Blueberry picking time

Ethan, my Mom and I made our yearly pilgrimage to the blueberry fields this year on Tuesday. This time Ethan was able to run up and down the rows and eat the blueberries right off the bushes. I could hear him humming and singing to himself as he went up and down the rows. Every once in awhile he'd call out for me or his Nana or I'd call out to see where he was. He even put some blueberries in my bucket. However, they were mostly green. He also liked to stick his hands in my bucket and make off with handfuls of the berries I picked. I picked 5 lbs 13 ou and Mom picked 7.5 pounds. So now we have 12 cups of blueberries in the deep freeze for blueberry pancakes all winter long.

Ethan is very strong-willed and has started the habit of slapping when he doesn't get his way. This is our newest parenting challenge. He is a little young for a consequence and too old to be smacking me. What to do?

Politics

I don't write about politics and I usually tune out the Presidential election until the debates. Politics is Josh's thing. He has strong opinions, and likes to share with others. I feel the need to vent about this current election, however. It makes me so angry to see pictures like this in the newspaper and on the news. This is a picture of "showman but no substance" O in Germany campaigning! A measly 100,000 people showed up to cheer for him. Why? I'm sorry but people of the world, you are being used by an actor to further his own power hungry needs. He will bring this picture of the crowd out until the election in November. What does this show about foreign policy? Nothing. What does this show about his ability to work with our congress? Nothing. What does this show about what to do with the disasters we have made in the Middle East? NOTHING!!! All it shows is that people will show up and cheer for a man who strings together fancy words in English. How much money is this rock star tour of the world costing?

It is embarrassing that a US senator who voted on foreign policy now feels he needs to tour the world on a fact finding mission. So the votes he cast on foreign policy were what? Uniformed? Yep. Blindly following the party line? You bet! Fabulous! Guess what people of Illinois, your senator was clueless.

He is an actor. No substance. If we want to elect an actor to the Presidential seat, didn't the guy who played the President on the West Wing win an Emmy?

Don't read this post and think I'm for McCain or that I've never voted Democrat. I've voted Republican and Democrat and I don't like McCain. I'm sorry but McCain's just too old and I don't agree with many of his positions.

I don't like politics. I don't like the way they make me feel used and dirty. Ok, back to sticking my head in the sand and pretending that there is a candidate I like running for one of the most influential seat in the world.

Golumpki, Monkey, and Family

First, let me start off with a favorite hobby of mine -- food. We have been enjoying the bounty of a CSA this summer and I've been cooking up a storm to keep up with the volume. This weekend I made golumpkis with the giant head of cabbage we received. Even Ethan thought they were good. I also made a lemon basil pound cake to welcome Josh's brother into his new home. I also whipped up broccoli cheddar soup with broccoli from my garden. Let's see what else ... hot fudge sauce, strawberry sauce, and whipped cream. And lemon verbena syrup, which was a very interesting shade of green. I was a busy chef this weekend!

All of the sauces and whipped cream were for the ice cream sundaes and Indian Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc showing we had in our back yard on the back of our garage. It was awesome to watch a movie in our yard.

Sunday was family day. We first visited my parents and Tyler then we visited Josh's entire family at his brother's new condo.

Ethan has turned into quite the social butterfly.

Mohegan Island En Plein Aire Critics Corner

Everyone is a critic... but with much looking, Ethan selects his favorite from Nana's newest paintings. Notice the sidewalk chalk in the 2nd pic...he's an artist too!

The outdoorsman

My little patch of earth

Here's my garden from last week. Today I harvested green beans and the broccoli is almost ready.

July 4th weekend

We did lots of family activities this weekend. On Friday we went to Salem with the Barter clan to listen to some music and have the kids participate in the activities. We had Ethan's face painted with a star. The older boys won some toys and got temporary tatoos (both got carebear tatoos). The "artist" who spray painted the carebears on had some lots of real tatoos up and down his arms. I wish I had taken a picture of this tatooed man spraying a carebear tatoo on the 3 and 5 year olds. No fireworks for our family. We think they are just too loud for Ethan and it would have been way passed his bedtime. Josh made chocolate truffle ice cream with raspberry swirl. Mmmm... it didn't last the weekend.

On Saturday we went for a hike. It was nice to get out into the woods for a bit. It was a short hike but it went straight up the mountain. I carried Ethan up and Josh carried him down, which worked out really well I thought. Ethan sang us songs and shouted "up, up" to spur us on. On the way down he waved a flower around like he was conducting an orchestra while singing "the ants go marching down," and "ba, ba black sheep." The top of the mountain was perfect for Ethan. He could safely explore without the fear of toppling off the side. He even sat on our rain coats and ate his lunch with us. There were low bush blueberries at the top which I picked and we munched on. As Ethan explored the top, he used our hiking poles to wave around as he clambered over the rocks. Ethan did really well except for the extremely poopy diaper and not wanting to get back in the backpack for the ride down. Fortunately, I won the rock, paper, scissor for the diaper change and Ethan's tears didn't last too long after being put in the carrier. We had ice cream on the way home to celebrate our first hike as a family.

On Sunday my parents came over for a New England clam bake. We steamed mussels, clams, potatos, onions, corn and sausage out on the grill and I made mint margaritas. I was a bit nervous about steaming everything. Josh and I have never bought mussels or clams, but it turned out really well. Mom brought her paintings from the last week over and we had an improntu art show. Ethan really studied my Mom's paintings and liked to carry them around. He probably would have added his own touches with his sidewalk chalk if we had let him.

A pretty fun summer weekend for us!

How does my veggie garden grow?

With tender loving care of course. My Dad and Josh built two raised beds for me this summer, and my Mom bought the plants. I have broccoli, tomatos, celery, basil, parsley, and beans. I also planted some marigolds in the empty spots. So far we have eaten basil, parsley and celery from our garden. I am happy to report that I have little broccoli florets, tomatos, and what has the potential to be a bumper crop of beans. I love going out to the garden snipping what I need and making something yummy for my family to enjoy. Okay, for Josh and I to enjoy. Ethan has a very limited palate consisting mostly of chicken nuggets, mac 'n cheese, and fruit.

Plus, with all the veggies we are getting from our CSA we belong to, Josh and I will be eating more veggies this summer than we ever have. Here's to healthy organic living! I'd take a picture of my garden but there are currently men installing the great wall of China between our property and our neighbors. When the anti-illegal alien/anti-Ethan's toy balls wall is complete I'll go out there and photograph my garden.