Scenes From A Weekend

Well, m’peeps.

It’s been a weekend.

Unexpectedly full of to-dos and a few errands. And the to-dos are ever-present and nothing new, but the errands get to me a bit more than they did five months ago, because we’re just not used to them anymore!

That said...since we’re still in the family mode of trying to condense any external errands, for exposure’s sake, we decided to make a day of it yesterday and take care of it all, while working in a bit of outdoor time.

To start with, we had the loveliest patio lunch in one of our favorite areas of the city. A beautiful little park that’s right on the river, and since we still don’t really eat out in restaurants, it felt like an extra-special treat.

I’ve mentioned a bit here on this blog how our food habits as a household have changed so, dang much—by necessity—over the past five months.

The hubby is still knee-deep in work to repair his gut, and as a result, is dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, soy free, non-processed—and about a million-gazillion other restrictions, but that means we have to eat super clean, in general.

To be clear, the kiddos and I follow his restrictions for dinner, but not necessarily the other meals (or desserts!), thank heavens. But, still. Anyone who’s been down the road of an intensely restrictive diet can attest to the fact that there’s really no turning back once you’ve become so very aware of what you’re putting in your body.

Anywho...all this to say that we are grateful this all happened during the pandemic, as we can’t really eat in restaurants right now, anyway, with so many restrictions. But as a result of this whole food journey, we’ve also gotten to the place of not wanting to eat out unless the food is equal parts healthy/flavorful/something-too-hard-or-fancy-to-cook-at-home. Otherwise, it’s just not worth it, these days.

Luckily, this appetizer of cauliflower and Brussels sprouts with a chili honey (and other flavors I can’t remember) was beyond amazing. A bit of a kick, but so worth it. And very scrumptious for this gal who sometimes feels  like the kitchen prep-cook-cleanup cycle is a never-ending hamster wheel.

And the best best part of this lovely patio meal was the fact that we had a corner area all to ourselves, far from any other patron (and we were all temperature-checked upon entry, to boot), so we were able to spend a rowdy half-hour playing charades as we waited on our food.

The kiddos were happy and creative. :) it really was a blast.





And so was our walk down by the river to say hello to the ducks and turtles and fish. Hot as a holy inferno, but, still. Happy times. :)







And then, just look at the gloriousness of the sunset out our living room windows last night:



We’d just finished watching an episode of Crikey: It’s The Irwins! (a family favorite of ours), and Little Man was the first to spot the view and point it out to us.

So...all in all, I was so grateful for some outdoor beauty yesterday, and a shake-up of routine, because today was full of online church, laundry, cleaning and blah.

Looking forward to our final Monday, Science FUN day, tomorrow, and stay tuned for more of our summer wrap-up.

Happy Sunday, peeps.

Over and out.