Wordless Wednesday: Stretching

Helpful, or not?

Recently, the twinks helped me clean up the high chairs that were being retired from the dining room. The hose, scrub brushes, sponges, and bubble. Combined with Mia's love for cleaning and everything pointed to a good toddler activity. Everyone got a little wet, but the chairs were cleaned and the kids were happy.

The next afternoon started out as more of the same. Mia, spying the scrub brush on the counter, begged for me to pull out the bucket. Living on a dirt road there is no shortage of dirty things around our backyard. Everything started out fine...chairs being wiped and washed. However, things quickly took a turn toward the unusual. Mia started with her arm, Ben began to brush his hair with the scrub brush. Before I knew it everyone was drenched and bubbly! While we've since had requests for the bucket, I think we're going to hold off for a while!

The Big Lake

Without the cottage, that big body of water to the west just isn't what it used to be. Something about the sand up there was a little better, the water a little more perfect, and the air a little less filled with gulls. That said, we've really got to head to the beach more often. I anticipate that it will get easier and easier to tote two tots to the beach, especially as they grow less weary of the sand. This particular day was perfect; not to hot but not exactly chilly either. Kathy knew the perfect parking spot, Theresa supplied a good dose of conversation, and even the children were relatively cooperative.

While Mia looks perfectly content here, she was not as impressed by the whole beach bum thing. She wandered constantly toward the area where we came down from the pier, as if to say, "Mum, I'm ready to head out." Both kids, however, thought the gulls were hysterical, much to their mother's chagrin.

Ben would have stayed hours longer if we could have. After watching Lilyana and Max lounge on their towels, B rolled in the sand to emulate them. Without the towel under him, he looked like he'd been rolled in sugar--so sweet!

Wordless Wednesday

Wait, I'm at a Tech Conference and I'm not lost! Maybe I'm a little more techy than I thought... and I'd never be reading my favorite blogs during the sessions!

Blueberry Picking

My memories of blueberry picking were always of wild blueberries deep in the Upper Peninsula's forests. Our Saturday excursion was vastly different (and much more productive) than anything I experienced as a child. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing better than going out on a blueberry hunt in the wild areas of Northern Michigan. It's a wonderful experience that I hope they'll have one of these days. But toiling over small bushes of blueberries is not what we did Saturday. After walking down a two-track path, we stumbled into bushes literally dripping with blueberries the size of large, sweet cherries. "Gigantic," the kids kept exclaiming. It was so easy if felt slightly wrong. And, I honestly felt a little guilty about the number the kids must have eaten right out of the buckets.