' Oh, I don't know why, but I've always loved the idea of summer, and sun, and all things hot.' Olaf the Snowman

Today is the first day of Summer!  While it is not one of my favorite seasons, it does mark the passing of the year. And it always brings to mind that line from a Country Time Lemonade commercial that keeps me motivated to get things done this season.  And now I find it hard to not sing, in my head, the word Summer like Olaf did in Frozen.  

So here is a brief list of things I did today.  I tried to sleep in but Eddy had other ideas around 4:30, like breakfast.  I managed to ignore her for a about an hour and finally got up to feed her and let her out again. I started some Summer cleaning because Spring has come and gone and I pretty much did not do anything about that whole thing.  Cleaning is really not my thing anyway.  I like the idea of it and the results of it, just not the act of it.  Or at least a lot of it at one time.  But today I got my groove on, my broom out, dusting cloth and cleaned the morning away.  

Here Kitty, Kitty!  Grimm is a lovely window sitter and loves being on brown patrol, watching the neighbors come and go.  I did have a conversation with Mandy today through the window because she saw from her driveway I was puttering around in there .  

I also put several items on the walls that have been laying around waiting to be hung.  I have had this wall item for four years!  Now it is up to inspire us when we come down the stairs.  

I hung a few smaller photos of Baylor and Eddy around the house.  

At noon we tried to Skype with my parents while they are in Germany.  While we could see them, we could not hear each other so we just talked on the phone and watched each other on the computer.  

Baylor and I interacted all day of course.  He loves these doors and wanted to see himself go down them so we took several photos.  

I smoked a turkey breast for Sunday dinner.  It had to do it today because Meme cannot be around smoke and she will be here on Sunday.  It will taste just as good tomorrow!

I walked around the gardens and found some lovely flowers in bloom.  

The black raspberries are coming along and we will be eating them next week!!  Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for the plants.  I think of you when we enjoy these fruits.  

Can you ever look at poppies and not say,"Poppies, poppies will put them to sleep."  Or is that just me?

My photo bomber!!  

Back in the house, I hung the German door bell that my parents had until I took it over a few years ago.  I love the sound when the door opens.  

Later, in the evening, we had a pick up T-ball game with both neighbor girls and they also had bike races around the loop.  While the kids were playing I was working on another project I will talk about on another day.  I started bread for breakfast because I love hot bread, butter and jelly!  

                                                 It was a good first day of  Summer!!

Awesome Roadtrip!

Saturday morning Baylor and I headed down to Leesburg for a weekend playdate.  We look forward to all of our playdates but overnight playdates are even more special!  (Hi Tara!) I should just post a link to your site and just follow along because we caught the same moments!!  Leesburg and the surrounding area has many wonderful places to visit and entertain the kids.  Tara suggested we take the boys to Brunswick Train Museum in Maryland.  Tara and Lucas have been there and she knew it was a hit with her little man. (BTW Tara, THANK YOU for paying for us to get in, I kept forgetting to tell you that was very nice and unexpected!) 

 I would have loved to spent more time in the historical room because I love looking at the vignettes and photos of the history of the area.  I did stop at the 'Post Office' and stamp a few post cards with the location and date as a souvenir. Unfortunately the clapper had been removed from the bell which made it frustratingly silent. I am sure it was a good thing; this bell being rung all day long would probably start some teeth itching!  

On the third floor was the model train room with trains running from DC along the towns in Maryland along the tracks.  On the walls were buttons that when pushed made things happen in the scenes and noises to be made.

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The fair was my favorite most likely because it was colorful and they had fun carousel music.

I told Lucas when he grows up, if he still likes trains, he could work here and play with the trains all day.  It would be a wonderful place for the little engineer. 

Back on the first floor, hidden in the back was a train room for the kids to play.  Tara and I discussed her plan to offer to paint a mural on the walls and I think it would be a great idea!  The boys played around the table and Lucas cracked me up with the way he narrates his train play like a Thomas movie!!  It was so cute! 

When we finally pried them away from the table we headed down the street to Beans in the Belfrey, a church converted to a coffee house cafe.  If I would ever open a coffeehouse cafe, this would be exactly what I would want; eclectic, welcoming, comfortable, put your feet up, sip your coffee while the kids play kind of place.  

Baylor preformed on the stage and being five, his performance included his rear end. 

And some weird serious face poses!  

They have a dress up bin and I made Baylor wear something for a photo.  

We headed back to ole Virginny and dropped the kids off at the house to play while Julie was home so Tara and I could do some shopping.  It is rare to get to go shopping with a fellow shopper and without a child or two.  We hit their Big Lots for some summery items and odds and ends one can only find at a store such as Big Lots.  Then we went to the grocery store in the plaza to look for canning jars to make mulberry jelly.  Tara had never been there before and we were both in grocery store heaven.  It was not a Wegmans but they had amazing produce section and I think we did two or three laps around the International section just picking up this and that. We picked up items for DYI pizzas for dinner, the canning items, hitting up a few other departments as we went.  On the way back for bacon, I came across the 'odd' meats. Like trotters for $1.00 off.  And there was a cow tongue, unfortunately cut in half so it lost some of its gross appeal.  Just some of it, it was still gross.  

We made little little pizzas for dinner, washed up with boys in sparkly bubble bath soap and I put Baylor to bed with a movie to help him fall asleep by himself.  Us girls stayed up talking until the yawns were outnumbering the words and we too headed up to sleep.  The next day we leisurely made our way through the morning, sipping coffee, blowing bubbles, and following the boys around from play area to play area.  We enjoyed a lovely brunch of pancakes and bacon.  Afterward we started our foray into making jelly from mulberries found on the tree in the side yard. I have never tried this berry and it was rather like a raspberry, seed in little pulpy pockets.  We read online that the best way to harvest them was to lay out a tarp and just shake the branches.  I had to 'borrow' this photo from Tara of the boys shaking the tree.

We picked through the pile of fruit to get rid of bugs, bad berries, leaves and other undesirables.  The color was really beautiful.  

But then it was off to the stock pot to cook them down to make juice.  

We made a jelly bag from an old shirt front and a colander to strain off the juice from the mush.   

After a bit of jelly making magic, we had 12 small jars and one nearly full pint jar.

Again, a beautiful color.  

The boys played out on the patio, Lucas with the trains and Baylor with the construction vehicles moving gravel from the quarry to where it needed to be taken.  As very useful engines,  they knew just where to dump the stones.  (over by the front door apparently)

A bit of housekeeping to keep things neat.  

Out back on the train table, the boys found a scary looking caterpillar that I moved off to the bushes so they could play.  

Baylor wanted to play in the pool, the water was calling!  It was too cold as the sun had not had a chance to warm up all the fresh rain water in the pool.  

I bought Lucas a bubble gun because he seemed to struggle with the large bubble wand I had bought him.  I love this bubble gun and I was glad to find one for Lucas.  

After a light lunch of leftover pizza we took the boys to a local park to play for a bit.  Baylor was very daring and wanted me to watch him hang from the walkway.  

And when I was not watching him, he was asking random Moms to watch him.  

Eventually they took a break on the slides and we headed back to the house to get ready for dinner with Lucas' Nana. Julie made us a nice dinner but not long after dinner we headed home.  Baylor was a sleep before we were out of town and when we passed the drive-in in Dillsburg I really debated waking him up to go see How To Train Your Dragon 2.  But like dogs, I let sleeping boys sleep.  Of course when we arrived home he woke up for the next hour and a half!! Totally could have seen the movie!  

Thank you Tara, Lucas and Julie for an amazing weekend play date!!