June Fun

Always fun and busy around here. A few photos of our days.

Stroller nap after a summer walk:

Blueberry picking!

Cousin time with Evan!

 

Pool play!

 

Drezden Selfie!

Hope your summer is as exciting as ours!

Zander can ride his 2 wheel bike!

Zander has been a pro at his balance bike for over two years now. I could tell he was ready to take those skills over to a pedal bike. He however didnt think so. It wasnt until the housing development across the way paved their plot that I was able to convince him to give it a try. He took off right away and LOVE it! All smiles and so proud!!

Here is a video for you to enjoy!

Happy and so proud of his skills!

I couldnt be more amazed my his determination and skill!

Summer Solstice

We love celebrating the seasons and the changes it brings. 

What better way to celebrate the longest day of the year then with a good ole summer campfire.

Waiting for daddy to light the fire.

 Watching the smoke

Ryker was so focused and connected to the fire. I knew there was a reason Blaze fit him so well.

 

 

Family Selfie, thanks to chair and timer :)

And now a reflection on summer.

“Summer is a celebration of the earth incredible bounty! Summer is a festival of this inner fire/power, the power that makes abundance and nourishment grow from tiny seeds.”

“The power that brings things to fulfillment, and expands and brightens our lives, that makes good things come from seed ideas and plans. And the warmth of the sun and the long, hot days continually remind us of how good it is to find a balance between intense activity and lazy, idle hours doing nothing.”

“Summer teaches us patience. The fruit is green until it’s ripe and you just can’t rush it. Something of the slow, sure rhythm of the time will enter into us if we let it; no, we can’t hurry things, but if we just relax and let go, things will reach their fullness without effort or ego’s striving on our part.”

“And as we watch the ripening and flowering and fruiting all around us, we can’t help but be moved by and grateful for the generosity of the Earth Mother, who gives says what we need so unstintingly. Summer is a perfect time to discover our earth connection; by receiving her gifts with respect, taking only what we need, and doing what we can to minimize our impact on the delicate balance of the planet, we strengthen and nourish the bond we were given a birth with the great parent who sustains us all.”

“Many of us take vacations and summer; we can use this time to create whole days of celebration around ancient festivals that honor the Earth’s life giving relationship with the sun. By entering into activities that teach respect for and connection with these great powers vital sun and nourishing earth we align ourselves with those powers in a very deep way.”

“And as we watch the field baking in the heat as we feel the sun power to burn as well as to bless we can feel our own gifts, our own special abilities as they ripen and swell, and know that we, too, have the power to make a difference for growth or for destruction in the world…. it is a time to mark peak moments, moments of warmth and growth.”

“Our ancestors built huge bonfires on this day to celebrate their tangible connection to the vital power of the immense burning star that keeps our planet bright, warm and alive. It’s a good time to remember that we, like the sun, contain the power to nurture and sustain, and that we have a responsibility to burn as brightly as we can.”

“(It) is the time to invite fire into our lives fire to burn away all that we have outgrown and all that no longer serves us; fire that makes the wild things grow in us, for which our inner selves have longed”

“We are all connected people, planet, and sun. If we align ourselves with the power in others and in the natural forces around us, what we are unable to do with our own puny ego elves can be made to happen if it is attuned to the needs of the inner self and those upon which we are connected.”

~ Cait Johnson and Maura D. Shaw from Celebrating the Great Mother

Garden update

I know everyone has been dying to see an update on our garden. Its looking pretty amazing!!

You may think you can taste these photos, but please for all of us, dont lick your screen. :)

This was our 3rd large Strawberry harvest, the largest at the time. Since then we have harvested another 4 times always filling the white bowl and filling the glass bowl along with the white bowl, 3 or the 4 times. We will be picking again tomorrow.

Strawberries!

Future Strawberries

Rows and rows and rows of Sugar snap peas, they are so close to being ready.

 

To help our greens last longer we are testing planting them between the rows of Sugar snap peas so they get shade during the heat of the day. 

Buttercrunch lettuce

Carrots

Kale

Broccoli

Unkown self planted bush, thinking Pumpkin, but our other pumpkin plant is already blooming and this one isnt. We will have to see what this mystery plant is. 

Spinich

Blueberries!!

Comparison to my fingernail. These things are nice and plump!

Handful

 

The problem with planning out your garden before all your garden beds are ready is you plant things that have no home. Our number one priority is to get these babies in the ground so they are happy and start blooming. 

 

Dont leave this little guy near the strawberries....He is a strawberry-holic

mmmmm its all so good!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy father's day to all the dads out there. Especially to my own father for being such and amazing figure in my life. Also to my father in law for raising an amazing man I am lucky enough to have as my husband and father of my children. 

Finally to Paul, for being my rock, my best friend, the best father our children could have. They are who they are because of everything you do and the roll you play in their lives. I love you and cannot wait for all the father's day's to come.

Showing off their dump trucks. 

Nothing like an evening of play time with daddy and dump trucks to finish off father's day.