Our Week - The One with Summer, Week 10 (Movie Date Night, Trampoline Park, Swimming, Sleepovers, Bowling, an Impromptu Girls Night, and the Aquatic Center)

Last week, was our last week of summer break… I STILL can’t believe it.  Needless to say, we spent the whole week squeezing out every single last ounce of goodness as possible. 

Monday, July 29

Monday, I was up around 7:30 to have breakfast, and do the rest of my morning routine.  The kids were both up around 9, and they had breakfast and watched some TV while I caught up on some blog reading.  I kept my computer time brief, and then it was time to get some stuff done.

I finally got all of my Prime Day stuff unpacked, tried on, tested, and put away and I got all of the returns ready as there were a few items that didn’t work/I decided not to keep.  After that, I bagged up all of the recycling, trash, and donations from Olivia’s room cleanout, and I got all of that put away.  I also tackled the laundry Monday – all five loads – and got that out of the way.  Oh, and I got a few more items photographed and listed to sell.  It was a productive morning!

It wasn’t blazing hot in the morning, and it wasn’t raining, so the kids hung out outside for a bit while I worked on all of that, and then they came inside to play one of Jacob’s new games that he’d gotten from Grandpa for his birthday. 

After lunch, Olivia finished up the last of her IXL summer homework which meant that she was totally done with everything for the summer – woo hoo! – and then the kids played video games for a bit while I did some blog work and a Bible study.  We also had a fun little time watching a bunny eat right by our back porch.  We have seen bunnies in our yard before, but they have never been so brazen as to come right up to the back porch.  We couldn’t believe it!

Brian got off of work a little early Monday so we could take the kids to his dad’s house, and he and I headed out for a little movie date to see Twisters.  The movie started at 4:45 and didn’t get out until 7:15, so we knew we wanted to eat dinner during the movie, but the movie theater food here is terrible.  What do you do in that situation?  You bring a big bag with you to the theater, stop by Chick-Fil-A for nuggs and fries, and you bring it in the theater with you.  Haha.

We would never do that if the theater was packed, but we knew that there would be very few people at a 4:45 showing on a Monday, so we had no qualms about eating right in the theater.  Sure enough, there were less than 10 other people in the whole theater, so we were able to eat our Chick-Fil-A without attracting any attention to ourselves.  Haha.

We both liked the movie a lot!  If you liked the old Twister from the 90’s (which I did), then you will like this one, too! 

Also, one of us actually dressed for a date night while the other clearly dressed for comfort and warmth.  I had a sweater in my bag, too.  #NoRegrets

We picked up the kids from Grandpa’s after that, and then we headed home for the evening.  Since it was still light out, I went for a run, and I narrowly missed yet another storm that rolled in right after.  We have had soooo many storms lately.  But first, a check of Olivia’s sunflowers!

I got showered when I got home, and then Olivia and I snuggled in the bed and read some more of her book together while the boys watched The Olympics. 

After the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of The Olympics, and then we called it a night, too.

 

Tuesday, July 30

Tuesday, I was up at 7:45, and after all of my morning chores, I got some blog work done.  I also sat down and planned out every single detail of every single day that was left of summer break.  At that point, there were only seven days left (including that day), and we still had so much that we wanted to do!

I contacted parents and set up sleepovers, I planned a few fun things, and I arranged a couple of outings with friends, including a spontaneous outing to the local entertainment center later that day.

I got showered after that, and then after a quick lunch at home with the kids, we met our friends Khristina and Noah at the local entertainment center.  Khristina and I spent the whole afternoon chatting while the kids jumped on the trampolines, climbed the rock walls, played in the ball pits, and all the other things.  They were both sweaty and tired by the time we left. 

When we got home, they played video games for a bit while I tackled some more blog work and a Bible study, and then I headed downstairs to make dinner.  We did sheet pan sausage and veggies + blueberry muffins for dinner Tuesday evening, and I turned on some 90’s country while I cooked.  Alexa has a great 90’s country station for those of you who love it like we do… I recently discovered it, and I’ve been listening to it a ton!

