It's a Summer Celebration

We pack our bags for the day, pick up string cheese at the cheese factory made fresh this morning - our snack to share, and head out to the country .

Our friends are having a party to celebrate summer.

The weather is perfect.

The pool is brand new.

The children are excited to spend the day with their friends -

these children who were babies together and have grown up together.

They have celebrated summer together for years.

We spend the day watching the older kids play with the younger ones and listening to squeals of laughter - pure summer fun!

They have noodle wars and chicken fights,

and every so often a child screams, "There's a plane!"

It happens often throughout the day as planes from all over the world make their way to our local EAA Fly-in in Oshkosh, WI.

The kids make gak while the mommies get the pool for a few moments of peace and quiet. (recipe here)

We scarf down the best Peanut Butter Trufffle Brownies. (recipe here)

It's a beautiful day for a celebration, and we find ourselves grateful that while our friends down south start school in the next week or so, we still have another month of summer.

~ The Cows Make It Taste Better

Last night, we ate ice cream in a corn field.

We surprised the kids and decided to have ice cream for supper.

I know, seems like we've been hanging out in corn fields alot these days.

But when you can eat your ice cream next to the cows that made the milk - well, what can I say?

It just doesn't get better than that.

Our flavor choices:
Root Beer
Mint Brownie
Midnight Milky Way
Purple Hippo (Grape with orange sprinkles
The County Fair Sundae (Vanilla, Caramel, Spanish Peanuts & Popcorn)
& Mango Tango Sundae (Mango ice cream, Strawberries & Raspberries)

As if having ice cream for dinner wasn't special enough, when we got home, the best neighbor in the world had hung a huge bag of buttered popcorn from our local popcorn stand on our back door.

So we did what we had to do -

We had popcorn for dessert!

If you have a hankerin' for ice cream for dinner tonight, take a drive to the country and stop in at the Kelley Country Creamery. Say hello to the cows for me!

~ Summer Days Drifting Away

We drove into the middle of a huge corn field -

220 acres to the left,
120 acres to the right,
(give or take a few),

about a half-mile down a narrow gravel drive, the corn standing guard all around, its tassels swaying in the warm summer breeze.

And when we reached the clearing, there it was -

the best little private swimming hole in the Midwest and lots of friends to share it with.

The boys put on their suits, and we didn't see them for the next three hours. (Well, we really knew exactly where they were at all times.)

We grilled chicken and had garden fresh pasta salad and roasted marshmallows,

but they were too busy to eat.

There was boating, kayaking, a diving platform, a sandy beach, and best of all - a zip line!

We cheered those who were brave enough to thrust themselves across the water.

We watched the sky change from blue to pink to gray as the sun began its descent, and just before it was too dark to see and before the mosquitoes could have their way with us, we called them all out of the water to head home.

Oh, how I love the lazy days of summer, especially when they drift into a pefect summer night!

~ Always a Soccer Summer

He starts the season with, "Mom, I can't wait 'til soccer practice starts. I love soccer!"

He leaves his first practice dead tired. The coach has worked him to the bones.

He tells me some of the other kids complain about how hard they had to work. He says he knows the coach is just trying to get them in shape.

We're on our way to the field for a game. It's in the 90's and he's brought two water bottles, just in case.

I express my concern that he stay hydrated.

He responds at the top of his lungs, "I love to run!"

CRAZY KID!

I hope he always works this hard and has this kind of passion for whatever he does!