Our Not Bummer Summer

 This "spontaneity" thing I'm trying on for size this summer is turning out to be a blast! We never seem to have snacks or sunscreen at the appointed times, but who gives? (yeah, I'm breaking "who gives?" back, so?)

I subscribe to 8 billion things here in Whatcom County on Facebook. Birch Bay newsletter, Bellingham Children's Library...you get the idea. So when I get their updates with fun things to do in the morning, I throw my kids in the minivan and we hightail to wherever the action is.

 On this day: Blaine Jazz Festival. A five day extravaganza (FREE!) down on the harbor at lunch. Some people brought picnic lunches (i'm sure the other moms remembered sunscreen) but I was not all that put together. Who gives? We survived pinkish skin and growling bellies.

 The kids LOVED the live music.

 Then we took a walk, discovering a new (to us) park.

 Another day: Whatcom Transit Authority was sponsoring an art extravaganza at the downtown library. Art? Yes please.
Clem got to participate by creating whatever kind of design she would like while sitting on an actual bus! (She was thrilled!) She drew a submarine. (Someone's art from this day will be randomly chosen to be blown up and hung on the side of the city bus.)

 Then she rolled,

 and rolled in the grassy hill.

 Dutch watched her from the shade, happily.

 Another day: cloud dough (which Clementine renamed Smurf Dough because it was so very very blue).

 Another day: My baby boy was somehow replaced by this moose of a little boy. He's adorable, long legged and chunky thighed. I love him.

 Bellingham Children's Library sent me a Facebook update that couldn't have been more our style if it had screamed CLEMENTINE!! COME TO THIS!

 Recycled cardboard, building materials, sculpture making on the front lawn. Yes, please.

 We were road wary from the drive back from Idaho the previous night but that didn't slow us down one bit.

Clem had her heart set on making a unicorn out of recycled materials and that's precisely what this little builder did. Daddy helped get the nuts/bolts through and helped with scale. 

When she was completed with her own sculpture, this sweet young man asked Clementine to come  help design his family's teepee. Clem was thrilled. 

Meanwhile, Dutch and Cameron meandered the rolling grassy hills. 

And when it was time to go, Clem gave one last glance to her cardboard unicorn. As our stomachs were audibly growling and our skin beginning to sizzle in the noonday sun, we hit the road. One more adventure for the books. 

Leavenworth (anniversary trip)

 This summer, I am trying out this new thing I've heard of called "spontaneity." (no i'm not) It's hard for me to let things go, I like to plan, plan, plan--usually driving myself and my adoring husband nuts. So, when we decided to go away for a little jaunt to Leavenworth, I had to really resist my natural instincts to plan every  minute of the trip. If I do say so myself, I did pretty damn well!

 We hit the road on Saturday morning with a picnic basket and all our gear for the four of us. (Typically, the planning would begin here, I would have already picked a destination to stop and picnic, but NAY, I resisted). We stopped when we got hungry (!!) in a little town called Skykomish. By little, I mean teensy. We saw two stores and a gas station in this town. But they had the perfect picnic bench for this family. Clem was excited because the day before, at the grocery store, I had let her pick out a treat for our picnic. She chose Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle snack treats. She is gushing in both of the above pictures.

 This was Dutchy's first picnic. It was pretty exciting. Only, this boy was less interested in eating and more so in stretching out his chubby little legs.

 Skykomish was warm, sunny and lovely and when it was time to hit the road, Dutch hitched a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

 We drove the rest of the way to Leavenworth where I had read about the Nutcracker museum and souvenir shop. We parked and hit up the shop because our girl LOVES Nutcrackers (you probably recall that Clem has asked Santa Claus for a nutcracker every Christmas). We bought not a thing, but had a blast looking around at all the crazy nutcrackers.

 Down the way, we got ice cream (except Dutch, who is not amused).

It was VERY hot and VERY crowded in downtown Leavenworth at midday so we decided to go check out the house we had rented for the weekend. Boy, did we hit the jackpot on this one. We rented a house in the middle of a pear orchard just a few miles out of Leavenworth. It was pretty much paradise. Cam was happy because there was A/C in the house, I was happy because it was baby proof and Clem was happy because it had cable.

 Seriously, this was our view. We rented a two bedroom house that came with a full kitchen a BBQ and we were totally immersed in pear country. It was incredible.

 Later that night, we headed back into Leavenworth to check out the public pool. Clem loved it as it was just the right depth for her and had a waterslide just her size!! Dutch even got in on the action and LOVED it!

 The next morning we got up and got ready to check out. Check out was at 10:00 and I was truly sad to have to leave this place. We loved it. Seriously. This was our view out of our bedroom windows. Pear trees as far as we could see!

 Before hitting the road, we hit up the petting zoo where each of us took turns feeding llamas! It was so much fun. At this point in the vacation my camera died BUT imagine this picture with goats, cows, rabbit, etc. in place of the llama.

We had an absolute plan free, great time. I think I could get used to this "let it happen naturally" thing (no i can't).

Baby, you're a FIREWORK!

Our fourth of July was bright, loud, long and sparkly, just as a fourth should be. 

Cameron and his dad LOADED UP on fireworks earlier in the week, complete with a backpack full of explosives for Clem and boxes (BOXES) full of explosives for Cam. 

My Garden on the first of July

Woe is  me. There's been more casualties in the veggie garden this season. Once again, just like last year, I had to do away with my entire broccoli crop. Then I cried. 

Somehow, gypsy moths are burrowing into my broccoli and laying their eggs (or whatever the nasty little sprouts are). When I went to harvest broccoli last week, it was inedible. Just like last year. 

So in the picture above, you see 8 sad, missing spots where broccoli once inhabited, happily. 

 The good news is that nothing else seems to be effected. Peppers, peas, cukes...everything else LOVED last week's rain and this week's temperatures. Can you spot the two purple peppers growing on the pepper plant??

 My peas are growing like crazy!

And the first carrot harvest is just about ready (left) while the next harvest finally broke ground this week (right). 

 Both zucchini plants are spreading and blossoming.

 And both blueberry bushes have some varying shades of blue!

 Speaking of blue, hello beautiful. This hydrangea was one of the first things I ever planted here at our house. Whispy and frail, I wasn't sure of it's placement or whether it would ever bloom big. Here we are 3.5 years later and I LOVE it. L*O*V*E*

On a hot summer afternoon

 It was a doozy of a hot afternoon here in the beautiful PNW. Here's how we spent it in our neck of the woods.

Clementine practiced her sight words spelling each word in the grass with her new squirt gun.

 And Dutch watched.

 And by "watched" i mean he climbed, dug, cruised, and made mischief all over the deck while sister did her work.

 While playing this morning with a neighbor girl, Clementine told the girl she had to go home because she had some "homeschool" to do. The girl said "Your mom makes you do HOMESCHOOL??" to which I replied "You bet! I'm a teacher, her whole life is homeschool!" :)

This afternoon, Clem practiced can, fan, pan, ran and tan words. Building them first with scrabble tiles, then adding them to her chart (25 words = Waterslides! We're halfway there!!)
In her hand, you'll note the giant, nearly frozen marshmellow because who DOESN'T need a little extra motivation on a super sweaty day??