After dinner, we got the kitchen cleaned up and then we checked on Olivia’s sunflowers again.  They’re really coming along! 

Once that was done, I got in a stair stepper workout, and then I got a few things done around the house – I got all of the laundry folded and put away, I watered the plants, I got a few areas tidied, and I made my to do list for Wednesday morning. 

We all watched Team USA women’s gymnastics for the rest of the evening.  I’m really surprised at how interested the kids have been in The Olympics this year!

At one point in the evening, I also stepped outside because the sky was stunning… I could tell from inside the house because it was casting this pink/gold glow all over the back yard and it looked incredible.

After the kids went to bed, B and I watched some more of The Olympics and that was our day!

 

Wednesday, July 31

Wednesday morning, I was up at 7:30 and I tackled blog work and “life stuff” all morning while the kids hung out together.  Then, after lunch, I took the kids to swim at my Aunt Joy and Uncle Greg’s pool for a couple of hours.  They ended up doing more floating around on rafts than swimming, but at least they finally got some pool time!

When we got home, all of us showered quickly because we had sleepover company coming over for both kids.  Jacob’s friend, WJ, and Olivia’s friend, Aubrey, were both dropped off around 5, and they all immediately headed upstairs to hang out in their respective rooms.

When Brian got home, we loaded up all four kids and drove to Jack’s for dinner.  We had one open recently here in town, and we’d never tried it, so we thought it would be a good place to take all of them.  The food ended up being even better than I had anticipated… especially their biscuits!  Oh, my word, I didn’t think there was ever a place that would beat Popeye’s and Bojangles biscuits, but Jack’s has the best fast food biscuit title in the bag!

There was hardly anyone there eating inside the restaurant, so the boys sat at their own table, the girls sat at another, and Brian and I sat at a third table.  Haha.

Once we were done there, we headed to Publix to let the kids pick up breakfast pastries for the next morning, and all four of them picked out different things – powdered donuts for Jacob, mini chocolate chip muffins for Olivia, plain cake donuts for WJ, and double chocolate muffins for Aubrey.  #AllTheCarbs

Oh, and while we were there, we spotted the first official sign of fall… EEK!

We made it home just before another storm was getting ready to blow through, and Brian and I went straight outside to get Olivia’s sunflowers staked into the ground.  My poor girl has had a rough history with sunflowers… for the last few years, right as they’re about to bloom they’ve either been plowed over by strong winds or they’ve been eaten by squirrels, so we were bound and determined not to let the wind destroy them this year.

Brian purchased a set on Amazon that made it so easy to push stakes into the ground and clip them right around the sunflower stems, and we finished up just as the wind started blowing in.

We never ended up having a big storm as it went just east of us, so I spent the next while watering the plants outside, taking Maui for a walk, and then doing a strength workout. 

Brian and I watched the Olympics while the kids played and played and played, and then we finally went to bed around 11, telling the kids to “not stay up too late” along the way.  They never listen, but I always feel the need to say it.  Haha.

 

Thursday, August 1

Thursday morning, I was up at 7:45 and I got showered, had breakfast, and finished a blog post, and the boys finally came straggling out of Jacob’s room around 10:30.  They’d stayed up until 2 AM and they’d told us the girls were still awake at 2 when they went to bed.  Yeesh.

The girls finally came straggling out of Olivia’s room just after 11, and while they were eating breakfast, I was eating leftover sheet pan sausage and veggies for lunch.  Haha.

At noon, we headed to the local entertainment center to go bowling, and the kids bowled two games, trolling each other by changing their names on the screen the entire time they played.  Haha.  We saw lots of “Swiftie Loser” and “the worst bowler,” but it was all in good fun.  Haha.  Jacob came in first place in the first game, and Olivia came in first place the second game.

