First Ice Cream Cone

 It was a really hot day and so the kids played in the sprinkler in the backyard.  After dinner we had ice cream cones.  I even remembered to buy some rice milk ice cream for Jacob so that he could enjoy his first ice cream cone.

Park Outings

This week we took two outings to the park.  The first one was a bit of a disaster.  We stopped at the park in a different city and there was a Boys and Girls Club summer camp field trip there.  The kids were WILD.  Even Benjamin came over and said "Mom these kids are wild."  We tried to break free from the chaos by moving to different play equipment.  It was way to big for the younger kids and so they didn't have much to do.  We lasted fifteen minutes before one boy older boy pushed Jacob out of the way, and I had had enough.  Next time we will visit that park when there is no field trip because my kids really do like to play there.

Our next outing was more fun.  We headed to the wading pool at the nearby park.  The water was freezing, it was only suppose to be 75 degrees that day, but no one seemed to mind.  We went with our neighbor Jen and her daughter Grace.  We ate a picnic lunch and then waded around for awhile.

Raspberry Picking

We headed out to pick raspberries at our local patch.  So so yummy!  Little Jacob didn't understand picking and then putting then in the box.  All he did was eat, eat, eat and grab handfuls of berries out of the box to eat.  I even told the girl to charge me more because of all the eating that he did.  The kids had a great time, and it was the perfect late morning adventure with friends!  Unfortunately the box of our delicious raspberries was sitting a bit too close to the counter's edge and Jacob pulled it off and smashed all our berries.  So I saved what I could and made them into a fresh raspberry tart for dinner that night and then used the rest to make a raspberry sauce (that was to die for) that we ate the next evening while some is still waiting patiently in the freezer to be served over cheesecake someday.  A great summer activity!

Swimming - Session 1

For the past two weeks the oldest kids have been doing swimming lessons every morning.  We took them with friends so they each had a someone in their classes that they knew.  They have both really improved in their swimming skills.  I caught a few (not so great) pictures of last day which was hard because it was safety day, and they didn't do their usual routine.   We have signed up again in August to take them right before school starts again.

12 for 12

I wish that I could take a few more pictures throughout the day, but with Jacob being so young I just need both hands free instead of a camera in my hands.  I realize that this will change and my kids get older but I just wish I could have a photographer follow me around for a day to capture the little things that I never seem to get pictures of.  Here are the pictures that I have of our day.

Top to bottom- left to right: toys dragged out first thing in the morning ~ Jacob drinking before getting dressed for the day ~aftermath of swim lessons ~ Benjamin playing with Legos ~ Emma putting her dolls to sleep ~  Emma, Benjamin, and Jacob coloring a birthday card for Marilyn ~ we got Marilyn birthday cupcakes from the bakery and couldn't resist getting a few for ourselves too ~  playing horsey before bed

4th of July

                                       

For the 4th we ate breakfast 4th of July style with red, white, and blue pancakes (blueish pancakes with homemade strawberry syrup and whipped cream on top.  

After that I cranked out 36 jars of delicious freezer jam.  As I look back through my posts, I know that I have so many posts about the berries in the Northwest, but it just never gets old for me.  Year after year I am amazed at the color, juiciness, and taste.  So, so good!

Then in the afternoon we headed out on a friend's boat for a tour of the sound.  It was a fantastic trip.  Benjamin loved "driving" the big boat and then really driving the dingy all by himself.  Jacob was a bit of a crazy and didn't want to be contained on the boat.  He just couldn't be held still as there were too many fun things to explore. It was quite the boat and a fun afternoon.  The kids didn't even get to do their pop-its so we celebrated two days in a row by doing pop-its on the 5th.  It was a great 4th of July!

Then we had some friends back to our house for a BBQ.  The only picture that I have of that is of the cake that the kids helped me make for dessert.  It had run a bit by the time we actually ate it so we now know not to add our fruit so far in advance. 

After that I was exhausted and put the two littlest to bed while Dad and Benjamin headed to the park to do a few fireworks. 

The kids didn't even get to do their pop-its so we celebrated two days in a row by doing pop-its on the 5th.  It was a great celebrate of our country by our family!