Friends: it has finally happened. It feels like fall here in the DC area!
Here’s how I feel about it:
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I met my friend Kathleen for a run a few days ago and it was the first run that has actually felt good in months. I just really don’t enjoy hot weather running (and haven’t done much of it, to be honest – maybe one short run a week since summer hit).
Every summer I start thinking maybe I don’t actually enjoy running after all… and then every fall I remember I do. Having a friend with me helps, too – most of my recent runs have been solo because of busy schedules and travel and running alone is just very meh for me.
So, yay for company and great weather to boot!
Kathleen and I did an out and back on the Mt. Vernon Trail from Roosevelt Island. We made it about 4 miles total (I forgot to restart my watch after a break at the turnaround point, so no watch pic).
Running somewhere that wasn’t just my same old neighborhood loop was also nice. Mt. Vernon trail, I’ve missed you!
Nice weather also made family adventures over the weekend way better. Matt and I took the kids over to Huntley Meadows on Saturday morning for a family hike.
Huntley Meadows is one of our local faves – it has a beautiful marsh with a boardwalk where you can see all sorts of fun wildlife (birds, frogs, turtles, and sometimes even muskrats), and you enter and depart on some beautiful wooded trails.
Riese has been to Huntley Meadows a bunch of times with me on Riese + Mommy dates, but Wes hadn’t been since he was a little baby. He loved it…
Despite the fact that within the first 5 minutes we were out there he jumped directly into this little pond, thinking it was solid because it was covered with algae! Whoops… that was quite a surprise for him!
Matt was like “nooooooo!!!!” but didn’t get to him until it was too late!
So Wes spent the rest of the hike barefoot and was a total champ about it. Thankfully on the boardwalk it was smooth so he was fine walking without shoes, and in the woods we either carried him or had him in the stroller (it’s a flat and pretty clear trail so fine for strollers which is nice).
It was really nice to get out and about as a family and do something fun and not end up drowning in sweat by the end of it. We want to do something like this more often with the kids now that the weather isn’t horrible.
If you’re local, any other recs for kid-friendly trails or outdoorsy adventures that are also enjoyable for mom and dad (aka not just standing around at a playground)?
As for food, I’ve been out of the habit of taking pictures of my meals lately since we’ve been eating similar stuff a lot, but I did snag a photo of this gorgeous fig salad I enjoyed on a date night with Matt at one of our Del Ray faves, Stracci pizza.
Isn’t it pretty? Will definitely be recreating this!
And that reminds me, it’s perfect timing now for my Harvest Bowls with Sweet Potato… love that recipe so much!
And that’s all I have for you today! I’m having a bit of writer’s block lately when it comes to lifestyle posts… if you have any requests for topics or things you’d like for me to share/write about, I’m all ears.
Have a great week – my birthday is Thursday and I’ve got my annual girl’s trip to Cape May over the weekend. So excited and perfect timing to do something fun for my birthday! I’ll share a recap next week!
