We love our weekend adventures.
They take quite a bit of work on our part, but we learned if we do these thirteen things before and after our adventures, we have a much more successful, enjoyable day.
I decided Saturdays were for family adventures
when making our weekly rhythm, we decided Saturday mornings were for Family Adventures. Which may sound pretty insignificant, but for us this was huge - assigning Family Time and Exploring our City and Going on Adventures to a very specific day and time each week is really what helped us prioritize that to be a big part of our life.
we’re very fortunate that both sets of family live near us, so we love to invite them along on our Saturday Adventures. whether that be lunch at someone’s house, trying a new-to-us restaurant with a playscape, or meeting at a local watering hole. it all counts. and this is not only how we make sure we’re exploring our area and spending plenty of time with loved ones, but it’s also how we easily split time between the two families.
do other things on Saturday mornings sometimes pop up? sure. but we’re very careful and particular about what invitations we accept since we know it takes away from Family Adventures. and we aren’t in a season of weekend sports/activities (and we purposely haven’t signed KK up for any activities, similar to the reasons Busy Toddler has), so blocking off Saturday Morning for Family Adventures works really, really well for us.
I picked adventures ahead of time
because we learned we do better when we over plan and edit as needed, instead of flying by the seat of our pants and hoping for the best. so one of my monthly routines is to tentatively plan Weekend Adventures for the next month or two.
(and if plans change for whatever reason - the weather doesn’t cooperate, someone gets sick, etc - no big deal! we pivot and do something else. but I’m always so thankful to have potential Weekend Adventure Plans in place in case we need them.)
and, as I mention in my 10 Things I Do for a Great Summer, I take it a step further in May: before Summer starts, I assign a Weekend Adventure to every single weekend between May and September. I make reservations, I buy tickets, I invite loved ones. it takes a ton of time and mental space up front but I am so grateful for Past Haley all summer long.
of course, when planning ahead of time, I take into account some of our traditions and this helps planning Weekend Adventures tremendously. I use my Yearly Tasks + Expenses list to help me remember annual traditions. here’s a full list of our traditions, too.
another list that really helps me is my Local Places List - a place that I write down places we’d love to try: Weekend Adventure places, Toddler places, Date Night places, etc. anytime I hear of a rec or see a great reel on Instagram, I add it to my list. and I reference the list whenever I’m planning adventures.
I decided Fridays were our slow days
since Saturday is a big day, Friday is our slow day to rest and prepare - we do not do any big things on Fridays. I work on Friday routines, I reset the house from the week, I prepare for Saturday’s adventure. KK plays, KK watches shows, KK follows me around. and we leave the house every single morning for a Morning Outing, but on Friday’s we purposefully make sure our Morning Outing is quick and easy - usually one where we don’t even get out of the car. picking up a curbside pick-up order, enjoying a drive-thru beverage, heading to the car wash, grabbing stuff for Fajita Friday, etc.
here’s four reasons I love a car wash subscription, especially now that I’m a mom.
here’s our beloved Fajita Friday dinner tradition: the gentlest, most joyful way to end the week. (love the comments on this post of other easy Friday dinner traditions, too!)
here’s the four things I do every Friday that take care of our household all week long.
(Did you catch that? I prepare early)
on Friday mornings (and sometimes even Thursday mornings if we need a slow morning), I check that we have the correct adventure clothes ready for Saturday, I prepare Adventure Gear for Saturday, I gather supplies for Saturday, I plan what food we’ll eat for Saturday. I do it all ahead of time - if I left everything for Saturday morning, it’d be a bad time for all involved.
All that to say, it’s totally fine if adventures look different for you in this season and if you currently don’t have the brain space (or the energy!) to take on adventures, much less weekly adventures. (This is the first year I’ve felt ready to do so, and that’s only because I became so stir crazy from staying home the three years prior!) Whatever you need to do is fantastic.
