Oscar Stew

Disclaimer: If you don’t tune in to see pictures of my obnoxiously adorable children, then bail out now. Consider that your warning.

Last weekend we continued our mission to extend summer as far as possible. We’ve heard about  EB Rains Park and decided we had better get out hiney’s over there before they shut down for the season. We were after the paddle boats, which Drew called “bike boats” – how appropriate! I don’t know why it took us three years to discover this place, it was awesome!

First mate Drew, ready to cast off. Arrrr!

Deckhand Brinley, always ready to monitor the snacks. Aye aye!

Rowan & I went ashore for a moment to capture this photo of the USS Webster Lake #8.

Drew’s legs were just long enough to help Daddy pedal if he sat on the end of the seat. Note his sandals are on the wrong feet. One of the many ways he expresses his individuality…

Every once in a (great) while Ryan can take a decent picture. I was pleasantly surprised when I found this gem, not only because decent pictures of me are hard to come by, but also because he managed to focus and get the exposure right! Yay for Ryan – even a blind dog can find a bone sometimes! Heee…I have to tease him.

Brinley was sure that we were at Lake Powell. Well if a paddleboat and life jacket is all takes…

What fun would a boat ride be if you didn’t get to hang your feet in the water?

When we finally reached dry land we headed to the playground where D&B went from sailors to astronauts.

Oh Summertime, we miss you already.

Rowan says she prefers her swing at home. Maybe because it plays music?

Or maybe she was freaked out by the swing monster.

Brinley dubbed this the “Girls only swing.”

Rowan was such a trooper, she loves the sling – it’s the easiest way to pack her around with me and still feel involved in what everyone else is doing. She is happy as long as she has her hands to chew on. yum!

The day couldn’t end without a small tragedy. Brinley got a little too close to the edge of the water and slipped right in. “Oopsie Daisy” she said after she calmed down.

Since her pasty white flesh was now wet and smelled like pond scum, it was time to high-tail it out of there. The mosquitos were hot on her trail.

I saw this idea on another blog and put it on my list of fun things to do. Dinner was looking pretty skimpy last night, so I figured jazzing it up in a muffin tin would go a long way.

Here we have grapes, cantelope, grilled chicken and mini bagels with cream cheese. Not exactly a well balanced meal, but when Ryan is out of town the kids are lucky they even get fed. seriously.

I thought they would complain about the chicken, but they snarfed it down without even asking to dip it in ranch. Amazing! Give them a small weapon instead of a fork and throw the food in a rusty old muffin tin and miracles happen.

Brinley is heading for Drew’s “campelope,” Drew was sure to redirect her to her side of the tin.

That bagel must taste like a little slice of heaven. Drew is trying to figure out which morsel of goodness to stab next. mmmmmmm.

I think this is borderline “playing your food” but they ate it all, so I’m a happy mama!

We had to go back to the berry patch last week when the raspberries were ready for picking. The berries were calling to us, and there was no way we could ignore them.

The picking was great, but as you can tell the raspberries will be calling to us again. and again.

Looks like Brinley hit the jackpot. Look at all that red! But don’t get distracted by her red nails!

Keep working you swabs!!! Errr, I mean great job kids!

The kids worked so hard we had to let them take five. A little bit of back-breaking labor never hurt anyone. Apparently Drew would beg to differ. We couldn’t even win him over with a chocolate granola bar.

Our flat of berries. We be jammin!