The past two years, we’ve gone up to the cabin in August and it’s been cool and cloudy. A nice break from the summer heat in town, but we figured we’d try going up earlier in the season and maybe being a little warmer. It worked! We had lots of sun and it was even hot at times. Let this also be known as the year we caught and cooked a fish and both kids cried about it 😅

Picked Dempsey up from school on Friday, finished packing up the car (why is it always so much stuff??) and hit the road, so we were up at the cabin by 5:30ish. Just Lydia yelling “I LOVE BEING HERE!” as we walked up to the front door. We unpacked and then we all made individual pizzas for the grill. Turned out so fun and good! After dinner, we hung out for a bit, got the kids’ room set up (Dempsey only needed like eight different things from his room at home to replicate his sleeping experience), then Joey started a fire so we could make s’mores. I can’t lie, I love a s’more. Got the kids into bed afterward but there were many shenanigans after we left and we could hear them using the pencil sharpener in there 😂

Woke up Saturday to the kids coming out of their room at… 6 AM?! Whyyyyy. Nothing like a cup of coffee in the fresh mountain air 🥰 Joey made us all oatmeal and then we hung out for a bit before getting ready to go fishing. The kids have been talking about fishing for months! I packed us lunch so we wouldn’t have to rush home and then we tried a new spot that Jory recommended to us. It was windy and when the sun went behind the clouds, it was chilly but otherwise it was so nice. Joey caught three fish and we kept the last one to bring home and cook. Both kids knew this was the plan but I guess the idea of catching and cooking a fish is different than actually seeing it done because they both cried. Dempsey shortly after we put it in the cooler to bring home and Lydia later when I grilled it (even though she had watched Joey clean it out). I think they were both tired and it was making them extra emotional, but still 😟

Tears aside, the other highlights of the day were shooting off a BB gun, watching Wallace and Gromit on VHS, getting an ice cream bar with Dempsey (no joke, Lydia fell asleep on the 5-minute drive down the hill AGAIN) and cooking steak and potatoes on the grill. Dempsey ended up trying the fish even. Got those little sleepies to bed much earlier, then hit the hay ourselves.

Lydia was knocking on her door to come out of her room at 6:30 on Sunday, but ended up falling back asleep in our bed 🥹 Dempsey was up a bit later and then Joey made coffee and buttermilk pancakes for he and I and the kids ate Cinnamon Toast Crunch in front of the heater 😂 Packed up, had a little family photo shoot then hopped in the car and were home before 11 AM. Joey and I let the kids rest and get back to their beloved TV while we got our chores done and then we took a quick-ish trip to the splash pad. Lydia fell and busted up her knee AGAIN but she recovered long enough to get back out there and Dempsey was busy the entire time building sand tunnels in the water. I’m so glad we went. Dempsey saw someone else eating McDonald’s and had to have it, so we got Happy Meals for the kids and cooked smash burgers for ourselves.

I hope you all had a good weekend and I hope we didn’t traumatize our kids into being vegetarians 😂 Happy Monday!

P.S. Dempey watched Babe up at the cabin and has been saying “it’s not criminal to be an individual” since 😂😂

We had back to back to back celebrations this weekend and it was a whirlwind! Dempsey graduated preschool on Friday and I somehow managed not to cry (though the slideshow almost got me!), but I can’t say the same for Toy Story 5, which had me tear up several times. Then a Saturday wedding (Lydi’s first!) where we ate, danced and socialized with family before celebrating Father’s Day on Sunday with a backyard dinner at our house. It was all really nice but between all of those events and the extra time I took off last week to enjoy some summer fun with the kids, I’m feeling slightly desperate for some alone time and to actually go into the office 😅

Sorry not sorry for all of the photos but it’s not every day your first baby graduates preschool 🥹🥹🥹 He had been singing bits of pieces of the songs they were rehearsing, so it was so sweet to actually hear them full out. And why does he look so cute in that cap and gown?? Post-performance, diploma handout and slideshow (complete with photos AND an interview 😂), we had our own photo shoot then headed to lunch at Fire on the Mountain. Dempsey opened some gifts from all of us and I hope he felt special because he is ❤️ I’m so proud of him and excited for his next adventure in kindergarten! A little bit later, the four of us headed to the theater to see Toy Story 5 and wow, they were not taking it easy on the parents! Kids struggling to make friends?? Nooooo. But I love to see a Jessie-forward plotline honestly and Joey and I laughed a lot at all of the Woody-is-old jokes. I also really loved the animation in all of Bonnie’s imagination sequences — I see you trying something new Pixar! The kids liked it too! Back at home, bed, bath and bedtime for the kids, then TV time for the parents before their own bedtime.

Joey was already out on his two hour run by the time I got up on Saturday, so I started pancakes for us then went upstairs once the kids were awake. We had planned to take Lydia to soccer before the wedding at 11 AM but she was NOT having it. Made me real nervous for preschool to start in September 😨 Did our best to brush that experience off and started getting ready. I curled Lydi’s hair for the first time and it looked so cute! We did our best to get a family photo but the kids had the sillies already 😂 11 AM wedding means a brunch buffet and Dempsey ate like ten pieces of bacon! Afterward, the girls and Landon were having a blast on the dance floor then relocated outside when they realized it was less loud and they had more room to run. Dempsey was out there already, so it worked for him! It was a really nice wedding ❤️ Back at home, BLTs for dinner (the best!) and then we put the kids to bed before starting this awful movie that we finished last night and I truly didn’t care for. What can you do?

Joey was up and out of the house early for golf with his own dad and I had planned to get up and work out before the kids woke up but I went to start and of course they were both awake 😅 So they got to watch TV while I lifted and at one point, Dempsey told me “you’re doing really good, Mom,” so that’s all the motivation I need 🥹 I took them to the farmers’ market after breakfast, on the promise that I would be quick and we wouldn’t have to be there long 😅 Got popsicles, peaches, pluots (whatever that is!) and flowers before sweating our way home. Joey came home around lunchtime and the kids were so excited to have him open their gifts! I picked up a pie, made pork carnitas, prepped taco toppings and corn before everyone came over at 3 and despite a little bit of rain mid-meal, we had a really good time. I could tell the kids were tired when Lydia was asking me to rock her at 4:45 and Dempsey was laying on the floor crying because we wouldn’t let him open a Spindrift after everyone left 😅😅 It was a long weekend for them too!

Hoping to return to some normalcy this work week before heading up to the mountains this weekend. Happy Monday!