Summer in Daybreak

This weekend was such a lovely weekend. It felt like a perfect little microcosm of how great a summer weekend in Daybreak can be. We stayed local, we didn’t use our car one time, and somehow the weekend was still chock-full of fun activities. It is one of the things we really love about living here. Sometimes the best weekends are the ones where everything you need is close by, the weather cooperates, and you just get to enjoy where you live.

On Friday morning I took Madeline to school, which I do most mornings. I am typically in charge of drop-off and Alison is in charge of pick-up. This is a bit of an aside from the rest of the weekend, but also a little Madeline update. She is getting so big. I used to always carry her into school, but lately she has been wanting to walk in by herself. This week she also started wanting to wear her bunny backpack on her back. It is very adorable. She fits right in, walking into school with her little backpack on, all ready for the day.

After work on Friday, Alison and I walked to pick Madeline up from school. We love that her school is just a short walk away, and Madeline is always thrilled when we show up with her stroller.

Instead of heading straight home, we decided to run a couple of errands. We needed to pick up a few small groceries, so we walked around the lake to Harmons. Along the way Madeline pointed out all of the birds she saw. She particularly loves spotting the yellow-headed blackbirds, which she calls “yellow blackbird.” It is very cute.

Once we picked up the things we needed at Harmons, we decided it was about time for dinner, so we walked around the corner and got açaí bowls from Liv Pure Açaí. They were pretty tasty and made for a great dinner on a hot day.

After dinner we walked home. It was a very pleasant walk. Once we got home, we changed into our swimsuits and headed to the splash pool. One of the things we love about Daybreak is how many pool options there are close to our house. The splash pool is about a 10-minute walk for us. We walked over and Madeline had a blast playing in the water. It is only about a foot and a half deep, which is perfect for her. She splashed and played and jumped in the water. When we got there she was the only kid, and a few more came by the time we were done, but it never got very busy.

Then it was evening and time to walk home. Madeline had a quick bath and then it was off to bed. After she was down, I made daiquiris and we heated up a Levain cookie and enjoyed both by the fire pit. It was a dreamy summer night.

The next morning, when Mads woke up, I got her up and we watched some Saturday morning cartoons. On the docket was the new Pixar film Hoppers. Madeline was a fan for about 40 minutes. She was loving all the animals, and then she lost interest, which is a toddler movie-watching experience in a nutshell.

Alison woke up and we had our traditional weekend brekkie of avocado toast before going for a walk around Daybreak Lake. We were on the lookout for birds again, and Alison was in luck because her favorite little entrepreneur kids from the neighborhood were back slinging cold brews. They said they will be around every weekend this summer, so that was a nice summer development.

Our walk ended at the playground, where Madeline enjoyed the swing for at least 30 minutes. She also had fun going down the slide. She really wanted to play on the playground, and since this one is less than a 10-minute walk from our house, it was easy to make it happen.

After the park, we headed home for a quick lunch and then it was naptime for Mads. Her favorite way to go down for a nap at home is still for me to snuggle her until she drifts off to sleep. I help her settle, and I love very few things more than the way she melts into me as she falls asleep. Once she was asleep, Alison and I relaxed on our porch swing. It was a fabulous way to spend the afternoon.

When Madeline woke up, we changed back into our swimsuits and walked over to the East Lake Pool. This pool is also about a 10-minute walk from our house. It has a nice large shallow section, but it also has a bigger, deeper section. We spent plenty of time in both, although Madeline was really into the deep end and just loved hanging out in my arms. It was a really hot day, but it was also very windy. Despite the heat, the wind made it feel cold at times, especially for Madeline. We played for a while, but by the end she was really shivering, so we decided it was time to head home.

We got all cleaned up and threw some hamburgers on the grill. Once we had eaten, we walked over to the baseball stadium.

It was such a beautiful summer night for a baseball game. Madeline was bouncing in her stroller as we pulled up to the stadium. Tonight my grandparents couldn’t make it to the game, so they gave their tickets to my aunt Ardis and uncle Greg. It was great to see them. We haven’t seen them since Christmas, so we had a great time catching up during the game.

Madeline was living her best life. Early in the game I took her to change her diaper, and on the way back to our seats we bought a Bees bat full of popcorn. She was in heaven and devoured most of the popcorn herself.

The other fun thing that happened during this game was that the Bees debuted a new group of mascots, Bumble and friends. His friends include Honey, a female bee; Jensen, a Utahraptor; Swiggy; and Daisy, a goldendoodle. Madeline was so excited about all of the mascots, and we had a couple of opportunities for her to meet them. Her favorites were Honey and Daisy, so naturally a stuffed version of both came home with us.

It was not the Bees’ day. The Isotopes scored early and often, and it was never much of a contest. The Bees scored two runs in the first inning, but were otherwise held scoreless and ended up losing 12-2. Oof. Despite the lackluster effort on the field, it was still a really fun game.

We stayed past the end of the game this time. Near the end I changed Madeline into her pajamas, but she was doing great and we wanted to stay because it was a fireworks night. We have never stayed for fireworks at this stadium before, but it turns out they just roll a cart out onto the field and launch them from center field. So the fireworks are really close to you and really loud. We weren’t prepared for that, and Mads was very scared. She was curious, but also not into it. We made our way to pick up her stroller, and she sat and watched them for a minute from there, but then told us she would rather head home, so we left. Next time we need to bring headphones and see if she likes them better when they aren’t so loud.

Madeline fell asleep on the way home and actually stayed asleep for the transfer to her crib. She was so tired, and she slept great Saturday night.

Sunday was more of a recovery day. We had to run a couple of errands, took a long walk around the lake, and packed for our trip next week. Blake, Debbie, and Aleene also stopped by for a visit.

It was a fabulous summer weekend. These are the types of weekends dreams are made of. Nothing huge happened, but that was kind of the beauty of it. We walked to school, the grocery store, dinner, the pool, the playground, and a baseball game. We watched Madeline point out birds, splash in the water, eat popcorn at the ballpark, meet mascots, and fall asleep completely worn out from a full day of fun. It was simple and local and easy, but it was also exactly the kind of weekend we hoped for when we moved here. A weekend full of sunshine, walks around the lake, time outside, and little moments with Madeline that made everything feel pretty close to perfect.