Summer 2019 (Week 1) - Relaxing and Beach Prep

Hey, y’all!  Our house sitter has taken over for us while we're gone, and we’ve arrived in paradise so be sure to follow along on Instagram stories!  Also, since we’ve officially headed into the summer months, I’ll be recapping our entire week every Monday as I did last summer.  Here’s how week one of our summer went!

Monday, May 27

We saw Aladdin and celebrated Memorial Day.  Recap here.

Tuesday, May 28

This was the first official day of summer break for the kids, and mean ol’ Mommy had scheduled a check-up for Olivia’s thyroid at 9 AM.  Haha.  You may remember we have been monitoring a cyst on her thyroid for just over a year now.  We have to visit our ENT once every three months for him to do a quick ultrasound to make sure it hasn’t grown.  He is in very high demand, and it’s just awful having an afternoon appointment because they get so backed up, so I scheduled it bright and early for the first day they were out of school.

My big girl did great at her check-up and the doc said that the lump still looks like a smooth, benign, cyst, so that’s the good part.  The not-so-great part is that it has grown during the last three months.  At our last visit it measured at 1.5 cm and 2 cm back-to-front and side-to-side and it was 2.5 cm lengthwise.  The length has now grown by 2 mm.  He said that’s really not a big deal in the scheme of things, but because it’s continuing to grow, it is still necessary for us to keep visiting him every three months.  He’s hoping to get us to a point where we only have to visit once every six months, but that will only happen if it ever stabilizes.

The rest of the day Tuesday was spent doing laundry, playing Uno Attack, reading with the kids (yes, we’re always reading!), cleaning out, photographing, and filing all of their school papers from the last half of the year (see my method here), and me doing some work while the kids watched The Sandlot. 

While cleaning out Jacob’s book bag, I came across his prayer journal.  In second grade, each child keeps a prayer journal that they write in every single morning at school (yet another reason why we value Catholic school!), and I just loved being able to see all of the things he prayed for throughout the year.  He prayed for each of us and the rest of our family a lot, as well as his friends, but there were also some funny things he prayed for (Legos and mazes), as well as a few other things that were very touching (“for the army because they defend our country”).  Needless to say, I couldn’t throw any of those prayers out, so the entire composition book is in his second grade folder.  What’s a girl to do?

When B got home from work Tuesday afternoon, he tagged in and I tagged out, and I ran to the gym to get a quick workout in.  I’ve decided I won’t be skipping out on the gym this summer like I did last summer.  By the end of last summer I felt awful from not working out regularly, so I don’t want that to happen again!  I saw one of my old coworkers there when I arrived, so we did a quick catch-up chat and then I got my workout on!  People always ask me how I burn so many calories in such a short amount of time since I don’t run, and the answer is INCLINE.  It’s all about the incline, y’all.  I keep mine on a 12 the entire time and it does wonders for your glutes, thighs, and calves!

When I got home, we threw together a quick dinner of pulled pork sandwiches and green beans, and then had some downtime before putting the kiddos to bed.

Wednesday, May 29

The kids requested homemade waffles for breakfast and I wasn’t going to say no to that!  My happy little helpers wanted to make them with me, so I hoisted them up on the counter so they could reach the ingredients and the mixing bowl.  We had no place to be all day, so we hit up the pool in the back yard around 9:45 and didn’t come back in until almost 2!  Yep, the kids played nonstop for over four hours, only breaking to eat lunch on the back porch, and even after all that time out there, I had to drag them in because they wanted to stay longer! 

We all came in and showered, and then they watched Lego Batman while I worked a little.  I have a feeling the afternoon movies will be a thing all summer!  We like to play hard all morning and early afternoon, and then come inside and unwind during the hottest part of the day.  That allows them to relax a little and it allows me to get some work done without being distracted!

The rest of the day was spent packing for the beach, eating breakfast for dinner, and snuggling up and reading in bed with the kiddos while B played tennis. 

Another great day in the books!

Thursday, May 30

Thursday started out with morning cartoons and breakfast followed by a few last minute errands for the beach.  The kids have been begging to spend some of their money so I let them each buy a toy with their own money at Walmart, and then we headed back home for lunch.  The rest of the day was spent packing.

When B got home from work Thursday afternoon, I immediately hit the road for a girls’ dinner with some of my old coworkers.  Five of us met at a local sports bar for happy hour drinks and apps and it was a great evening getting caught up with each other as well as with the work gossip.  Ha!

Friday, May 31

Friday after breakfast we got ready and headed out for a few more errands.  We hit up Kohl’s first, followed by a quick lunch and some indoor playground time at Chick-Fil-A, and then we headed to two different libraries in town so I could grab two books that I’ve been dying to read for months.  They’re both finally old enough where they’re not constantly checked out all the time, so I snatched both of them up for some beach reading!

After the library, we stopped by my mom’s office to surprise her only to find that the construction they’ve been doing there for a few months now had taken over her actual office and she was able to leave early for the weekend.  Such a nice treat for her!

The kids played Legos for the rest of the day while I packed, and then Friday evening we met my FIL for Mexican for dinner to celebrate Father’s Day a little early since he’ll be out of town off and on in June.

B and I wrapped up our Friday evening with a couple more episodes of Better Call Saul and then it was off to bed.

Saturday, June 1

Saturday was spent packing and preparing because Sunday was BEACH DAY!  After packing all morning I took an hour to lay out in the sun and read my book, and then we headed to mass at 5:30.  We had Mex for dinner with my parents and grandmother, and then kicked off vacation week with Blizzards from DQ.

We left for the beach on Sunday and I’ll recap all of that after our trip is over.  In the mean time, be sure to follow along on our beach adventures over in my Instagram stories… we’ll be here all week!

Happy Monday, y’all!

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