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After a meeting with my UBC advisor and a few hours in at work, I picked up the boys and we met my nephew at the waterslides for another end of summer event. It was a sunny afternoon and the place was packed. The boys did their favourites and had a chance to hang out with their cousin and enjoy just a little bit more summer!
Colin drove back to West Van for a sleepover and Adam got to hang out with us and managed to end up with some school supplies and new hockey skates and a slurpee ;)
At the beginning of every summer, we ask the boys want they want to do over the summer. This summer, there weren't too many requests. They didn't want to go in any camps or anything. They wanted to see their cousins and go to the Okanagan with them and all that is involved with that. They counted on our annual trip to Oregon but other than that, they really just wanted to "hang out" and have a low key summer. We also discussed as a family that I really needed a lot of dedicated time to commit to an ongoing project that I need to wrap up. As the summer began to come to an end, I began to feel some guilt that the boys didn't have the type of summer they usually have. When I asked them if there was anything they still wanted to do, they mentioned camping...real camping...in a tent camping. We did camp in Oregon this summer in state parks but we stayed in a cabin and in a yurt...not "real" according to the boys. So I went into work on Monday morning, came home by noon and the boys and I drove south to Birch Bay for a one-night tent camping trip!
On our way, we picked up groceries and wood, did a little go-karting and stopped at the amazing old-time C Shop candy store in Birch Bay.
We drove around and chose campsite #95 at the state park. Going during the week is so nice because the campsites all around you are empty and you feel like you have your own private piece of the forest. We think families in Washington went back to school this week too, which made it really quiet! The boys did pretty much all the set up on their own and then we walked down to the beach, went for a hike in the forest and then made a fire before Neil drove down after work to join us for dinner.
The boys insisted on campfire-roasted hot dogs and we made campfire banana splits for dessert (taking me back to my girl guide days!).
The boys made one more blazing fire before Neil drove home for the night and the boys and I snuggled into the tent to listen to the sixth Harry Potter book.
It was 24 hours of much needed uninterrupted time with my boys for me and much axe-wielding (and throwing contests) and fire-building for them! Oh, and a night in a tent - a simple request honoured.
Colin has been struggling with so much unstructured time. He's kind of at that in-between age. He used to spend hours playing lego or doing projects with Adam but Adam is a bit past that now (not completely though...) which has left Colin floundering a bit. He likes his video games, riding his bike or skateboard and reading the occasional book or listening to HP audio books.
Thursday evening he came up to me (as I was working away on the computer) and said, "I want to learn something new. I want to do something, like learning to ride my unicycle." He walked away and a few minutes later, came back and asked, "Can I make cookies by myself?" and I said, "of course!" He decided on chocolate chip. I printed off the recipe for him and because we only had 1 stick of butter left, he needed to half the recipe which was great work with fractions! I stayed at my computer and he worked away in the kitchen next door, asking only a couple questions for clarity, but he otherwise made the cookies all by himself.
After having one, he proudly said, "They kind of taste just like yours!" I told him they were perfect. Lots of smiles all around.
This is this week's The Simple Things photo.
Check out other "simple things" photographs on Rebecca's blog.
This hasn't been the sunniest of summers for us out here on the west coast but it really has been amazing the last few weeks. Yesterday after dinner, we went for a family walk along River Road and took in the amazing views.
We strolled through the Terra Nova farm and checked out all the produce, herbs and flowers grown by families, school groups and the sharing farm which grows food for our local food bank. It smelled amazing and it was so full of life!
As we enjoyed some ice cream after our walk, I was feeling so very blessed.
This morning I called my sister in the Philadelphia area to see how she was feeling. I have been tracking Hurricane Irene all week and it is heading on a direct path to where my sister and her family live. They are stocked up, the kids all have flashlights beside their beds and they have moved everything up from their basement as flooding is likely. There are lots of tall, older trees where they live, so that is a danger too. My niece and nephews just experienced their first earthquake last week and now this. These are the times when I wish I could just reach out across the space between the west and east coasts and give my sister a hug.
