And the temps were a little cooler with a nice breeze.
We’ve been able to get out and enjoy the park again.
I just love visiting parks tucked away in neighborhoods near our house. The neighborhood parks feature a playground with paved walking paths good for walking and riding bikes or even skating.
One of my favorite features is how the walking paths go around the playground making it easier for us to keep an eye on the kids while we walk.
It feels good to see people out jogging, walking, riding bikes, and playing at the playground again.
Last week’s thick smoke made everything look like a ghost town because no one was out walking in the neighborhood or at the parks. Traffic was even lighter than usual.
I know the kids are thrilled to be back at the playground.
They’ve had the best time going to the park three days in a row. They asked me if we can go everyday. Lol 😅
Travis and I enjoy walking together while the kids play at the playground, so I think we just might make evening walks part of our nightly routine! ☺️
It was another hot day, so the kids and I spent some time at the pool today. The temps reached 94°F, but i think the weather app said it felt like 102°F! 🥵
I’ll be honest—for most of the summer, I kept putting off going to the pool because I don’t particularly like wearing a bathing suit. 🫤
But once we got in the pool and started swimming around, I really started to enjoy myself! 😄🏊♀️
It made me realize I need to just relax and take a break sometimes, stop being so hard on myself.
I mean, it is summer after all. Lol ☀️😊
Mj (24), my oldest daughter stopped by to hangout with us at the pool after she got off from work.
She has her own apartment in our neighborhood—just three minutes walking distance from our house.
It’s nice having my daughter live in the same neighborhood as me. I really enjoy having her live so close by to us.
I’m so glad we went to the pool around 1 p.m. and hung out for a couple of hours because the weather unexpectedly got bad later in the day.
All of a sudden, around 6 p.m. the air quality became hazy and unhealthy because of the wildfires in Canada. 😲 (We live about 40 minutes from the Canadian border.)
The atmosphere became very smoky outside as if the entire neighborhood had finished shooting off fireworks. You could even smell the burning wood!
I’m keeping Canada and all U.S. states affected by these wildfires in my prayers! 🙏🏽
The day started with a cozy brunch at home. I’ve mentioned before on Fridays we have Pizza Friday.
I always order my pizza from a local Italian market. They always use fresh ingredients and cook the pizza using a wood-burning oven. It’s the best fresh pizza I’ve ever had! 😋
You get an 11″ pizza with unlimited toppings for just $12! Great deal! I always order the meat lovers pizza with artichoke as an extra topping.
For brunch on the weekends, I like to have my favorite tea with a slice of my leftover pizza with a fried egg and honey drizzle on top. I put on my jazz playlist and just enjoy the vibes.
Last Saturday, I introduced my pizza brunch recreation to Travis and he was amazed at how delicious the leftover pizza tasted with fried egg.
“Yo! This is REALLY good!” he exclaimed. “How did you come up with this?” 😲🍕
A little work in the garden
We did a little work in the garden. I planted another sugar baby watermelon start, and Zaya (5) wanted to plant a cosmos flower seed in her little baby pot. 🥹🌸
This makes two sugar baby watermelon starts we are growing in the garden.
Zhen (13) chose the mini watermelon to grow because she LOVES watermelon. 🍉
I’m a little nervous about having enough space for the watermelon to vine, but I’ve been researching ways to grow vertically, so I think we can make it work! 🤞🏾😁
It looks like he’s smiling at me. 😄🐸
Mr. Toad back again
And while I was tending to the patio garden, my little toad friend was hopping behind me. 😄🐸 It’s so cute because I often see this toad pop out when I am working in the garden.
It seems he was on his way to the garden section of our peppers and tomatoes. Lol 😅 That was perfect because some bugs have been hanging around the plants. 🪲
Mass and a quick stop at H-Mart
Later in the afternoon, we went to the Saturday vigil Mass.
Since Travis works six days a week, we have found going to Saturday Mass is a little easier on him. That way he can sleep in and fully rest on Sundays.
After Mass, we stopped by H-Mart to get lo mein noodles and a few other ingredients. I had a craving for homemade chicken lo mein and I wanted to cook it for dinner.
These Canton Style Egg Noodles are so easy to cook and the texture is perfect for my homemade stir-fry. 😋🍜
I also saw these lo mein egg noodles. I’ve never cooked them before, so I thought I’d give it a try. 🍜
The kids LOVE H-Mart! 😍 Every time we go, they always want to get ramyun and snacks. This time, they found K-Pop Demon Hunters snacks, so of course, we had to get it! 😂🫶🏾
What we bought at H-Mart…
I love H-Mart because they sell so many varieties of noodles, rice, kimchi, and other unique foods that you can’t find at American supermarkets.
The kids wanted to check out the toy section (obviously lol), and they wanted us to buy something.
I told them to save up their allowance money so we can come back and they can buy the toy they really want to get. 🤓💡
Before leaving H-Mart, we played a game of Toy House—the claw machine game.
We didn’t win anything (does anyone ever win these games? 😏 lol), but it was still fun trying. 😊
