summer fun

Ever since Phil finished his MBA we have been enjoying our weekends very much! We try to plan as much family time as possible and take advantage of the summer days.

One of my favorite things about summer is the food! Farmer’s markets, garden veggies, eating outside…it couldn’t get better. Here is a picnic we had on our patio with my brother Tim and his wife AnneMarie.

fresh tomato basil bruschetta

Then last Friday I met up with some girlfriends for our monthly “Working Wives Roundtable” where we share business and finance advice, as well as great food. I made a hummus and veggie tray with fresh sugar snap peas from my own garden, and a raspberry pavlova with fresh organic raspberries I picked earlier that week.  Here is the recipe I like. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chocolate-raspberry-pavlova-recipe/index.html

We have also been doing a lot of gardening. I love our big yard and our little veggie garden. It is so great to spend the day outside working on it. Liam is a really good helper.

helping daddy rake

com'ere mommy, I won't squirt you! 

annual laurel trimming

For Father’s Day Liam and I gave Phil a gift certificate for “Ride the Ducks”, those Seattle touristy aquatic vehicles. Since we live here we had never done it but we have always wanted to. So, a couple of weeks ago we decided to go. Afterwards we walked around Seattle Center and the Olympic Sculpture Park. Then we had dinner at the waterfront Old Spaghetti Factory, which is where Phil and I had our first date almost 10 years ago!

Yesterday we spent a couple of hours at the zoo. It seems like it gets more fun every time we go because Liam is getting older and talking more and enjoys naming all of the animals. After the zoo we went down to the UW boat docks where we rented a canoe and paddled under the freeway and around the arboretum. It was an awesome day to do this because it was Seafair so there were tons of boats out, which Liam really enjoyed seeing.

african village at the zoo

Liam paddling

Today was hot enough that Liam spent his afternoon playing in the sprinkler, eating a popsicle, and running around in his underwear. Sounds like a perfect summer day for a kid huh! And yes, I did say underwear. He has been doing great at potty training but he cannot take off his own diaper and get up on the toilet by himself so he needs a lot of help still. So, we are going to start trying “big kid” undies at home and see how it goes. Unfortunately they don’t seem to make any underpants smaller than size 2T, which are ridiculously baggy but at least that makes it easier for him to take off himself. Wish us luck!

first popsicle

so yummy!

and so messy!