Summer Fun

Well, it's summer, and my blogging frequency has taken a hit.  So it is.  But I thought it would be nice to update you all with a little taste of what's been going on.

Hayward Lake:

This is my new love.  Our first dates were impressive.  It has a big sandy beach great for sandplay.  Swimming water that's shallow for kids, and just cold enough that Boodge doesn't want to spend much time in there, so I can sit back with Peanut.  Grassy areas for picnics.  Good bathrooms. No power boats.  Lots of families.  Beautiful tree covered mountain on the other side.  I started going every week, usually more than once.

It was on our fourth date that I really fell in love (I think this is similar to how it went with my husband!).  I had spent a week sleep-deprived and cooped up with the teething Ms. Peanut and the stir-crazy energy ball that is Boodge.  And we went to Hayward, and spent 6 hours there--Boodge making friends and totally entertaining himself, Peanut getting good and dirty, eating sand, and napping on the blanket in the shade. Pure heaven.  Sleep deprivation feels just fine there.  Even good.

Sun Drunk

 I finally got Sean there this weekend. He deserved it. He's spent the last two weekends working on our back landing, and we haven't been able to have much fun together.  I'm so lucky to be able to spend days out at the beach with the kids all the time. 

  

Summer Fruit

I can't get enough of summer fruit when it's in season.  Pears, cherries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries...oh MY it's good.  And now the nectarines. That is the grand finale, for me.  Go get yourself some Okanagan nectarines now, if you can.  You're welcome. 

I actually hoard it, a bit. But I like to call it "getting it while it's cheap and local".  And it does save us a bit of money, truthfully, because we have frozen fruit based smoothies every weekday for breakfast.  I scored a huge box of peaches for $10 and spent a couple of hours peeling and slicing them all, freezing them on trays, and then putting them in bags.  I've also been picking blackberries, which grow all around us in such abundance I could fill my freezer if I had only 8-10 hours and some sort of prickle resistant suit. 

I introduced Boodge to blackberries when we took a "super nature adventure walk" a while ago, and he cried all the way home because I couldn't get him more. So he was keen to go picking, to say the least.  I made a big deal out of dressing us in blackberry picking clothes the other day and took him and Peanut down to the slough, where we found a perfect place to pick, a long path with berries on both sides.  I had half filled my salad spinner bucket by the time Boodge and Peanut were totally done with picking. About 15 minutes.  But it was enough to make this yummy cake to celebrate my 4-year wedding anniversary with Sean.  

After that I couldn't convince Boodge to go again for a while.  So yesterday when Peanut was taking a particularly long nap, I ducked out for and picked in the vacant lot kitty corner to us.  It was half an hour of meditative bliss, no kids around, practicing yoga-like balance to reach for branches and avoid prickles.  I came home renewed, my salad spinner almost full, and walked in the door to two sobbing children.  Apparently, both had been sobbing since I left. Boodge was devastated that I didn't take him, and Peanut woke up wanting her Mommy.  How sweet it is to be so loved. And half an hour away is enough for me to think that, even while trying to calm down two desperate children simultaneously. 

Maan Farms

 

Last week we headed to Maan Farms.  They had blueberries for $2 a pound if you bought 20 pounds. You can pick your own there, but I knew that wasn't going to be worthwhile this year with my kid configuration. Also, I had been there last year and enjoyed their petting zoo, and was excited to see that they had expanded this year to include a corn maze, sunflower labyrinth, wagon rides, and a play area.  Unfortunately, I learned that the expansion was not free--it now costs $10 per person to visit the maze and other attractions, and after driving all the way there, surviving 20 extra minutes in a traffic jam by talking up the maze to Boodge, I decided to pay.  It was a good place to pass the morning, worth a visit if you are also going to take advantage of bulk blueberry pricing, or pick some berries.  

We never did find out way through.  But we found our way back out.

Play Area

Boodge and Pig share a knock knock joke.

Boodge and Pony contemplate the sadness of Pony's captivity.

In the sunflower labyrinth

Where walking often gave over to whacking the ground with a stick.

Peanut was getting tired of her own captivity.

But it sure was beautiful.

And these sure were delicious.

Alright, this Mama is up way past bedtime. Time to shut 'er down.  Happy summer to all of you, and thanks for still checking in. I hope you are all having fun that keeps you outside too.