While they played, I ordered a pizza for them for lunch, and after their second game ended, they played a round of laser tag since Aubrey had brought along some free passes for it.

By the time all of that was done, it was time to drop WJ off.  We were originally going to drop Aubrey off as well, but since both of her parents ended up having to work all day, she stayed with us. 

I had an appointment at 3:15, so I had to drop the kids off at my parents’ house, and they were happy to have a third kid in tow.  My mom is a songwriter, and she has some computer software that allows her to create music for songs, so the kids played on that the whole time I was gone, and they had some HILARIOUS songs to play for me when I got back.  That might have been the highlight of their entire two days.  Haha.

By the time I picked them up, Aubrey’s dad was off of work, so we ran to our house to gather up her stuff, and then we took her over to her grandparents’ house where her dad was waiting for her.  I actually grew up going to her grandparents’ house because my best friend’s mom growing up was best friends with Aubrey’s grandmother, so it was like a blast from the past stepping into that house!

While I swung Aubrey over to her grandparents’ house, we left Jacob home alone for the first time ever so that was a milestone!  We’ve never done that before since we’ve never had a house phone and he’s never had a cell phone, so it was a rite of passage for him as a new 13-year-old.  (And her grandparents only live 10 minutes from us – all back roads – so we were only gone, like, 25 minutes anyway.  Haha.)

When I got home, I got a text from my friend Amanda (one of Jacob’s teachers), saying that she was having a last-minute girls night at her house, and that I should come.

We actually had nothing going on other than a workout (which I was happy to skip because spending time with girlfriends > working out) and getting the kids to bed early (since they’d both stayed up until 2+ AM). 

When Brian got home, I made all of them some turkey and cheese biscuit sliders, and then I headed out the door.  We were just doing snacks and drinks for girls night, and although Amanda told me not to worry about bringing anything since it was so last-minute, I hate going anywhere empty-handed, so I swung by the gas station on the way and I picked up some kind of gourmet popcorn and Sour Patch Kids.  So classy.  Hahahaha.  Her house is a short distance from mine, and it’s all country roads, so I didn’t feel like going out of my way to go to Publix. 

We spent the next few hours hanging out together, eating all the snacks, and drinking all the beer and wine.  She had invited four other girls from our school and church fam (one of whom is one of my best friends since high school and one of whom is Aubrey’s mom – we have a very intricately woven crew, haha), and we chatted aaaallll night. 

While I was gone, Brian sent me this picture:

My poor sweet girl.  She always waits for me at the bottom of the stairs every night while we put the kids to bed because she knows that I’ll be coming down to give her her treat.  Well, I wasn’t even home, and she still waited for me to come down the stairs.  Lol.

I got home around 9:45, kissed one sleeping baby (Olivia) and kissed one who was still wide awake (Jacob), and then Brian and I ended the night with some more of the Olympics.

 

Friday, August 2

Friday morning, we left the house around 10:30 to head to FDR State Park to go to the Liberty Bell Pool with some friends.  The Liberty Bell Pool was built in the late 1930’s as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program, so it’s nearly a hundred years old.  Shockingly, I have never been, even though I’ve lived in Georgia almost my whole life, so I was really excited to check it out.  It’s really unique in that it has a natural stone floor, and it’s spring fed.  It’s so cool! 

We made the drive there, and when we arrived, we noticed that there was nobody in the pool area and, instead, everyone was hanging around the entrance.  We found out shortly after that that they were actually closed Friday, and they had forgotten to update their website to reflect the closure, so lots of people made very long drives that day only to be turned around.  Including us.  Sigh.

Khristina and Jeannine and I dicusssed what to do instead.  The logical thing would have been to go to the beach at Callaway Gardens since it was just down the way, but the problem with that is that it was supposed to be nearly 100 degrees, and we hadn’t brought umbrellas since we’d thought we were going to be at the pool.  We knew we wouldn’t survive the day without some kind of shade, so we ultimately ended up driving all the way back home and going to the aquatic center instead. 

