Our first weekend back in the city was a good one - I mean I could have stayed in Amagansett the entire summer and been completely satisfied but it was nice to have a low-key weekend around our apartment. 

Friday night we babysat our good friend’s kids, Tyler and Sophie. Jes and I have never babysat together so it was the perfect opportunity for us to practice being parents. Let me just say there was never a dull moment. We took them to get pizza, where we played magic tricks at the table and Sophie downloaded love compatibility apps on Jes’ iPhone, to see if we were a perfect match for each other. Our overall compatibility was 39% -- guess we should have downloaded this app before we got married!  

After a dinner of non-stop entertainment, we walked up to 16 Handles and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt. The kids loved that they could pour there own yogurt and pile on as many toppings as possible. It’s great being the fun babysitter where I get to spoil the kids. 

Once we got back to the apartment Jes and Tyler played a few games on Xbox and Sophie and I played with Sammy. Around 10pm it was time to start settling down and we decided to watch Mr. Popper’s Penguins. It took about 15 minutes for the kids to mutually agree on a movie and about 10 minutes later the whole crew, including Sammy was passed out.  The perfect end to our Friday night. 

Saturday morning I wanted to take advantage of the farmer’s market across the street so I woke up early and got over there before all the good produce was picked over, while Jes took Sammy on a run. 

Once I was there I realized how lucky I am to have this farmer’s market so close to us. There’s nothing better than fresh NY State produce. Which leads me to...

My 5 tips for navigating a farmer’s market: 

1. Go early. All the best produce goes quickly, so don’t wait until the end of the day to go shopping. 
2. Check out your options. Before you start filling your bag with a bunch of produce, take a walk around the market to see what is available and what you really need. Otherwise, you might leave with more produce than you know what to do with. 
3. Make friends with the farmers. They can fill you in on what is currently harvesting and can give you assistance for each season. 
4. Bring your own bags. I like to bring a cloth bag to put all my produce in, instead of using a bunch of plastic bags. It’s a little more eco-friendly. 
5. Enjoy the samples, just don’t pig out on them. They are there to taste not to make a meal out of them. 
6. Bonus tip: Have fun! Explore and try something new each time you go. 

When I got home from the market, I made a big family breakfast. During the week, we don’t have much time for breakfast other than cereal or yogurt so I wanted to make something a little more decadent. We hadn’t had pancakes in a very looong time so I decided to whip by a batch of whole wheat blueberry pancakes using the berries I had just purchased. We couldn’t get enough of the berries and kept going back for more! 

Cooking Tip: When making blueberry pancakes, dust the berries with flour/pancake mix before adding to the mixture to prevent bleeding into the batter. 

The rest of the day included a lot of lounging around in the backyard and watching the Olympics - can’t get enough!

Sunday we headed to our friends’ house in Connecticut for a day by the pool. We decided to try an experiment and brought Sammy with us to see how he’d do at someone else’s house. We’ve brought him over to Jes’ parents’ a bunch of times and he went with us to our rental in Amagansett but we have never had to worry about him at my in-laws because they are obsessed with him and think he can do no wrong (even if he does), and when we were at the beach house it was considered our house for the month so it was a little more laid back. Once again, our day was non-stop with entertaining Sammy and making sure he stayed out of trouble.

However, the best part of the day was that he learned how to swim!

At first we was apprehensive but once he got the hang of it he loved it! After a few swims across the pool, we didn’t have to coax him in with a ball anymore, he started jumping in on his own. 

After a great day by the pool all of us were exhausted and lounged on the couch for the rest of the night. I love my weekends at the beach, but sometimes it’s nice to be close to home. 

That’s all the dish I have for now. Hope all of you had a wonderful weekend. XO