our summer in pictures

 

I can't believe it's already August and we only have a few short weeks of summer left.  I thought I would share a few pictures from our summer.  They are all from my Instagram account.

 

 

This was our view from the Cape in July.

 

I tried making cold brew coffee this summer.  This was some cinnamon iced coffee that I made, which just seems to taste better in blue mason jars.

 

We have done a lot of swimming.

                                                 And have had a few picnics at the lake.

 

On hot days, the children love to play with water balloons.

 

Of course we have eaten lots of ice cream and even made our traditional ice cream sand castle.

I like to have summers where we have some things planned and then a lot of unstructured time where we don't have to be anywhere.  After a week at the Cape, two weeks of swimming lessons and then a a little bit of camp, we are spending our last few weeks doing themed activities, like I did with our stay camp a few years ago.  The children asked me if we could do it again and I was happy to oblige.  This week is fairies (my daughter's choice) and next week is dinosaurs (my son's choice).  I also planned a surprise "back to school" week which will get us right up to the first week of school.  I will share the pictures as we go.  Hope you are all enjoying your last few weeks, or maybe days, of summer!

first day of summer

Today is the first day of summer!  To celebrate I took the boys to pick strawberries, which is one of my favorite summer activities.  Tonight we are having our traditional ice cream for dinner to celebrate too!  I would love to hear how you celebrate the longest day of the year.  Please share in the comments.

sand castle

Last night we crossed off the last item on our summer fun list! We made our traditional ice cream sand castle.  I found some really cute ocean themed candy this year from a trip to the local candy and grocery stores and the paper flags at Marshall's!  The kids had a blast decorating it and even more fun eating it. I hope that you are enjoying your last few weeks of summer too. 

bubble fun

This morning we had some fun with bubbles.  There are lots of ideas on the web but this one looked easy.  I picked up some bubbles at the dollar store and added about six drops of food coloring to each bottle.  I kept the colors true to the bottles so the children would know exactly what color was inside.  I had a canvas lying around and used that to let them blow the colored bubbles onto it.  My daughter liked it so much she asked if she could make another one to hang in her bedroom.  The colors were quite muted so next time I might try it with paint or add more food coloring.  The kids had a blast and I got a new piece of art work for the play room!  This would also work well as an activity for a summer birthday party.

that's a wrap

This was a gift I gave to some friends who recently retired to the Cape.  I found an anchor beer bottle opener and gave it to them with some Anchor Steam beer.  The note read "fair winds and following seas" for a wonderful retirement.  This would also make a fun summer hostess gift!

summer afternoon

We are back from the Cape.  We had a wonderful week filled with fireworks, lobsters, parades, ice cream, swimming in the ocean and lots of time with cousins!
Before the summer started I asked my children what they wanted to do this summer.  I wrote their ideas on the chalkboard in the dining room.  They included make s'mores, build sandcastles, catch fireflies, typical summer activities.  Today we crossed one off the list: berry picking.  We picked raspberries, blueberries and peaches!!!!  There is nothing more summery to me than picking fruit at the orchard and then coming home to eat it.  We had berry smoothies for lunch and I made some lemon blueberry muffins this afternoon with my daughter while the boys napped. 

a "whale-y" good summer

Today was my son's last day of pre school.  I went in on the class gift, but wanted to give them each a little something else just from us too.  The school mascot is a whale so when I saw these adorable whale ice cream scoops I knew that they would be perfect.  I also included a small gift certificate to our local ice cream shop and a note that said "hope you have a whale-y great summer"!  I am still working on my daughter's teacher presents.  Her last day is next week!

inside out s'mores

This weekend we were invited to a last minute get together at a friend's house to enjoy a night by their fire pit.  I saw this fun recipe for inside out s'mores and thought it would be perfect for this occasion.  Basically you just stuff the center of an over sized marshmallow with chocolate and graham crackers.  I put them in a mason jar and simply tied some raffia and a bandanna printed paper tag around the outside.  I loved that they were easy to make and the kids thought that they were pretty fun too.  I think next time I may try putting a mini candy bar inside.  Yum!  If I had had more time and/or all of the ingredients I would have whipped up a batch of S'more martini's to bring too.  Hope you had a sweet weekend filled with good friends & fun too.

stay camp

After quite a busy summer last year  (a trip to Ireland/Italy, my husbands 40th birthday, my 20th high school reunion....)  I am really enjoying the lazy days of summer this year.  I decided not to sign my kids up for any camp.  I like having them home.  I like being flexible enough to wake up and say let's go berry picking today.  I know the term "stay-cation" is used quite frequently these days. I decided to create "stay-camp" like day camp only we stay home.  I asked my children what they wanted to learn more about.  My three year old said "buzz lightyear" so I interpreted that as Outer Space.  We had a lot of fun gathering books at the library.  We made some crafts.  We played outside with some astronaut bubbles and moon sand.  We had a fun themed lunch and I was even lucky enough to find some "Space Adventures" goldfish!  What I love about this idea is the flexibility.  If it was beautiful outside we went to the lake.  If it was raining outside and the baby was napping we cuddled up and read a book or did a craft.  Last week we started our next theme- castles.  Since it was very hot out we spent a lot of time in the water.  We didn't get to do enough crafts and I ran out of time to make an ice cream sand castle with the kids.  So, we decided to continue the same theme this week.  Did I mention I love the flexibility?    I guess you can take the teacher out of the classroom but you can't take the classroom out of the teacher!

we all scream for ice cream



I have always loved the quote: "Life is short, eat dessert first".   Our summer tradition follows this sentiment.  On the first day of summer we have ice cream for dinner.  Yes, just ice cream!  It is only once a year and it's fun.   I found these waffle bowls at the grocery store for tonight.  We will use them to make our sundaes in but I also thought they would be darling containers for our toppings.  You could also use them as favors for an ice cream party with a gift certificate for ice cream tucked inside and wrapped up in cellophane for your guests.  Do you have any fun traditions for the start of summer?  I would love to hear about them.  Happy Summer!!

watermelon whale

Last week my daughter had her pre-school graduation and I signed up to bring watermelon. Since her school mascot is a whale I thought it would be fun to carve the watermelon into the shape of a whale.  I found the directions in the book "Summer" by Susan Branch.  It was actually quite simple to do and the kids got a kick out of it.  This is a great thing to bring to a potluck or BBQ because you can throw away (or compost) the watermelon when the fruit salad is all gone!