Life lately

It’s been awhile since I wrote a Life Lately post, but we’ve had a number of smaller adventures recently that deserve their time in the sun! April and May have been sweet months to soak up our last few weeks as a family of four, knowing that things will get more complicated (but even sweeter!) soon enough.

The weather has been perfect – mild (mid-70s) and sunny for the most part. We’ve had several trips to the strawberry patch as well as lots of picnics around the Triangle, like at Bond Park for kite flying, the Raleigh Rose Garden to see the flowers, and all sorts of playgrounds.

We planted our garden – kale, basil, jalapeno, and lots of tomatoes (Patio, Sun Gold, Super Sweet 100, Celebrity, Husky Cherry Red). Below are the three pots that we planted for the first time last year. They were a huge part of getting us to our 1000 tomato count in 2020, so I’m expecting big things from these three!

We took our family photos with Ally! It’s… a lot to get everyone ready for photos, but we were SO lucky to have the most picture-perfect (literally) weather, and I cannot WAIT to see what she returns! Feeling very grateful to have this season of life professionally captured the last time around. And gosh, Ally is just about the sweetest person on earth. John was like, “do you think all photographers make you feel this good?” Ha!

On Mother’s Day weekend we drove north to Charlottesville to meet up with John’s sister and our brother-in-law, a reunion 1.5 years in the making thanks to COVID. Funny story: we headed up the mountain for a hike on Saturday morning. It was about 65 at our Airbnb, but by the time we got to the Humpback Rocks parking lot, off the Blue Ridge Parkway, it had plummeted to 49 (!). June was in the worst shape with shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, so after rummaging in the diaper bag I tossed her Shep’s emergency pair of (2T) sweatpants to see if she could squeeze into them. She could, though they looked a bit like European joggers, ha! Shep rocked his nap blanket like a cape for warmth.

We survived to enjoy some other Charlottesville highlights, too: MarieBette Bakery (incredible – we went twice!), walking around the UVA grounds (Joe is a double alum), dinner at Selvedge Brewery at the Wool Factory (SUCH a cool space with massive glass walls!), playing at Riverview Park and scooting along the Rivanna Trail, Crozet Pizza, and takeout from the Dairy Market (Take It Away sandwiches and Chimm Street pho).

Durham Bulls games are one of our very favorite spring and summer activities in the Triangle, and we were grateful to squeeze in a trip (to only their second home game of the season!) before the weather got too hot. Some benefits thanks to COVID: there was no one sitting anywhere near us, and concessions could all be ordered from an app (and they’d text you when it was ready!).

Last but certainly not least, I took the day off work on Friday to redeem one of June’s Christmas presents: pedicures and afternoon tea at Fearrington Village!

We had the most beautiful weather and enjoyed our pedicures, our tea, visiting the shops, goats, and gardens, and many hours of conversation. She is just the best little friend to spend time with and I love her so.

Clearly, the day took it out of her, ha!

I hope y’all have been enjoying this spring weather, too! Planning to use part of our Memorial Day weekend to make a summer bucket list and keep the fun rolling :)