Weekend Fun Recap: May 30–June 1

Authors Brunch

 Summer Fridays are part of the weekend, right? We kicked off the weekend fun with brunch at my mom’s house. When my daughter got sick the last week of school, she missed her final “authors tea” of the year. In this sweet event, the students share “books” they have written and illustrated in class. I was going to be unable to attend that event, so we had already scheduled this makeup brunch. So since she couldn’t go either, it was even better that we had this on the calendar! (Full disclosure: She got shy and refused to read her book to us. But brunch was still delicious!)

We enjoyed my mom’s famous cheese grits and almond twist, along with fruit, eggs, and bacon. My mom set a beautiful table and only gave me a little bit of grief when my coffee mug interfered with the aesthetic!

We spent the rest of the morning playing games, including my childhood version of Clue Junior (just because my version is no longer available doesn’t mean it’s vintage, right? RIGHT?) and the party game Just One. My family LOVES Just One, and it is a good game for a large group of mixed ages. Basically, the “guesser” tries to guess a word from the one-word clues the other players have written on little whiteboards (this is probably the biggest appeal for kids). If two clue suppliers write the same word, it gets erased before the guesser sees the clues. I was super impressed when my oldest correctly guessed the word “waltz” from the clues “three” and “Viennese”!

Let me tell you what I, the Enneagram One, don’t like about this game: There are no rules about winning. No point system. No teams. (You could make teams, I suppose, but you’d need a big group.) What, I ask, is the point if there are no points?

(I think it’s to have fun?)

Family Game Night

It was my husband’s turn to pick our game, and he went with Clue. Of course, since we’re a Disney family, we have Haunted Mansion Clue, which seems to be a rare and valuable item these days. I’ll admit I find Clue a little tedious and often make a swing-for-the-fences guess to try to end the game. That didn’t pay off for me last night, but I felt justified when my husband also made a wrong guess. (We think one little girl might have missed a card reveal she was supposed to make.) Our oldest daughter was thrilled to win after battling it out with her sister for a bit. Even though Clue isn’t my favorite, I do like the variety of themed options available. This Muppets version might make an excellent Father’s Day gift (Dan, stop reading this). Or maybe I’ll just preorder the Clue Little Golden Book instead.

Birthday Lunch

My cousin turned [redacted] years old earlier this week, so my mom and I took her out to lunch at a local restaurant. We got to sit on the rooftop patio, and the weather was perfect. I am not a fan of heights, but we were far enough away from the edges that I was able to just enjoy the view! I really love getting to eat outside, and this experience was a good reminder to add this experience to my time budget more often.

Vacation Planning

Drumroll please…this summer, we’re going to…

DISNEY WORLD!

(Who saw that coming?)

We just can’t help ourselves. We really intended to do the beach this year, but we somehow found ourselves booking a Disney trip instead. You know, for the kids. With this being more of a last-minute trip, some of our preferred experiences were already booked, but we’re still going to have plenty of fun! We finalized our park and meal plan last night, and I’m excited about what we’ve got planned. Stayed tuned for my best tips on how to make Disney fun when it’s a billion degrees outside.

Reading Recap

I’m actually really proud of what I’m about to tell you: I did not finish this book. As a completionist, leaving a book (especially one in a series) is REALLY hard for me. But I decided to abandon this one, and I’m so glad I did. Here’s why. O Jerusalem is the fifth book in Laurie King’s 19-book Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes series. The series begins with The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, which I really enjoyed. I enjoyed the next two books in the series as well. A few weeks ago, I read book 4, The Moor, and it was…fine. I decided to give book 5 a try and then decide if I was going to continue with the series.

O Jerusalem is long, clocking in at over 400 pages. So by Thursday evening, I still had three hours in my time budget devoted to this book. (I budget about a minute per page.) And I just…didn’t care. The mystery was hard for me to follow, and because the book is set earlier in the relationship between the two characters rather than progressing the timeline, their relationship seemed underdeveloped. I finally decided that I could use those three hours in my budget for something more fun and decided to DNF. (That’s “did not finish” for those not obsessively tracking their reading.)

Your milage may vary, as O Jerusalem has a high rating on both Goodreads and Amazon. But it wasn’t for me. But I do recommend The Beekeeper’s Apprentice for anyone who enjoys a Sherlock Holmes retelling. You can pick it up without needing to complete the whole series. Really.

Good news: I did finish a book I enjoyed a lot more. Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers had been languishing on my TBR list for years. I think a former teacher of mine recommended it, though I’m not entirely sure at this point. I had low expectations for this book and mostly picked it up to check it off the list (there I go again). But I found this book fascinating. It explores the issue of peer orientation in children. (I did not know this was an issue). And it highlights the vital importance of children being attached to adults.

I’ve heard a lot about attachment over the years. Most of it made me feel guilty about not being a good enough mom and like my choices were to never sleep again or have my children hate me. This book did an excellent job of explaining the importance of attachment without guilt and with actionable steps that didn’t involve co-sleeping. It also made me really grateful for the community of adults currently investing in my children. If you are a parent or want to support the parents in your life, I highly recommend this book. I read an older edition, but the updated edition includes a chapter on children’s mental health post-pandemic that I think would be worth reading.

How was your weekend? What did you do for fun? Have you ever abandoned a book series? Will we melt at Disney this summer? Let me know in the comments!

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using these links, I receive a small commission, which I greatly appreciate!