Our aquatic center has been open for years, but we’d never been there, so we weren’t sure exactly what to expect.  I have to say, it exceeded my expectations by far, and the kids ended up having the time of their lives.  They loved that they didn’t have the sun beating down on them the whole time, and even more importantly, they loved not having to be slathered in sunscreen first.  Haha.

The very best part, though, was that we had the entire place to ourselves when we first arrived.  Even when we left a few hours later, there were still only about 6-8 other people there.  It was insanely empty.  And also, insanely affordable. 

The kids had been so disappointed that Liberty Bell was closed, so I was happy that they ended up enjoying their time so much at the aquatic center.  While the kids played, the three of us moms sat at chatted the whole time, and it’s always a good time hanging out with those two ladies.  I’m so grateful for their friendships.

We left the pool around 3 and headed straight home for an afternoon and evening of… NOTHING.  And it was glorious!!

The three of us showered and were in PJ’s before 4 PM and then I worked in my office until 6 while the kids played video games.  Brian picked up dinner from our favorite barbecue place, and then we had a family movie night to watch Trolls: Band Together since we hadn’t seen it.  It was so cute!  I liked it better than the second one.

After the kids went to bed, Brian and I started a new show on Apple TV called Defending Jacob and it’s really good so far. 

 

Saturday, August 3

Saturday morning was sleeping in and homemade waffles, and then I had a few minutes of lazy time in my office before getting stuff done.  On the agenda Saturday morning was lots of laundry, getting everything tidied after the sleepovers, some housework, and random other tasks that needed to be done.  Brian worked out in the yard all morning pulling weeds, edging, and doing various other yardwork that he doesn’t do as often as mowing. 

After lunch, I lay in the back yard to read for a bit as I had a library book that needed finishing since it was due soon, and then I got in a Bible study before getting showered and ready for church.

After church, we had Mexican at our favorite local place with our usual group, and the servers came over with the sombrero to sing happy birthday to my dad since his birthday is tomorrow.  They got him good with the fried ice cream, too.  Haha.

When we got home, I had just enough daylight left to take Maui for a short walk, and then we watched a few minutes of the Olympics with the kids before getting them in the bed semi-early.  We wanted to get them back on some kind of schedule since school was starting back in just a few days.  I just love this whimsical girl of mine!  She had turned her bed into the coziest little haven.

After they went to bed, B and I watched two more episodes of Defending Jacob, and then we headed to bed, too.

Sunday, August 4

Sunday morning was cinnamon rolls, a sermon, yoga, and planning the week ahead.  Sadly, planning the week ahead included getting up early and getting the kids to and from school again every day.  Boooo.

After that, I headed outside to lay in the sun and read some more, and Brian worked in the yard some more.  We had some trees growing up by our fence line and he took them all down and cleaned things up really nicely.

I got showered when I came inside, and then we all had a light lunch together.  I ended up working all afternoon to get caught up on blog work since I’d pretty much neglected it for most of the week.  I had an entire blog post to do for Monday and I also had to transfer all of the pictures and videos from the week to my computer.  While I did all of that, I watched The Wedding Planner (surprise, surprise!) and I also started the Taylor Swift documentary Miss Americana since I’d never seen it. 

We headed to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner, and Momma had made her famous spaghetti – best spaghetti ever! – along with salad and bread and chocolate chip cupcakes for dessert.  We hung out there all evening, chatting, and Olivia played her guitar with my dad.

When we got home, I had just enough daylight to take Maui for another walk, so we were out and back in less than 15 minutes.  We got the kids in bed at 9 since we had to be up early-ish Monday for “Meet the Teacher” at their school, and then I spent the next little while getting everything ready for Monday before finally sitting down on the couch to finish my book while B watched House of the Dragon.

And that was our week!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!