janice's mash-up

summer treats

Colin had his friend Jonah over this afternoon which was a good excuse to make a summer treat. Colin took stock of what we had in the kitchen and decided banana splits would be fun. They added all sorts of fun toppings! Colin and Jonah have been friends since they were two...I have photos of the two of them like the ones below since they were very young! It would be fun to do a mini-book of how they've changed (and not changed) over the years!

We headed over to the Steveston water park so the boys could play and cool off. There were lots of other kids with "squirters" there today and they got in a water battle with some other boys.

We came home to have a cold drink (lemonade rimmed with pop rocks) and play a little Rock Band before Jonah had to head home for dinner before an exhibition soccer game tonight. We're going to try and swing by to see him for awhile. Jonah and his brother made the Zone team for our area for the BC Summer Games. The opening ceremonies are tomorrow!

Good luck Jonah! We're so proud of you!

ten on tuesday

the summer fruit edition...

1) Did you notice my new clock widget on the right hand side of my blog? I couldn't decide between the lime, orange or watermelon shapes. This is a free widget from clocklink that I can change regularly which is kind of fun - there are all kinds of options like sushi clocks, different sports, cities and seasons.

2) Funny that kleenex also has made lime, orange and watermelon wedge boxes this summer. I picked up a watermelon wedge as I was wandering around London Drugs this morning after my optometrist's appointment. Geesh, those drops that make you blind drive me crazy!

3) One of the lego models of the month also happens to be a watermelon. You can download the instructions for it along with lots of others in the archive at the lego site. 

4) I have been coveting the ZOKU popsicle maker from Williams-Sonoma since I read about it on some foodie blogs last summer. Check out the video on the Williams-Sonoma site! 

The boys and I have made lots of popsicles over the years using those fun plastic molds. Today we tried ones with raspberry yogurt on the bottom and then fruit juice and raspberries on the top.After seeing the Zoku video, Colin is all about making our own creamsicles though...orange juice and vanilla yogurt inside does sound good. Now I just need to figure out how to make that work with our regular molds!

5) Through Celeste's blog (she always has great free printables that she has found) I found these great citrus labels from Wendolonia. I have always loved citrus and love using citrus zest and juice in my baking. So I don't think I'll be using these labels/tags for marmalade, I can see them tied to a bag of orange shortbread or lemon sugar cookies ;)

6) Although we don't have citrus trees here, we do have quince and golden plum trees. This year we don't have the abundance of fruit that we had last year, but still enough to enjoy and to make some yummy desserts.

 
Can you tell which fruit is which?

7) We also have lots of berries coming our way from the garden! Raspberries and blueberries are ready and our ever-bearing strawberries are setting their next round of fruit.

   

8) The local blueberries are almost ready for u-pick. Blueberries are the easiest berries for kids to pick because they are right at eye level and they don't get as squashed as other berries (and there's no "pricklies" to deal with like with raspberries and blackberries). We used to take the boys when they were young and they ate blueberries by the bowlful. They still do eat them like candy which is why we planted our own bushes. We'll need to supplement our own "crop" this year so that we have enough for blueberry cobbler (one of my favourite recipes from my mom), muffins, scones and smoothies. There are lots of great recipes at the BC Blueberries Council website. They even have a blogger recipe contest this summer if you're interested.

9) Etsy is full of summer fruit inspiration. How fun is this soap from this etsy crafter? 
 

Or this citrus necklace from this etsy crafter?

Or these yummy looking lemon-lime butter cookies from this etsy baker?

10) And in the summer my beverages of choice are Simply Lemonade Raspberry Lemonade, Minute Maid Limeade and Sonic's Cherry Limeade. I'm looking forward to some Sonic drinks while we're on the road this summer!

    
 
 Yum-o!

 
 

harrison highlights

We had a great two days away with good friends in Harrison. It was really just an overnighter but it felt like we were away longer which is a nice feeling. The boys had a great time playing and swimming in the lake and they practiced their putting skills at minigolf! 

      
A nice little getaway for sure.

chocolate raspberry cookies

Colin and I made these yummy chocolate raspberry cookies to use up some raspberries in our fridge. They were easy to make and made a huge batch so I took a bag over to my parents today. Adam really liked them...maybe not a top 10 finish but pretty up there in his mind!

I found the recipe on Julie's blog. Julie worked at TOM in Bellingham and I check in on her blog regularly. She has a great family life and scrapbooking style!

