After a long (albeit relaxing and fun) week away from home vacationing with family in the Outer Banks last week, this week largely revolved around catching up for our family of four. Our adventures fell in between unpacking, lawn mowing, and general house upkeep.
Fishing, swimming, BMX racing, collecting wild berries, creating in the kitchen, an impromptu camp out, and enjoying ample amounts of awesome local art rounded out our days. All in all was a really great, quiet, adventure filled mid-July week.
Local Art!
My oldest son and I are in a musical this summer. We both really missed rehearsing with, and enjoying time spent with our fellow cast members while we were away.
With our big opening show date looming less than three weeks after we got back from the beach, we jumped right back into rehearsals.
We rehearsed every weeknight for 2-3 hours last week. There will be very little rest for us as the show approaches, but it is a fantastically fun kind of busy.
We are singing, we are dancing, my 9 yo (playing Bruce Bogtrotter) is eating lots of cake, spending a little time in the fictional chokey, and revolting against adult bullies. And I (playing the villain Agatha Trunchbull) am spending a lot of time being simply horrid.
We leave rehearsal every night completely spent, but thoroughly invigorated and OH SO EXCITED to get this show on stage in front of an audience.
And the community – oh my heart. I am planning to write more about our whole experience participating in this show later this week or next. But for this weekly adventures post, I will suffice it to say, we’re embarking on this awesome adventure with a newfound friends who I appreciate so much.
The little boys and I also went to a local production of “Mary Poppins, Jr.” over the weekend. The show was fantastic, and we knew quite a few of the cast members and enjoyed watching their hard work come to life on stage. An extra dose of art for us last week!
BMX Winner!
With 9 yo and I at musical rehearsal for hours every night, Mike and our 6 yo have had a lot of time creating their own adventures for two.
This week they paired fishing and BMX – two of 6 yo’s favorite things in the world. They left early for a BMX race, stopped to fish in the Susquehanna River, raced BMX, then stopped on the way home for MORE fishing.
I think the fishing stop on the way home was unplanned, but a celebration was in order – our 6 yo won his BMX race!
He came home with his 1st place medal and pictures of the bass he caught in the river. I’m not sure evenings get much sweeter when you’re six.
Wild Berries and Kitchen Creations
Our lake is surrounded by wild berry bushes. The raspberries were at the tail end of their season while the first blueberries were just ripening last week.
Our 6 yo loves picking berries on walks around the lake, and one morning last week he asked for a container to collect as many as he could.
He was so pleased with his collection after 30 or so minutes of harvesting, and insisted that he was going to make something delicious out of them in the kitchen.
I helped him rinse up the berries, and then let him work his kitchen magic It is so hard for me to not offer help and suggestions while he is working in the kitchen, but I think back to my fondest memories as a child of my grandmother allowing me to bake whatever creation my heart desired in her kitchen, and I let it go and let him make all of the decisions.
(We do have a few small rules. For the sake of the grocery budget, he knows that he’s limited in his use of ingredients. I’m not sure you could find another 6 yo as keenly aware of the expense of butter, ha!)
After mixing up a batter of his own creation, he threw in the berries and informed me that we would be cooking this on the stove like a pancake. And he made….
…a crepe! He made a literal, complete, delicious, fresh picked berry filled crepe!
We put it on one plate and all ate it with a little maple syrup on the side for dipping.
Impromptu Camping Adventure!
Our lake community has an annual picnic and meeting, and we hosted this year’s event in our garage. To make space for all of our neighbors, Mike moved the camper out of the garage and into the driveway.
Boy I miss the camper. This summer has been oodles of fun. And relaxing. And adventure filled. But we are on track to spend the LEAST number of nights in our camper we have spent in a single season since we bought our camper in 2020. Sigh.
So with the camper pulled out of the garage, I suggested that we leave it out, and camp in the driveway.
Everyone was on board. We had a fire in our solo stove, and the corn hole boards and ping pong table set up. It was equally as enjoyable and relaxing as a night spent at a campground, only free! And I enjoy free!
What adventures are you and your family up to these days? Leave us a comment – we’d love to hear all about them!
