Blackberry Bramble

A few weeks ago, the kids and I took a nature walk in the State Park by our house.  On our path, we saw a huge clump of blackberry bushes covered with little green buds of blackberries.  These bushes grow like weeds all over the area.  This weekend, we decided to go check out to see if they were ready.  Each of the kids brought a container to collect some berries.

Xander was a fast collector.  He was on a mission and didn't eat a single one until we brought them home and washed them.

Aria on the other hand was putting them in her mouth as fast as she pulled them off the bushes.

She was not shy at all to pick off the black fruits.  She was great at just picking the fully ripe fruit, and there were still most of the berries that were not ripe.

There are lots of thorns on these so occasionally I had to rescue the kids from entanglement.

After we picked the berries, we brought them home had made a cake with them.  The kids were overjoyed to help mix and put in the berries they had picked. We'll definitely have to go back and pick more if others haven't picked them clean first.

Second reason for not refinishing the wood floors yet

Our 1963 oak floors are in need of some love.  With Aria, Xander, and are two dogs, they are going to need  A LOT of love.

Puppets

Aria LOVES playing with these finger puppets.  She has to have them on ALL of her fingers and then she counts them.  She calls them her Queens--although, really, only one of the puppet types in is a Queen.

Remlinger Farms

For week's, I've been wanting to go berry picking with the kids.  First, we missed strawberry season.  However, this weekend was supposed to be good for blueberries at Remlinger Farm.   Little did we know that there would be so many distractions at the farm that we would never get around to berry picking.

The first stop was pony rides.  Xander was too afraid of falling off, but Aria was fearless.  She loved riding Bumbleberry, the smallest pony.  There's also a cute picture of the kids waiting on daddy's lab for Aria's chance to ride.

 

This farm had no shortage of these silly places to take pictures.  There was a whole cut out for everything.

Xander declared that the hay was his 4th favorite ride at the park.  It had a neat maze as well as a huge pile to just jump around.

The kids also tried many rides.  Aria absolutely adored the carousel.  In fact, she ran back to get on again after we had done some other rides.  Neither she nor Xander were fans of the ferris wheel.  In fact, most kids seemed to be completely tortured and screaming on the ride.

By the time we had lunch and asked where the berry picking was, we were told that the field was closed for the day.  What a bummer!  I was so looking forward to some blueberries!

Happy 4th of July!

For the 4th of July, we celebrated at Lake Sammamish.  Dolphin bought new a new air rocket since our dog, Peanut, destroyed the last one.  It was the perfect park entertainment for the kids.

When we set out for the lake in the morning, the weather was cool (60s) and cloudy.  We didn't think we'd get a chance to swim. However, the lake water was surprisingly warm and the kids had a great time.  Aria was a bit miffed that the ducks she was yelling at wouldn't come over to see her.

My first email from Xander

My first email from Xander.  He figured out how to send this to me on his own.

Coin operated bliss

There is a mall in Bellevue that has a ridiculous amount of coin operated rides like this one.  Now Aria has riding one off her bucket list.  Surprisingly, she seemed to really enjoy it even though it was possibly the lamest ride known to man.

Happy Pre-K Graduation

Xander's class had their pre-K graduation party this past week.   It wasn't the most pleasant experience for Xander.  He refused to wear the cap and barely participated in the songs the kids sang.  He mostly yawned and coughed through the experience as the poor kid is covering from being very ill with strep throat.  He barely touched his food that night, but his appetite is definitely recovered this weekend.  I think he's making up for lost meals as he ate a whole  tofu pho by himself today.

Summer Time

It wouldn't be summertime without ICE CREAM!!!  We have a Dairy Queen a few blocks from our house.  It's very dangerous!  The summer weather is really fabulous.  We eat outside on our deck (not in the picture) every day that it is not raining.   Here's the amazing part though...Dolphin does NOT complain about how hot it is. 

Xander's Message for Parents & Grandparents

I think he's trying to tell us something.