Weekending- Pizza and Pickleball and Parks x2

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday-

Alyssa arrived home from South Carolina on Friday. She texted me around 4:00 pm to ask what was for dinner. I thought for sure she’d arrive well past the dinner hour, so I didn’t include her in my initial thoughts about dinner. By 4:00 pm I had thoroughly cleaned the kitchen and considered the kitchen closed for the evening. Abby had plans with her boyfriend for dinner- in anticipation of dinner for Donnie and me, I planned to do something really easy like throwing a frozen pizza in the oven or ordering a pizza from our favorite pizza place. Alyssa indicated via text that she’d preferably like something homemade since she’d eaten every meal out since Sunday. But... my kitchen was clean!! I didn’t want to dirty her up. But that is a sorry excuse to not provide a homemade meal for one’s child who has requested one, no? So I decided to make a homemade pizza as I fortunately had all ingredients on hand and tried to be as neat as possible when making the pizza.

Used the last of the yeast in this jar that is well past its expiration date. One would kind of think that if any item is going to be unusable past its expiration date, it would be an item that is considered to be "living." But the yeast foamed when proofed and the dough rose beautifully. (But then again, existentially, how can something living actually have a predetermined expiration date??) 

Pizza turned out great (and I succeeded in not making various kitchen surfaces/ floors too flour-y in the endeavor) and of course it was great to see Alyssa (so tanned!) and hear about her trip.

Alyssa’s pizza- I didn’t get a picture of ours. I added Mike’s Hot Honey to ours which made it really good!

Late Saturday morning, we headed to the Patricia Allyn Park to play pickleball (PB). The game has become pretty popular around these parts. Abby started playing it with friends during this past school year and Alyssa started playing it this summer. Both girls play with friends and with their boyfriends. Abby wants to improve- her boyfriend is very good at it, and they play as a couple against other couples and Abby doesn’t want to be the weak link. Alyssa had to work so just the three of us went and played. 

I brought my camera a took a few pictures

Donnie and I both knew the basic rules and had asked questions as to various differences with tennis (he and I had never played PB before) but there was something about being on the actual court that engendered even more questions/ clarifications. Abby knows all the rules! It’s fun to learn from your kids :).

Donnie is a really good tennis player and picked up PB skills pretty easily. 

Pickleball but make it a precious picture with your cute paddle and pertinacious papa!

And what about me? Were these two things mutually exclusive?

Welllll, I played! Yes, I hobbled on the court. Of course, I could not be competitive and my adversary across the net tried to lob the balls at me so as to decrease the amount that I had to move rather than try to score points against me. It felt good to try to move fast... even though I couldn't. 

This might be my favorite picture of me ever- face obscured by hair and play not too daunted by a yet to be healed Achilles tendon.

Power to the she booted!

For dinner, we met Jacob in Liberty Township at a restaurant called Cowbell Sally’s. It is owned by the same family that owns the eclectically decorated  and very unique tacos, Agave & Rye. We enjoyed our food and will definitely be back!

We shopped at just a couple of stores afterward. 

For all of our terrarium needs 😆

On our way home, I felt the need for something a little sweet, so we stopped for a shake. The lady making my cookies and cream shake started to put a lid on it when she was done making it. I was like, “I’d really like some whipped cream.” And she was like, “But then I can’t put this lid on it.” Ummmmm, I can handle not having a lid; not having whipped cream on my shake seemed the far greater loss...

Sunday was a great church service followed by chatting with friends we'd not seen in a long time. 

Jacob ended up coming home for a good part of the day. He and Donnie planned to watch game two of the NBA finals. Abby had to work at North Park at an event- a symphony was playing. We decided to go to North Park to see Abby and play pickleball with Jacob at North Park.

The park got some new playground equipment.

The music sounded great! We could hear it while playing pickleball. 

Once home, the guys ordered pizza. More hot honey pizza for Donnie!  I just wanted a cookie from Donatos.

We received an email about Abby confirming she made the Presidents’s List (she was almost positive she’d made it but prior to this we didn’t know with 100% certainty). Proud of Abby for being a very diligent college student! Her internship with the city isn’t a full forty hours a week. I’m glad she has this summer to have a decent bit of time to unwind and relax.