Simple Summer Weekend + No More Paci!

Do you ever have those weekends during the summer that make you think, “What in the world do we do in the winter?” With so much sunshine, warm weather and a million and one outdoor activities calling to us all summer long, sometimes I have moments like this but then I remember that somehow we always manage to have fun in the winter, too. But, admittedly, summer is hard to beat!

Saturday

Our summer weekends have been rather full so Ryan and I intentionally kept this past weekend very clear of any big commitments. We wanted a more relaxed weekend at home with our family and it did so much to rejuvenate us and served almost as a summer reset. It was wonderful in its simplicity.

We had a birthday party on Friday night but other than that, we stayed close to home. Our Saturday morning began nice and easy as the boys and I made two loaves of zucchini bread with some of the zucchini from our garden (it’s still thriving!) and then we did some melty beads together while Ryan was out running, biking and swimming around the world as part of his latest Half IronMan training.

I followed this recipe from Cookie + Kate for the zucchini bread and Ryan and I gave it two thumbs up though we agreed a thick smear of butter on top was a must! Rhett liked the zucchini bread a lot but it got a solid “meh” from the big kids. Shocking.

Melty beads and biggie beads kept the boys entertained for quite a while as they set out to make a little flock of multicolored ducklings. (I made a watermelon keychain because I find melty beads oddly relaxing.)

I also must recommend this tiny craft iron to anyone whose kids are into melty beads. It was recommended to me by a few of you on Instagram and I couldn’t order that thing fast enough! You don’t need any water to make it work and simply plug it in and turn it on. It’s been a nice alternative to our big iron and easily fits into a small drawer in our kitchen for easy access.

Ryan was done with his Half IronMan training around 8 a.m. and he then gave the boys haircuts and we did a little yard work before heading out for a family boat ride! We lucked out with finding our favorite little beach empty and dropped anchor for a few hours of swimming and splashing.

Rhett also wanted to make sure to get in a few slides off our dock once we made it back home before it was his nap time!

Speaking of naps, a while back Rhett cracked the code when we’d spell “N-A-P” around him so now listening to us try to talk about naps in code when Rhett is with us is awfully amusing. “It’s almost time for that thing upstairs on the mattress.” “P-A-N but backwards is coming up.”

Oh! And another sleep-related thing to share: Rhett is officially pacifier free! I was sweating dropping the pacifier big-time but knew he could do it because he was down to only really using it in his crib or in the car for long car rides. I just delayed it a bit because I wanted to make it through the most challenging weeks of potty training before rocking his world again.

We decided to cut the pacifier cold turkey on Friday after Rhett bit a hole through his last remaining Wubbanub. We explained that it was broken and not safe anymore and while Rhett boycotted his pacifier free-nap on Friday, he slept well on Friday night and we haven’t looked back. Phew! I do think hyping up his stuffed animals as comfort creatures over the past month or two helped a lot as well because he was all about cuddling Suki, his favorite stuffed husky.

But back to Saturday!

Our afternoon was fairly relaxed and included lunch (Ryan made clams at Chase’s request!), reading, playtime in the yard and a little work time for me. We eventually made it over to the pool for a carboard boat regatta which was way too entertaining!

We actually saw the boat competition last year at the pool and knew we wanted to participate this year because it looked so fun. Ryan signed our family up a week or so ago and filled us in on the rules. The objective of the regatta was to make a boat using only cardboard and tape that would make it to the end of the pool and back. If multiple boats achieved the goal, the objective then became to be the fastest one to make it to the end of the pool and back!

I honestly didn’t think our boat would make it, especially when last year’s winner showed up in a boat completely covered in duct tape (you can see it behind the boys in the above pic), but Chase and Ryder didn’t sink and we all cheered our faces off!

Ryan gets all the credit for making a boat that didn’t sink and the boys were thrilled to earn medals for their achievement!

We spent the rest of the night swimming and playing various pool games and it was the kind of summer night that reminded me of childhood and how much fun it was to spend hours at the pool just playing and splashing around. (Side note: Did anyone else play the color game as a kid? Where you’d guess colors and get dunked if you were wrong but flipped around once you got it right? I taught that one to the boys on Saturday night and they loveeed it.)

Sunday

Sunday morning we began our day with a family bike ride; the longest ride for Ryder to date! We went about eight miles roundtrip but stopped twice.

Our first stop took us to a local coffee shop where we refueled with an assortment of macarons.

Stop number two took us less than a mile from stop number one. We parked our bikes at a local park for some playtime for the boys before biking the rest of the way home.

I’m not sure what happened at the park but Ryder and Rhett started to deteriorate quickly and the whiny voices came out in full force so we wrapped up our little adventure and biked home. An early lunch seemed to help everyone find their joy again and then while the big kids chilled at home with Ryan, I took Rhett with me to Publix and then to the pet store to grab some crickets for Lucky. We also bought a cat toy for Pepper because I swear Pepper is part cat loves to pounce on things. I thought one of those feathery cat toys would be right up her alley and I thought wrong. She looked at us like we were crazy when we tried to entice her with a long pole with a feather attached to it proving that she is not, in fact, a cat after all.

I offered to cover the nap trap with Rhett on Sunday afternoon because finding work windows during the summertime with the boys around all day is tricky and I needed some catchup time. Ryan took the big kids to the trampoline park for an hour (they have a crazy-cheap kid membership where it’s like $10 a month!) and then to the pool to cool off while Rhett and I stayed back for nap time/quiet time/work time. These days with Rhett we don’t know what we’re going to get as some days he’ll nap for a solid three hours and other times he won’t nap for several days in a row. Sunday ended up being a no-nap day but he was still content in his crib with some books for more than an hour so I took full advantage of this time to work.

Once everyone was home again, we took Pepper on a walk, hung out close to home and wrapped up the weekend with family movie night before settling everyone into bed.

As for this week, it’s a “camp week” in our house. The big kids are in farm camp this week with a bunch of their friends and they are so, so excited! (Rhett and I will be enjoying some quality time together while Chase and Ryder are hanging with chickens and goats.) We also have plans to attend a baseball game with friends on Wednesday night which should be fun! It should be a full week but a good one. Enjoy your Monday, my friends!