Riverbanks Zoo was way back in 2017 when Chase was two so it felt like a relatively new experience for all of us!

We brought our double stroller and the baby carrier so Rhett could alternate between the two and Ryder could hop on the stroller if he needed a break and it worked well for our visit. It also allowed us to easily cart around our lunches, lots of snacks, water and a couple of teething toys for Rhett which was very helpful.

As expected, Chase and Ryder were in animal-loving paradise during our visit. The aquarium and reptile complex stole the show for these two and we made sure to circle back so we could all walk through it a second time before we left.

Also, I feel like it’s worth noting for any mom out there who might see these pics and think our zoo day was picture perfect to add in the fact that of course we had some meltdown moments throughout the day. What would a trip to the zoo be without them, right!? We had to laugh because at one time it felt like every kid was simultaneously losing it. Ryder fell and scraped his knees, Rhett was fighting his nap HARD (and never napped — ooph!) and Chase was feeling impatient with our need to stop and tend to his fussy little brothers.

Thankfully the meltdowns were only a small part of our visit and the vast majority of our time at the zoo was really, really fun!

We left chatting about our favorite animals and had about 15 minutes of peace in the car when Rhett and Ryder slept at the same time. Rhett is the king of 15 minute car naps which is kind of killer when you have an almost 2-hour drive home after the zoo. (He legitimately napped for only 30 minutes of our last drive to Florida, too. He’s a wild one!)

Once we made it home, we all got cleaned up and Ryan got the boys in the bath while I made dinner and another batch of homemade ice cream.

Saturday’s rendition was a creamy vanilla base but I added in a bunch of mini Oreos (golden + regular) at the end. Our family all loves cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream and I was curious to hear what everyone would think of the golden Oreos in the mix, too. They got a thumbs up from me and the boys but Ryan said he prefers all traditional Oreos which was no surprise since he’s the one who is Oreo-obsessed in our house.

Sunday

After a very full Saturday, I think we were all ready for a more relaxed Sunday on Mother’s Day. Ryan and the boys floated a few options by me for the morning but I was honestly just craving some downtime with the family. I sipped my coffee and felt the love from the boys and their sweet homemade gifts. I’m also now counting down the days until my first pedicure appointment in more than a year and a half — thank you, Ryan!

When Rhett went down for his morning nap, I set out on a quick 3-mile solo run/walk with Sadie which is one of my favorite things to do in the world. So often my walks with Sadie include strollers, kids and chaos so that one-on-one time with my girl always feels special to me.

We spent the rest of the morning around the neighborhood, checking on the turtles and fish, playing soccer near the marina and enjoying the sunshine.

I had some work I needed to get done in the afternoon, so Ryan took Chase to his soccer game with him and his dad while I stayed back with the two napping little guys and knocked out some work.

Once Ryan was home and Rhett and Ryder were up, we made the most of the rest of our Sunday and set up the sprinkler splash pad for the boys and enjoyed some drinks and dinner outside in the sun.

And now it’s time for me to get this Monday rockin’! I hope you all have a fabulous week and always appreciate you making my blog a part of your day!