I told Randy the other day for the first time in years I felt like we had a super chill summer and just totally savored Summer, which to those of us in Michigan is the equivalent to heaven. Now, now we savored it but it was still crazy in the aspect of taking care of 2 little peanuts and trying to find time to be individuals, and a couple and have a social life. But really we spent so much time at different parks and on walks and outside in general. I feel like I've forgotten that winter was ever here it's been such a delightful summer. We relaxed with friends, enjoyed some various adult beverages, planted and harvested a beautiful garden, and hung out on our beloved deck. My ideal summer is relaxed. To enjoy the beauty of the Creator. Randy and I share the thought that we don't like to travel in the summer with the exception of going "up north" as all of us Michiganders put it. Michigan is perfect in the summer and I for one don't want to miss it. Now talk to me in January and February and I will travel just about any where at the drop of a dime to get out of here, but the summer is what we long for and want to savor every last ounce. So we didn't. We stayed put. And I must say it was glorious!
Our little family pretty much lives outside when the weather is nice. Our girls spend a high percentage of their day outside. Norah loves being outside. I can hardly get her to eat breakfast because she wants to go outside instantly in the morning. Sydney's just taking it all in, sights, sounds, smells, all the stimulation. One of Norah's favorite things this summer is to have a little snack time in the garden. She will graze upon our cherry tomatoes, green beans, peas, broccoli, kale (crazy I know), pickles, and herbs. It's adorable. But I love that she at 2 knows what these things are and actually enjoys them. She is understanding the concept of gardening as much as a 2 year old can, and I couldn't be a prouder mama. It makes me smile walking through the farmers market and she's pointing out all the good foods and telling me she needs them and when someone walks by with a hot dog or candy she's like "mama what's that?" Yep I love this!!!
So here's what your really after. The pics of our 2 little cutie pies doing what we've been doing the last few months...
Strawberry picking
Norah enjoying a little "post berry picking treat"
oh this pic. makes me laugh
Norah and daddy hard at work
Trying out some strawberries....if only I would've taken a pic. at the end of our picking--she was covered in red from eating so many and picking so little!!!
Next comes blueberry picking
Randy tied her little bucket around her. I think she must have eaten a least a pound of blueberries. She started by putting some in her bucket and then quickly eating them. Then she progressed to eating out of other peoples buckets, and finally she just walked around and grazed off the bushes. We had some "blueberry" diapers for a few days if you know what I mean!
Starting our Sydney girl off early to adventures of berry picking
Camping Outing
We decided to brave it and head out on a family "camping"adventure in July. Mind you we LOVE camping but we were no dummies---family camping isn't quite the relaxing sit by the beach and read, or kick your feet up and gaze at the stars trip anymore. But wow, packing up our little Honda Civic for a 4 day camping adventure (to a camper trailer---not even true camping by our definition!) was insane. We laughed later about how ridiculous it was but we tried. We don't want to just stay home now that we have kiddos and not continue the "randy and jen adventures." So we don't and sometimes it is just chaos and we wished we would've stayed home. But hey we like adventure so we have to remind ourselves even amongst the chaos it's still adventure, right?
We stayed at Randy's grandparents little camper trailer. A perk--they have a pontoon. It was great to be out on the water
Learning to Fish
Loves the water
All smiles until she realizes she has to wear the life jacket for the next hour
And then this is more the face we got between sobs!
Our summer hobby---the urban organic garden--peas, beans, kale, tomatoes, pickles, broccoli, chard, carrots, onions, lettuce, beets, lots of herbs, peppers---some a succes and some not so much! Part of the learning curve
Randoms:
Norah moved into a big girl bed! Never missed a beat. Loves her new bed. This girl is highly adaptable.
cuteness!
Norah wanting to be done holding Sydney and not wanting to pose for a pic.
My Summer beauty
