SLSS VOL 2: BEACHES, PEACHES, AND DART GUNS

SUN, SAND, AND SWIMMING, OH MY!

One of my favorite days of the entire summer!

I took the girls for a gals day out at the beach.  We had heard that the reservoir at Delaware state park made for a really fun day, and it was true!  We played all day long and had a blast!

Practically the perfect day with my two best pals.

And I believe I already mentioned that I love swimsuit-clad kids and water fun photos, so... no surprise with the amount of pictures here.

On the way to the reservoir, I stopped and let the girls pick out a few snacks.  They both went for some crackers and fruit snacks that they had never had before, and they loved them.
But, so did these guys.
We were pretty popular with the birds.

Love these pals!

A BUSHEL AND A PECK

We went peach picking!
Translation:  I decided it was high time I finally get around to doing something I've always wanted to do, and I did it with my two favorite little side-kicks on a perfect sunny afternoon, and they loved it, and it was awesome, and I love good peaches, and these ones were SO good,  and there was much happiness!

Little known fact about myself: Peach pie is one of my all time favorite things in the world!

Not so little known fact about myself: I'm not a baker.  Cupboard organization is the only thing I at all enjoy doing in the kitchen, otherwise I try to avoid that place as much as possible.  Cooking and I do NOT get along.

In the end fact 1 trumped fact 2 and I made a fresh, all from scratch, peach pie from peaches the girls and I picked ourselves.
And it wasn't half bad!

Checkmark on the old bucket list.

Also, this is exciting.  I finally realized what the words in that song, "I love you, and bushel and a peck..." actually mean! I've always sung and loved the song, it's been in my repertoire since I was tiny.  But it wasn't until the sweet little lady at the peach orchard said "Today will you be picking a bushel or a peck?" and held up the different size boxes that I thought "Ahhhhhhh.... so that's what that song says!" 

Now I love it even more!

LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!

Oh, you know,
just the typical Sunday afternoon post-church dart gun fight.

McKenna was a little nervous about the whole thing, so she claimed herself the dart collector and gun re-filler.  And she took her work very seriously.

When the game cooled down Tim tried to help Brinlee with some target practice.
She totally rocked it...
when she got to pick her distance from the target.

SLSS VOL 1: FRIENDS, FOUNTAINS, AND FROSTING

BFF's

At the start of August we said goodbye to the Johnstons.  They were our across-the-street neighbors, our joy school friends, our babysitting-swap pals, our "can I borrow 3 eggs" go to people, my mom advice and "I need to vent!" pals, our "how in the world did you know I needed chocolate today?" friends, my morning walk partner with strollers full of kids while we mom-chat... basically they are the best!  And our kids were besties.  And we're going to miss them like crazy!

SPLISH SPLASH 

We had some pretty warm summer days.  Luckily we have a lot of really cool splash pads!  

We discovered this new one downtown at Bicentennial park, and we loved it, a lot!

And, as it turns out, I kind of love kids in cute swimsuits and pictures of water play.  So we also have pictures.  A lot of them!

(Have I said "a lot" enough?)

DID SOMEONE SAY CAKE?

I decided one evening that something sweet sounded kind of nice, 

and the little people in this house always think something sweet sounds nice, 

so we made some cake! 

I thought it would be really fun to let the girls each decorate their own piece of cake all by themselves. So I pulled out several fun cake-topping choices, including these handy little color tubes that I thought  were gel frostings...

Turned out they were actually food coloring tubes. 

Oops.

The girls were stained for days!

Oh well.  At least they had fun.  And the cakes did look awesome!

One more thing to note from this evening.  

You may have noticed that this adventure was brought to you by just myself and two very small girls.  And yet we still went ahead and made an entire sheet cake.  

Why?  

Because why not I suppose.  

The recipe may make a lot, but it is the best cake ever.  So we needn't pretend that we won't eat it all.  

Every, single, time.

SO LONG SWEET SUMMER

Hello there dear Readers!

It's me, your good friend, the month of August.  

Yes I do see the date.  

And yes, I know it's time for me to say "goodbye until next year!", 

and I promise I will... 

but you didn't think I could really leave without saying a few words, did you?!? Especially not after I did such an awesome job at being awesome. 

I'm not one to brag, but let's face it, August 2017 rocked!!  

I mean, don't get me wrong, the Borups and I have teamed up for some pretty amazing summers in the past.  But, I have to say, this year was some of my best work yet.  It's understandable why the blog updates have been seriously lacking all month, we stayed super busy!  Lots of 'firsts', lots of new adventures, some revisited family favorite outings, some pretty big family moments... 

I don't want to overstay my welcome, but it really just wouldn't be right to bow out without highlighting at least a few of the crazy shenanigans that went on over these last few weeks.

I'm sure September won't mind, he's a pretty easy-going guy.

It may take a few installments, but we'll give it a cool title, so it won't feel as long.  How about the So Long Sweet Summer (SLSS) Series? Trust me, it will be worth your time.

And once I'm done, it really will be "goodbye until next year!"

Thanks for all the memories Borups.  From start to glorious finish, you made my stay amazing!  I genuinely look forward to what you have planned for us next year!

Love always,

August

FEEDING THE FISHES

SCENE: 

The house is quiet... too quiet.

Cut to me walking into my bedroom upstairs. 
Mckenna is talking to Gill, the fish.  
She is holding the open container of fish food.  
The fish bowl is unfortunately within Mckenna's reach, and the top of the water is completely covered with about a thousand little orange fish food pebbles, as is the carpet.

Me: "Uh oh, McKenna, what are you up to in here?"
Mckenna, smiling proudly: "Look! I is feeding Gill!"
Me: "Oh..."
Mckenna, now not smiling and sprinkling more food into the bowl: 
"He not eating." 

-------

 IF AT FIRST THE FISH DOESN'T EAT, 
TRY, TRY AGAIN!

JULY MOMENTS