We're off to Harrison this morning for some fun in the lake!

club ck summer camp

So along with all the regular family summer type stuff and working on some pieces of writing for my dissertation, I took part in Club CK (Creating Keepsakes) Summer Camp this week. Some of the girls went all out and made camp tshirts, wrote camp songs, had campfire chats online, etc. Women from all over the world participated in the online forums and galleries. There were merit badges to earn and of course at the beginning I thought, well, I'll just have to do them all! Hmmm...maybe if I took a week off of my life, which wasn't going to happen, so I have to be happy with the challenges I did, the badges I earned and the new techniques that I tried because of camp. The first badge I earned was my orienteering badge and then I created this flag and banner on this page to earn my flag etiquette merit badge.

The next one I worked on was my photography badge. There were three nature-related challenges to choose from and I worked on using my macro setting on my camera. I wandered through my backyard and took some photos of the daisies. I was trying to get the details of the flower with the background foliage and trees, etc blurred. I then cartoonized it on befunky and framed that one for our kitchen!

 
My next project was a Nature Walk badge. We were to incorporate bugs, clouds or trees into a layout or card design. I made this card for my friend Laura's birthday and got it off in the mail on Friday. I posted it to the CK gallery and someone pointed out that I had used all three things (clouds, bugs/butterflies and tree) although I had only really started out with a picture of a tree branch going across the card in my mind. 

For my Fire Safety badge I created these cute smores tags using chalk ink to "cook" the edges of the marshmallows. We found this cool Smores card game out at the toy store in Crescent Beach to give to the family that we usually go camping with in the summer. We always end up having marshmallow cooking competitions! This year we are hotelling it in Harrison Hot Springs with them but the boys are hoping to have a camp out and marshmallow roasting session with them in our backyard some time this summer.

They also posted some "camp" recipes each day. I think the boys would really like these pb granola bars with some dried cranberries and cherries.

So I earned five badges, one for each day which I am pretty happy with!

       
 

wild wild west swimming

Today the boys had their last lesson of their set of summer swimming lessons. We took their instructors little bags of blue gummy whales from the Candy Aisle and included this fun thank you tag I downloaded from the givers' log. If you haven't visited that site before, it is fabulous and has all sorts of gift and packaging ideas. You can download the thank you tags here. The owner from the Candy Aisle sent out the photo on twitter too! 

I am always surprised (and the boys point this out to me) that sometimes we are the only ones giving thank you or appreciation gifts to teachers/coaches/instructors etc. I wonder why that is? As parents, I think it is so important that we model appreciation and gratefulness to those who give their time, their expertise or their heart. 

At swimming today there was a Wild Wild West celebration and the boys wore their bandanas, cowboy hats and "guns". They both had fun in the water. Colin passed Red Cross level 5 but Adam didn't get through level 7. He has to keep one his feet flexed more when doing the whip kick. He says he has really been trying but that his body just doesn't bend that way ;) He's a bit worried that Colin's going to catch up to him so I think he'll want to take lessons this fall.

It's so important to us that the boys are strong swimmers so we will keep working at it. The boys really do have fun swimming and they'll have lots of time in the water this summer!

puppets and bocce

The Lion King was amazing. The music and costumes were spectular but as Adam said, the puppets were remarkable. We had to go over the plot a bit before the show so the boys could anticipate what was coming. Colin clenched my hand until the death scene was over. 

I loved the mix of puppets and costumed characters they used. Adam was quite impressed with the shadow puppets that they illuminated up on canvases and sets to give hints as to what was happening. The giraffes were amazing and lumbered across the stage so naturally. We also really liked the birds flying around, especially at the beginning of the second half where the actors were up on the seats with the birds flying around us.

I'm so glad we got to go as a family. Thanks for a lovely birthday gift Neil, Adam and Colin!

This evening we had a family bbq at my parents with my sister and niece. Colin and I were entertained by this backyard visitor before dinner. I have always been partial to squirrels, except when they live in our attic ;)

My mom organized a family bocce tournament, complete with score chart. Everyone got to play everyone which was very fun!

 
Colin and I managed to tie for first...(Colin would want that noted). Ainsley and Colin practiced backyard stunts and we talked about all sorts of things, as families do.

Neil and I sure noticed how loud and boisterous our boys are compared to our sweet niece! They exhaust us but we love them more than anything :)

splishing and splashing

The boys had their swimming lessons this morning and then we headed out to Splashdown waterpark this afternoon with Ryan and Trevor. The boys had fun and I tried a couple of slides. I must say that when you have been to Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach at DisneyWorld and Great Wolf Lodge, other waterslides don't stack up very well! But these were local and we had free passes so all is good!

We are off to see The Lion King at the Queen E tonight which I am very excited about. Neil and the boys got the tickets for my birthday.

