It’s that time of year when you’re over the summer heat, time seems to stop, and all you want to do is jump into something cold. You’re running around to summer picnics, planning last-minute vacations, prepping for back to school, and/or stressing about how you’re going to have to go back to five-day work weeks once summer Fridays end.
Since Liam was born, our summer days look a little different than they used to. A typical summer weekend includes twice-daily trips to the park, chasing Liam around the house, reading the same books over and over, reevaluating our baby-proofing, playing peek-a-boo a billion times, taking tricycle rides around the neighborhood, making weekly trips to Stop & Shop, going back to the park, meal prepping for the week, visits from friends and family, and walking through the heat to get ice cream. We celebrate these little summer moments together, now as a family.
But through all this, we have to be prepared, especially when going to the park. The diaper bag needs to have the essentials like Liam’s favorite snacks, toys, and water bottle. But also diapers, wipes, extra pair of clothes, a hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, and a towel for the ‘water park’ (I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but you get the picture. We need to be ready for the unexpected!). The last thing we want to be doing is running a bunch of errands on the weekend just to make sure we have everything we need. Thank goodness Stop & Shop makes that easy for us.
This post is sponsored by Stop & Shop. Lilies and Loafers was compensated for this post and exposure on our social platforms. We are already frequent shoppers at Stop & Shop, so we were happy to write about our experience.
Summer Days
When we get up around 6:30 am on the weekends, we jump out of bed and start our day. That usually means I get up with Liam and let Fatima sleep in (for the next twenty or so minutes). Under a watchful eye, he plays independently while I start on the coffee and prep his breakfast. After mommy and daddy are caffeinated and Liam finishes his breakfast, we head to the park. He loves the swings and we’re usually on those until the shade disappears, then hit up the playground. We head back to the house for some reading, more playing, and a nap.
During this nap is when mommy and I do everything we need to do before he wakes up, and that usually includes us eating lunch. Last weekend we had this mayonnaise-less chicken salad. It used avocado instead of mayo, and it was delicious.
Summer in the Park
When our son wakes up, he has his lunch. He’ll usually have whatever we’re eating, squash cakes, or a Happy Tot protein bowl (he loves the cheesy lentils and quinoa one). We do some laps through his favorite book, watch Word Party, and head back to the park.
Park visit #2 is to cool off in the water. The park we go to has these fountains that spray water in all sorts of ways. Liam loves to walk around and try to evade the water. But once he gets wet, he goes headfirst into the fountains. We dry off on the swings and then run around the playground. The playground in the afternoon is packed with kids and every inch has been defaced with chalk.
The diaper bag, needs to have his and our favorite snacks on hand. Usually, it’s fresh fruit to stay hydrated (and water bottles), an assortment of Happy Tot granola bars to fuel the fun and teething crackers for when those molars act up. Bug wipes and towelettes are also a must. Before we head home, we usually need to wipe all the chalk off of our son. Then we head back home for more afternoon fun–aka more reading, peek-a-boo, and prepping dinner.
We could have easily run to five different stores just to find what we’re looking for, but we went to Stop & Shop because they have everything we need. This includes: our favorite ground coffee to wake up to every day, Liam’s favorite snacks for the park, fresh fruit for our snacking, ingredients for meals for the week, everything we needed for the chicken avocado salad, Liam’s prepackaged meals from our favorite brands, wipes for when the fun gets messy, and toddler-friendly bug spray and wipes.
Lazy Summer Sundaes
Last weekend was hot and we needed to cool off. I thought it would be a lot of fun to have an ice cream sundae bar after our afternoon park visit. We were already on our weekly trip to Stop & Shop, so it made shopping for the sundae bar a lot easier. Fatima and I were like kids in a candy store when thinking about what we wanted to include: Fruity Pebbles, Reese’s peanut butter cups, sprinkles, sugar cones, whipped cream, ‘magic shell’ and maraschino cherries. We wanted the works and Liam was just there for the ice cream.
We set up the sundae bar and dove right in. It was my favorite summer weekend. I’m so fascinated with how much our son loves ice cream. This reminded me of my childhood. On grocery trips, the shopping cart would fill up with all the ingredients for an ice cream sundae bar. This almost always happened when dad was tasked with grocery shopping.
We’re learning that parenting is about being present and not taking our time together for granted. When we can save time on errands, chores, and general life-prepping, without sacrificing quality, we will, if it means we get to spend more time together. We’re looking forward to making more of these memories in these last weeks of summer. Another sundae bar? Definitely.
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