Our Chill Father's Day Weekend

It's the official first day of summer, and we're already off to a running start! We had a relaxing weekend kicking off a beautiful stretch of weather at last over the next few days here in Portsmouth. I asked Uka a few times what he wanted to do for Father's Day, and he said he wanted to keep it quiet and most importantly, watch last night's game. That worked for me!

Friday was Nia's last day of school, and we turned into a family event walking her to school and picking her up as a family. It was red day for her class so she wore her cherry dress and appropriately got a cherry dip cone as a special at Dairy Queen after school. Nia had a stellar year in Kindergarten, and I'm so proud of her! She's been in 4 schools since she was 3 years old, and she's thrived in each of them making tons of friends and truly blooming wherever she's planted.

 

After Grayson's swimming lesson on Saturday we made our way over to Portsmouth's Juneteenth celebration. We missed it last year, but this year I had the chance to read the roll call of slaves known to have lived here in Portsmouth. Nia and Grayson enjoyed the music especially during the procession and at the African Burying Ground. 

Nothing like fireworks from the car while the kids sleep O_o

That evening we headed over to Hampton for the fireworks culminating that day's Sand Sculpture Event. The fireworks were a bit late in the evening, and the kids fell asleep of course in the car, but it was an interesting first-time Hampton Beach experience for us. It definitely has aspects of the sketchier side of the Jersey Shore - at least during the night, but I look forward returning with the kids during the day to see the sand sculptures while they're up for a few more weeks. 

Our Post-Church Lunch: Spanish Chopped Salad

Sunday I volunteered at church teaching the elementary school aged kids. Nia's now moved up, and she's a bit excited to have me as her teacher! After church I decided to finally try making one of these salads I've been drooling over the past week. I love how warmer weather pushes me to eat lighter fare. While our salad was missing the special jarred peppers that apparently make it incredible, but still enjoyed it and I'm thinking of trying to hit up Fairway this weekend to find them when we're back in NYC. 

For dinner Uka ended up using our new Lodge cast iron reversible griddle to make pork chops and they turned out delicious, but boy is cast iron tough to deal with. My previous reversible griddle from Crate & Barrel gave up the ghost and compared to the Lodge I think my old one must've been fake. We've been watching You Tube tutorials trying to make sure we're using it and cleaning it correctly (it's a beast to clean). 

Last night Uka hung out with another dad downtown to watch THE GAME (O-H-I-O!) while I did some housework. I debated watching Game of Thrones alone but started seeing on Twitter how amazing it was so decided to wait for Uka to come home to watch it. I'm SO glad we did! It was definitely the best episode of the season and someone better be getting a bonus for that epic battle scene (speaking of which, this made me LOL!). 

It was a pretty quiet weekend and just what Uka wanted. He's my homeyloverfriend and definitely makes this fatherhood thing look so good! I love him so.