subscribe to receive my posts, special offers, recipes, and workouts.
≡ Menu

A Peak Fall Weekend

I love the weekend before Halloween. There are an abundance of fall-themed activities, the weather is gorgeous and the neighborhood decorations and fun and festive. Finn and I made the most of this past weekend and hit the pumpkin patch, participated in a costume 5K, trunk or treated and Finn went to the Renaissance Festival. He wore his costume on three separate occasions and our house is already full of candy and we haven’t even made it to actual Halloween night!

Here’s a little weekend recap. It was the best!

FRIDAY: HALL FAMILY FARM

hall family farm

I picked Finn up from school on Friday and we loaded up the car to head to Hall Family Farm. This was our third visit in as many years and it’s become a fun fall tradition.

hall family farm goat walk

Finn made a beeline for this year’s new activity – the Goat Walk. I’m still trying to figure out what a ropes/zipline course has to do with fall on the farm but Finn had a blast and that’s all that matters. He was pretty fearless up there!

jen peanut butter runner

Next up was the hayride – we love this one so much.

And we finished with the corn maze! This was our first time attempting the two-mile adult maze instead of the kid’s version and we gave it our all. We decided to bail once it got dark (there were lots of places you could sneak out) because little bellies were hungry. We’ve set a goal to master it next year!

SATURDAY

running scared 5k

We had an active start to Saturday! I pushed Finn in the Running Scared 5K and Finn participated in the Monster Mile race. This is our second time participating in this race and this year was fun because the gym I work for was the host location and a sponsor. Many of my co-workers and clients were out there. It was a beautiful morning!

Finn couldn’t decide on a Halloween costume this year and we were getting down to the wire. He told me to surprise him so I went with a police officer since he wrote that for what he wants to be when he grows up on his first day of kindergarten board. He loves it when I dress up with him so I wore orange scrubs and was a prisoner. He got such a kick out of it and adored his costume.

The race went well! Crazy how a 5K feels like a walk in the park when you’re a few weeks out from a marathon.

beyond amazing donuts Charlotte

I may or may not have distracted Finn with talk of donuts as he was in his final stretch of the Monster Mile race. We popped over to Beyond Amazing Donuts where Finn had a chocolate sprinkle donut and I had the most divine sweet potato cinnamon roll. It was their regular cinnamon roll pastry but topped with fresh sweet potato, vanilla icing, caramel drizzle and pecans. Omg it was so good.

After a quick shower and outfit change at home, we ventured back out with freshly baked chocolate chip cookies in tow to watch my friend Lina’s son participate in a tennis tournament. She’s the one I went to visit in Pittsburgh so it was great to see her two weekends in a row. It was the boys first time meeting and they were fast friends.

kid's police officer costume

Back at home Finn got his full police costume on and I couldn’t get over how cute he looked. This costume was a great Amazon find and super great quality for the price. It came with so many fun accessories.

trunk or treat

We walked over to our swim club’s annual trunk or treat and made a quick lap before a storm rolled in.

golden retriever and golden doodle

Needless to say, all the creatures in the house were ready for bed on Saturday night!

SUNDAY

On Sunday morning Finn got back in his police costume one more time (I offered for him to wear his Charizard costume from last year but we are fully bought into police officer) for an outing to the Renaissance Festival with his former nanny and her nieces and nephews.

Carolina Renaissance festival

Finn was THRILLED to see everyone (he grew up with these kiddos!) and they packed an unbelievable amount of fun into their time there. He came home all smiles and big belly laughs. We sure are lucky that he’s loved by many.

homemade spaghetti sauce

I made a big pot of homemade spaghetti sauce on Sunday afternoon and we wrapped up our weekend with a family dinner that was full of knock knock jokes.

That’s a wrap. I hope you guy are also enjoying the fall season!

QUESTIONS

What are you favorite fall family traditions? 

What are your kiddos dressing up as this year? Do you like to dress up? 

Have you ever run a dress up race?

{ 0 comments }

Recent Posts…

Life Lately: 8 Years Old, A New Piercing, Trail Training and More

Life Lately: 8 Years Old, A New Piercing, Trail Training and More

Happy Memorial Day Weekend. It’s a very rainy one here in Charlotte and while I am a little bummed not to be spending the weekend in Florida with the fam or by the pool at our swim club (just opened for the season!), I’m also welcoming a slower pace and time at home. It’s been [...]

{ 2 comments }
24 Things I’ve Made for Lunch Recently

24 Things I’ve Made for Lunch Recently

Hi and happy May! As we roll into the first full week of a new month, I have almost a month’s worth of lunch ideas for you. It’s a great mix of sandwiches, bowls, salads and wraps. I hope you enjoy and find some inspiration for your midday meal! Open-faced chickpea salad sandwich on toasted [...]

{ 4 comments }
Charlotte Racefest Half Marathon (Race Recap + First Time Pacing + Update On My Hip)

Charlotte Racefest Half Marathon (Race Recap + First Time Pacing + Update On My Hip)

I ran the Charlotte Racefest Half Marathon on April 18 to pace a longtime client and friend in her first half marathon and had the best day out there! 2026 CHARLOTTE RACEFEST HALF MARATHON This was half marathon number 12 for me and a really fun, enjoyable and rewarding one! I started training my friend [...]

{ 1 comment }
15 Things I’ve Eaten for Dinner Recently

15 Things I’ve Eaten for Dinner Recently

YOU GUYS! It’s been SIX MONTHS since I wrote a recent eats post! (insert face screaming emoji here) These have been a mainstay on my blog for years. It’s probably my longest-running content series of all time. I have received countless comments and messages from people over the yeas about how useful they find them [...]

{ 4 comments }
Life Lately: Spring Edition

Life Lately: Spring Edition

Hello my friends! I hope this finds you enjoying all of the beauty and fresh starts that spring has to offer (and not too much of the sneezing and wheezing). Life has been good over here. I’m very much enjoying the longer days, cool mornings and warm afternoons and gorgeous blooms. Spring is so lovely [...]

{ 2 comments }
Moab Run The Rocks Race Recap (3 Day Stage Race)

Moab Run The Rocks Race Recap (3 Day Stage Race)

I cannot believe it’s been nearly a month since I completed Moab Run The Rocks! It’s a three-day stage race in Moab, Utah that’s put on by the same race organization, TransRockies Rockies Race Series, that I did my six-day Colorado race with back in August. TransRockies truly excels when it comes to planning and [...]

{ 2 comments }
Moab, Utah Trip Recap (put this on your bucket list)

Moab, Utah Trip Recap (put this on your bucket list)

I recently spent four nights in Moab, Utah for a three-day stage trail race called Moab Run The Rocks. Since returning home, I’ve been telling everyone I talk to about my trip that they must put Moab on their travel bucket list (43 miles of running not required to have an amazing visit to Moab [...]

{ 10 comments }