Pancake Flowers, Hearts, and...Drumsticks!?!

Simple summer fun in the kitchen.

Does it get any better?

"He ate eggs!"

Sorry,

but this is big doin's for our family.

My baby boy suddenly decided he liked only milk,

and of course,

everything sweet.

He's generally good about staples like plain rice and noodles,

but everything else is hit or miss.

I'm not worried-

but since he takes after his momma and is on the shrimpy-side,

his pediatrician is all worked up.

Which is why his eating eggs makes everyone happy!

Eat up, boy!

"Yes!", to the Tea Party!

So,

my sweet baby girl whom I love,

-and who also drives me crazy-

has been hounding me for a tea party.

She loves to cook and bake

-wonder where she gets that from?-

and had an extravagant idea for something

very upscale and elegant.

Not wanting to rain on her parade

-again and again-

I relented.

And we both couldn't have been happier

with the fun we had together!

 Iris' Chocolate Cake with Blackberry Preserves

& Chocolate Drizzle

Iris Luciana

A girl after my own heart.

XOXO

Love you, babe!

The Day the Circus Came...

One Sunday evening at Grandma Clista's,

all the adults were summoned outside.

Why you ask?

Ta-da!

The circus is in town!

There was acrobatics of every sort,

and the best part of it all was that none of the kids

froze up.

They went full boar into their program

without getting the usual stage-fright.

{ Side-note }

Well, almost everyone.  
Ava refused to participate and

sat as a spectator in the peanut-gallery with the rest of us.

The conclusion:

The Lions!

I'm taking that one home with me!

All three girls earned free tickets to

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom for completing their school's reading challenge!

Congrats ladies!

And though Samuel and I had just completed

a 16-mile hike only the day before...

Away we went!

My sweet Ava!

She got soaked to the bone!

 

Waiting for the main event,

Shouka,

The Killer Whale!

She was amazing!

The boys, however,

look less than impressed...

We loved that there were both animals AND rides.

It made for a nice day alternating between the two.

 

I'll give the park this much:

They have rides for all age groups!

We have quite the spread with kids ranging from 2 - 9

and everyone was happy.

Samuel and I loved teasing the big girls who never

turned down a kiddie ride.

Smart girls for taking advantage of every opportunity,

but they still looked pretty funny sometimes!

 

After Kong, one of the big roller-coasters,

shut down for repair,

Samuel and Isa headed for the Medusa, another big one.

As you can see from Samuel's face,

someone was too short to ride.

Judging from her smile,

she knows she dodged a bullet,

and happily so!

Halfway through we realized we were being stalked

by a wild animal!

I brought him home with me.

{smile}

Just hangin' around...

Soaked!

Gabriel's concern over his first coaster

was well-justified.

He hated it.

We came.

We saw.

And I'm so glad we DON'T have a season pass!

Once is enough for this mom and dad!

Until next year...

and

H A P P Y  R E A D I N G !