Hi friends! Checking in with some randomness for you all today, so putting it in list format to make it seem slightly more cohesive. 😉
5 Things
1) Our 10 year (!!) wedding anniversary is this week
Wow. I cannot believe it has been that long!
Take a trip down memory lane here in the wedding area of the blog if you’re into it. 😉
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To celebrate, Matt and I are heading up to Acadia National Park in Maine to do a bunch of hiking! I’m super excited. We are staying at a nearby hotel, not camping, but plan to do as much hiking/outdoorsy stuff as we can while there.
I’ve been up in the Bar Harbor area of Maine once before (for a Wild Blueberry Association press trip back in 2014 – so fun, I miss getting to do cool press trips like that! pic below) and it’s gorgeous.
I’m super excited to go back, and to check out Acadia this time!
If you have any recommendations for which hikes to do, places to eat, other things to do in that area of Maine, etc., we’d love your recs!
And a huge thank you in advance to Matt’s parents who will be staying home with our kids. This is the first time we’ve both been gone at the same time overnight – eek!
I know they are in good hands, though. 🙂 We leave tomorrow – bring on the vacay vibes!
2) We went to a fall festival last weekend
They had a corn maze. As Riese and I were going in, she said: “Let’s split up!”
LOL. I had to inform her that that is basically the last thing you want to do in a corn maze… (that, and when in a horror movie, always run outside, not up the stairs).
Thankfully it was a fun vs. creepy one. 🙂
This guy also loved the fall festival – they had a bunch of big slides that he enjoyed, and he also enjoyed running the opposite direction from whatever the rest of us were trying to do… oh, 16 months.
This age is so freaking cute and also SUCH a handful! Speaking of, he had a major diaper blowout situation while we were there that involved throwing away his onesie… good times.
We were at Butler’s Orchard – for any of you who were local, it was a good spot, def recommend! Tons of stuff for kids to do.
3) I’m getting really excited for the Marine Corps 10k!
My friend Kathleen (who is running it with me) and I had a great training run over the weekend.
We made it a little over 4 miles on the beautiful C&O Canal Trail. There was a TON of action out there that morning – a boy scout group, a 20 mile training run group (for the Marine Corps Marathon), and a half marathon race – the Georgetown Half, I think?
Busy morning on the trails! It was fun having people out cheering for us even though we weren’t doing the race. 😉
It was also GORGEOUS weather for a run. I love fall running so much! Such a treat after hot and humid summer slogs.
I felt good on this run, too… I’m not totally 10k ready yet but I’ll get there by race day!
4) Fall grilling season is my favorite
Anyone else? Way better than summer IMO because the weather is much better!
We had some friends over for a little backyard BBQ last weekend which was fun.
We had grilled chicken and sausages, a cheesy mushroom pasta, kale salad, and some unpictured fruit! It was all yummy and fun to catch up with our friends.
We actually went out to dinner with the same group the night before, but the little kids (they have a daughter around Wes’s age) were kind of hot mess and we barely got to talk, so this was our re-do where the kids could romp around and we could actually socialize!
If you’re looking for some grilling inspiration – check out this post: Healthy Grilling Recipes for Summer (or Fall).
5) Riese is a good little hiking buddy nowadays!
There have been some school holidays lately where she’s home but our babysitter comes for Wes, so I’ve taken advantage with some morning hiking dates that would be a challenge to do with Wes in tow (because of his noon nap timing, or because the hikes are kind of treacherous – like the one pictured below we did with friends a couple weeks ago where all of us crawled along this log over the water – big excitement)!
Riese and I did a hike yesterday morning just the two of us, which was a nice treat – we went to Huntley Meadows Park which we both love, and the weather was phenomenal.
We saw all sorts of cool stuff – check out this picture with a heron, a bunch of geese, AND a mama turtle and baby turtles on the log! All the things!
Riese is turning 5 next month and is at such a fun age right now – I feel like she’s coming out of the completely irrational everything phase (and also the “my whole life just got turned upside down because I’m not an only child anymore and I’m super mad about it” phase) and turning into more of a regular human/buddy.
She still has her moments for sure, but having a bigger kid is really nice!
She got so excited to bring her binoculars and go on this hike with me – we had a really nice time out there exploring and wandering around. The leaves are starting to turn here just slightly – I bet they are going to be amazing in Maine later this week!
I hope you have a nice week and that wherever you are, you are also getting some lovely weather.
Stay tuned for some recipe inspiration coming at you on Friday, and I’ll be back next week with some Maine hiking/food/adventure recaps! Thanks in advance for any recs!
