Summer with a bang

Once summer kicked off, it has not slowed down, almost as if it was the start of a sprinting race...

On your mark...

Get set...

BANG!

The first week of July marked a great time to see how the berry fields were faring this year. Last year was a pretty miserable crop. We went to Hoffman Farms in Hillsboro and came home with an almost full flat of blue berries and 1/2 flat of raspberries.

Not too bad, considering they weren't officially supposed to be open for blues for another 5 days, but they let us pick anyway. We also got to enjoy the company of my lovely friend Julie and her youngest daughter Katie. Katie's sisters were off at a camp, but it seemed fitting to embark on our "berry" favorite part of the year with these girls... Last year Julie's daughters' first outing after being adopted from Haiti was berry picking with us. I hope this means its a tradition!

Even Maggy got the hang of the pickings. She only needed to eat a few handful of green berreis to figure out that it was better to have the blues in her bucket. Not a single one of the berries we picked made it to the intended destination of the freezer, as they were all consumed by the handfuls and in milkshakes within several days.

The Fourth of July was a hot one around here... first hot 4th I remember in all of my years in Oregon. It got up over 90. We spent the first part of the weekend rearranging the kids rooms to accomidate for the twins to be in the boys room. By afternoon we were ready to kick back and enjoy the holiday with some friends.

Darin and Jennifer provided a lovely little BBQ and evening of enjoyment, which included

a kiddy pool,

this is why swim diapers are a wonderful thing

hoses,

squirt guns

fudge pops,and a night of memories!

As the sun set and darkness pulled in, we pulled out the lawn chairs and blankets to watch the sizzle, pop, screetch and boom of fireworks.



Even the twins enjoyed the show!