So as I fall sleep tonight (probably watching CNN updates) I will be thinking of my sister and her family as they get pelted with heavy rain and winds from Hurricane Irene. I will be anxious to hear from my sister Sunday morning, if we can get through by phone or email, and give her a big hug with my words!
Sunday morning update: I just talked to my sister. They are all fine. It is still raining and they have no power but the worst it over and they are safe.
Moving always brings such a mix of emotions. Excitement about new adventures and places and starting something fresh. Nostalgia and possibly sadness about saying goodbye to past adventures, places and the people that go along with where you have been.
This photo is of the call display from the last phone call I received from my parents before they moved to Boundary Bay on Friday.
My parents lived in Richmond and had the same phone number for 49 years. Crazy! They lived in 4 different houses while they were here. I was born in the house on Bakerview before they built two home in the Sunnymede area and then their final home has been a block away from where we live in the Steveston area.
We helped them pack up their things and drove through the tunnel to their new home near the beach. I'll miss not being able to "pop by" but am happy my parents have found a lovely home and a place that I hope will bring them a new sense of community.
We still have lots of local fresh blueberries available here so for a change, I made some muffins this week instead of scones for breakfast! Yesterday, I made my mom's traditional blueberry muffin recipe...white flour, white sugar, butter, all that good stuff that make this more of a cupcake than a muffin! I usually add a little lemon or orange zest or a bit of nutmeg as the cake, although sweet, is a little bland for me.
Blueberry Muffins (recipe from vintage 1960s Lulabelle Blueberry recipe booklet)
Preheat oven to 400 and prepare muffin pan. Makes 1 dozen.
Sift together:
2 cups all purpose flour 3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup sugar
Combine and add to flour mixture:
1 egg 1 cup milk 6 TBlsp melted shortening (I used butter)
Stir just until mixed and then fold in 1 cup of fresh blueberries. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full and sprinkle each muffin with white sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes.
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Today, I made a much more healthy muffin recipe that I found here. I used oat bran instead of wheat bran because that's what I had at home and I threw in a little ground flax seed. I have used similar recipes to this before and you have to play with the amounts of applesauce to get the texture and sweetness to your liking. I did add the brown sugar in the recipe because three-fourths of our family likes things a little sweeter but may try and play with a honey substitute.
Blueberry Bran Muffins (from allrecipes.com)
Preheat oven to 375 and prepare muffin tins. Makes 18 muffins.
Mix together 1 and 1/2 cups wheat bran and 1 cup nonfat milk and let stand for 10 minutes.
Mix together:
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp vanilla
Mix bran mixture into the above "wet" mixture.
Sift together:
1/2 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture, just until mixed. Fold in 1 cup of blueberries and scoop into muffin tins. Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops spring back when lightly tapped.
These muffins feel like breakfast in a muffin, kind of like hot oatmeal with fruit but in a muffin version. Neil and I preferred today's version, the boys liked the cakes. No surprise there!
I had a few questions about the jellybean pinwheels we made for our carnival party...
I used Little Yellow Bicycle paper (Sweet Summer Time line - summertime stripe/hello sunshine)...12x12 cut into 6x6 squares so I got 4 pinwheels from each sheet of paper.
I just eyeballed it and cut into the centre from each each corner, stopping about 1cm from the centre. I used a paper piercer to pierce a hole in the centre and four of the cut corners (they are now 8 "corners" after cutting), alternating to pierce every second corner.
I took a little colourful brad from my collection and pushed it through a corner hole, carefully folding each subsequent corner with a hole under the previous one and pushing the brad through each layer and then finally through the centre hole. Holding the pinwheel carefully, I turned it over and pressed it down a bit in the centre and opened up the prongs of the brad to hold everything in place. I was really happy with how they turned out and think they have really nice curves to them instead of being folded flat.
