This was the summer...

Instead of blogging every activity from our summer, i will do what I hope will be a short summary.

This was the summer that we:

Drove to Newport Beach CA for vacation with Gramma, Grampa, and Thad.

We did the beach, Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, and a whale watching tour

Went on lots of mommy-daughter dates

Played a lot with cousins because Jan was up here with her kids, so every day was a party at Gramma Zoo's house.

Got a new pony bike for Eliza, training wheels for now, but so grown up.

Painted the playhouse! Lots of hard work, but very worth it, this place will be super fancy in no time.

Family Reunions! Stayed in a cabin in beautiful Pine Valley with all the family. It was super fun! Here the girls are doing minute-to-win-it games

Henna'd the back of my legs.

Got a smoker, Ben started smoking every Saturday, which meant a meat-feast every Saturday night.

Planted a lovely garden that I love to watch out the kitchen window. Here is a big carrot we got a few weeks ago.

Ben took the girls to Boston to visit their Gramma Lynne. So I was left home alone with Calvin boy.


Took Calvin to the Dinosaur museum a lot, he runs full speed through the whole building several laps until I drag him out.

Calvin turned 3! I made him a truck cake. He received puzzles, trucks, and clothes.

Calvin learned about pumpkins and became enthralled with them. Our pumpkins ripened super early so we have several carve-ready in mid August. But more are growing, maybe we'll just replace them every 3-4 weeks until October.

On the last day before school started we walked through the Thanksgiving Point Gardens to look for hummingbirds and butterflies. and I got this amazing picture of these beauties.

Recipes That Don't Work - CheeriOreo Peanut Butter Krispie Treats

CheeriOreo Peanut Butter Krispie Treats

Directions:
In a sudden fit of domesticity (an urge unfelt in several months) decide to throw together a treat for the afternoon.

Ingredients:
1 bag marshmallows
1 moderate scoop of butter
1 large scoop of Peanut Butter
Half a box of Honey Nut Cheerios
1/2 C Oreo crumbs

In a large pot melt together marshmallows, butter and peanut butter. Dump Cheerios into a large bowl. Drizzle melted goo into the Cheerios, mix until well covered. Spray a cake pan and dump the delicious concoction in and press down.

Mess around, waiting for lunch, checking the pantry several times to make sure you still have bread for sandwiches. Notice the bag of Oreo crumbs left over from a project from last weekend. Mentally kick yourself for not remembering them earlier and think obsessively about how good they would be in those krispie treats...
Eventually dump the Oreo crumbs over the already cooling Cheerio treats, rationalize with yourself that the mallow to cereal ratio is high enough that the Oreo will be absorbed and stick to it.

Serving Instructions: Cut into it and shake off all the Oreo crumbs. Maybe they didn't stick, but at least you tried.
Do Not Let Children Eat These Inside the House.

Congratulations! You tried to make something amazing and it turned out looking like garbage!