In between mama duties and doing some data analysis and writing, I have been taking part in the Club CK Summer Camp this week and doing a few scrapbook challenges. I am doing that little summer flip book on my mantle anyways so the camp challenges are keeping me at it. It's quite fun actually - you get to earn merit badges and everything! And if there are badges to be earned, I will earn them! I should try and find my Girl Guide sash with the crazy amount of badges I had! 

Lion King highlights tomorrow...

ten on tuesday

the summer bliss edition...

1) The temperatures have cooled down here by a few degrees which makes a huge difference. So nice now! Adam and I actually sat outside this afternoon to do some reading. He is my reader-boy. Always has been. He reads broadly too which is great...classics, fantasy, adventure, sci-fi and lots of magazines and informational books. He soaks up everything. This afternoon he was settled into his hammock. A lovely summer afternoon.

2) And what was I reading you may ask? I guess I am a bit of a diverse reader as well. I love a good novel with a strong plot, dramatic twists and one that tugs on my emotions. I am all about connecting to the characters. But today was a different story...this is what I was reading:

   
And yes, that is the companion book to 3191: A Year of Mornings. The evenings books is out of print and out of stock everywhere but I used my supersleuthing internet shopping tactics and found a used copy that arrived at the post office this morning. So beautiful and inspiring, just like the first one.

 3) Besides going to the post office after swimming, the boys and I walked around Steveston in search of some Wild West gear for their swimming lesson celebration on Friday. The candy store was closed but the boys shared a toonie-do-it-yourself-cotton-candy treat instead.

4) We were also searching for the new location of 4Cats but obviously didn't walk down 1st Avenue far enough. I phoned when we got home and they are right at the end of 1st Avenue at Chatham. Can't wait to got and see their studio. I am hoping the boys might do the Sci-Fi art program the last week of summer when I will probably need to be at work a bit, and Neil will be at work too.

5) We are all looking forward to Neil being home tonight. He has been in Las Vegas since Sunday with his dad. It has been 42degrees there (107 farenheit). Crazy. Thank goodness the hotels and casinos have AC.

6) The recent heat we've had here has been great for the garden (as long as I remember to water). I am The blueberries are ripening, the corn is growing and the roma tomatoes are starting to fruit.

       
7) I am loving how the windowbox looks this summer. I do a different colour scheme each year and am loving how the different tones of purple and green are playing off each other.

8) A friend gave Adam a giftcard to Marble Slab Creamery as a "graduation" gift (thanks!) so we headed there this afternoon. The boys both got the new flavour - Orange Dream - as part of their mix. I just had one lick of Colin's but yum-o, just like a creamsicle. Colin said, "I can understand why they call it orange dream!" And Adam assured me that it won't just be a summer flavour because it is so good...it will have to stick around.

Adam's concoction:

9) After the ice cream stop, Colin met up with his friend Jonah at the school for some skateboarding et al. Colin has been longing for a longboard for months now so you can imagine the look on his face when he saw Jonah with one that he got in Seattle this weekend. This is similar to the board Jonah got. I think we will be looking for Zumiez outlet stores on our trip to the states. So much for Colin's savings account ;)

10) And more photo fun from befunky:

Adam has Pop Art #8 and Colin has Pop Art #11.  

In summer, the song sings itself.  ~William Carlos Williams

picnic prep and fun with friends

Last night, Colin and I made these very yummy lemon raspberry bars from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen site. If you have never visited Pioneer Woman's site, you are in for a treat. Much inspiration for the kitchen, photography and living life well. She has just published a cookbook which is gorgeous. This was a great recipe for Colin and I. He was able to make the crust and squeezed and zested several lemons. He also learned how to fold in the raspberries carefully so they wouldn't crush and turn the filling pink. They were so lemony good!

While we were working on the bars, Adam was prepping a watermelon for another watermelon punch apparatus. 

We were hoping for a nice hot today as we were meeting friends at Garry Point for an afternoon picnic and "playtime". I feel funny saying playtime now that the boys are older but really, that's what it was. I guess I could say that we were hanging out at Garry Point ;)

It turned out to be a bit breezy and cool this afternoon so the ice cold watermelon from the cooler wasn't as needed as I thought it might be. The lemon bars, "purple" tortilla chips (as little Sarah called them) and watermelon punch were hits though.

The kids dug a huge hole to excavate a huge rock and just played in the sand before venturing off to climb the rocks. This group ranged in age from just over a year old to 13.5 years old (that would be Adam) and they just wove in and out of playing together and on their own. So nice to watch as a parent actually. Reminds me though how the boys are at a relatively easy stage in their lives...old enough to be pretty independent but young enough to still want to be with us.

 

The boys had a great day and even got to try out Kyra and Andrew's trampoline on our way home. 

Summer afternoon... 

the two most beautiful words in the English language.

Henry James

British (US -born) author (1843 - 1916)