I invested in good gear
see our favorite Adventure Gear here.
also, here’s my favorite pool gear.
our Mother’s Day tradition is to go on an adventure, and my Mother’s Day gift is gear that coordinates with that adventure. like, last year, we went to Emma Long Park, a local lakeside beach, and I invested in the best set of beach chairs as my Mother’s Day gift. and now we use and love them all the time, year after year.
similarly, for our Wedding Anniversary tradition, we celebrate Our Family’s Birthday with a fun Adventure and a Joint Family Gift. like, this year, we got a Solo Stove and I made our family a S’mores Kit. the best!
Santa usually brings us a new piece of some sort of adventure gear, too.
choosing indivualized Decide Once gift themes for holidays and celebrations really help us invest in what’s important to us, like good adventure gear that we’ll actually use.
and good adventure gear helps us prioritize Weekend Adventures. :)
I keep an adventure bag packed
see what I keep in my adventure bag here. this helps for getting ready for Saturdays - or whatever we do on weekdays - tremendously.
and the bag lives on our Wall o Hooks, ready for Weekend Adventures.
and sometimes we move the contents of the bag to a hiking backpack - easy peasy!
and I keep our car stocked
see what I keep in my car here.
I bring plenty of food
here’s our favorite things for eating away from home
and I wear clothes I feel good in
we live in Central Texas, so 90% of the time I need warm-weather gear I feel good in. here’s my list of favorite pieces.
I do Build Your Own Breakfast Taco every Saturday morning
I attribute this to being the biggest reason why we enjoy our Saturday Adventures. because Brett’s a bottomless pit and because we don’t like to blow our tiny eating out budget on grabbing a Saturday Morning Breakfast. so every Saturday morning, I get up and I scramble eggs, I roast potatoes*, I bake a pack of bacon**, I reheat the Weekly Pot o Beans, and I make a Build Your Own Breakfast Taco Bar.
it’s filling, it’s delicious, and it can be taken to-go. so more often than not, we bring the delicious tacos with us in the car. it’s THE BEST.
*I cut yukon gold potatoes in uniformly small pieces, I coat with a generous amount of olive oil and salt, and I roast in a 400 degree oven, tossing every 10-15 minutes until a desired level of golden.
**I oven bake an entire pack of bacon every Saturday morning. I cut the entire pack in half with scissors because I like the shorter strips, and I like that it’s easier to freeze half a pack this way. but these days, I make the whole pack because Brett hates microwave bacon, but he loves having Saturday’s leftover bacon in the fridge all week for sandwiches, bowls, salads, tacos, etc.
and I do Snack Dinner + Movie every Saturday Night
Saturdays are so much fun. but Saturdays are also tiring. so for this reason we do Snack Dinner every Saturday night. and we also do some sort of toddler-friendly movie. because KK is tired. and because I like to reset the house and put away adventure gear in the peace and quiet. it’s the best.
ps our Wall o Hooks houses a lot of our frequently-used adventure gear, and it allows me to put everything away super quickly.
(did you catch that? the day before and the evening after Adventures are both easy)
Saturdays are for adventures. So we sandwich that big, fun day with an easyyyy, restful Friday, as well as an easyyyyy, restful Saturday night. I know I need time to get ready (and to unpack/reset), and I know my toddler (as well as the rest of us) needs time to rest. I don’t plan laborious recipes for Friday night or Saturday night, I don’t plan big, exhausting outings on Fridays. I keep it all super simple, which helps our Saturday Adventures be super enjoyable.
but the main thing we do before and after a Weekend Adventure? we keep low expectations
the goal of our adventures is to get out of the house, see something new, and spend time together. that’s it. and with that simple of a goal, our Weekend Adventures are always a success.
plus, I authentically enjoy doing these adventures - I get away from to-do lists and I find that both I’m incredibly present during these Adventures, and recharged after them. That reason alone makes them successful. and enjoyable. and something we want to keep doing. xo.
Cheers to everyone else putting in the behind the scenes work to prioritize Family Time, however that looks for you in this season. You’re incredible.
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