I ordered the tubes from HERE (I visited this store when we were in Utah last year and always find inspiration on the website)...they come in two different sizes. I got the longer, thiner ones which would fit skittles, smarties or jellybeans just fine. We filled the tubes, capped them and then used double stick tape to attached them to to the back of the pinwheels, being careful to keep the cap free of tape so that it can be opened easily.
I think the tubes are fun (and I have 3 dozen more of them)...I can see using treats to make patterns in them and they'd be fun for Hallowe'en or Christmas little gifts for neighbourhood children and friends.
For the last four or five years, a group of good friends and their children have got together in our backyard for an end of summer party. It so happens that this group of friends are all educators so it is a nice time for us to get together before the crazy business of September starts up. We've had luaus, fiestas and popsicle parties and we always luck out with the weather. It's been fun to see the kids together over the years...this year we had 11 children ranging in age from 2-15!
This year we had a carnival party which made planning the food fun and the older children all organized a carnival type game...my boys did a water shooting game and there was also a marshmallow catching game and an egg toss. We had a little tub of prizes and each child got a strip of tickets for the games.
We had some fun carnival food including popcorn, corn dogs, cotton candy, mini-doughnuts and Adam helped make snowcones. Hannah made some amazing clown cookies and I made some pinwheel cupcakes. And there was fruit, veggies and salad in the kitchen, in case someone might think the children gorged on carnival food all afternoon!
Usually we do a little end of summer photo project but I just couldn't make the time to get that together this year so we did some rock painting instead. The rocks went home and will be put in gardens or on desks.
I love hearing all the happy voices in my backyard and it being a full, fun place to be. I love that although it was an "end of summer party" that the school-aged children still have almost two weeks of holidays left so they were all in good spirits. Colin and I put together some jellybean pinwheels last night and handed them out as we said goodbye to everyone as a final fun treat!
The boys did a great job helping me finish up with the clean up, and of course called some of the things they did to the balloons and with the tubs of ice water and marshmallow shooters "science" so they could get away with it ;)
On Sunday evening the boys and I went blackberry picking with the Partridge girls at Garry Point. There was talk about high school and trees to be climbed (that would be Colin) and interesting discoveries amongst the blackberry bushes.
It was only appropriate that I made some of Gillian's scones with a cup of the blackberries.
And for dessert this evening I made a blackberry-peach galette with some of the BC peaches I bought at the market on Sunday.
I love the intense flavour of blackberries but the seeds are a bit of a pain! I think after our next round of blackberry picking, I am going to attempt making blackberry jelly. I have memories of my mom making jelly in her kitchen with cheesecloth bags heavy with fruit hanging from the cupboards, dripping into a big bowl. I love making jams and have made quince jelly before but this will be my first attempt at a berry jelly. Could be messy ;)
While we were on holidays last week, we listened to the audio book of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book five) as we drove to and from Oregon. I've lost track of how many times we've read and listened to the books but they never grow old for us. We planned to watch the movie tonight and I decided to make us a few treats mentioned in this particular book.
Butterbeer was had by the members of the DA at their very first meeting at the Hog's Head on a Hogsmeade weekend.
I used this recipe again and used our new glass mugs I bought at a kitchen outlet store when we were in Oregon.
We also had some pumpkin pasties. These were enjoyed by the students on their ride out to Hogwarts on the Hogwarts Express.
I found a few recipes on the internet and went with this one, but used my own pie crust recipe. Colin helped put these together and learned about crimping pastry dough together and egg washes.
And finally, I made some ginger newts. These biscuits were offered to Harry in a tartan tin from Professor McGonagall in her office.
We used Colin's favourite gingerbread recipe but I added a bit of extra ginger. I thought I had a lizard cookie cutter in my crazy collection but I couldn't find it so I made do...I drew a newt on a piece of paper, cut it out and lay it on top of the cookie dough and traced around it with a knife. The feet were a little tricky! I'm glad I was only making four!
The movie was great and the story-related treats were enjoyed by all. A new movie-watching tradition, I'm sure!
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