Market morning

Another Saturday morning spent at the farmer's market. Walter eats his way around the square, starting at Chris and Lori's for a cookie, then to D&G Sausage Shoppe for a beef stick, then a sample of the pesto at Renaissance Farm, then cheese curds from Forgotten Valley. And he picks up samples of anything else he can find in between. There were lots of cherries out today – we had to find just the right ones. We ended our trip with a stop at the balloon guy. Walter asked for a blue helicopter. The poor guy got flustered and Walter ended up with some abstract balloon art. And he couldn't be happier.

Busy, busy, busy

How does a week slip by so quickly? I'll tell you how. With buckets of black raspberries, bowls of beans, and piles of zucchini. Beets, chard, and peas are filling all the spaces in between. And then there's the running. Have I mentioned Nate and I are in training? For a marathon? I know, I know. I often question our sanity. It takes place in December, so for the next 20 weeks or so, we will be running and running and running some more. This will be Nate's first marathon, my second. I'm actually enjoying the training so far. After a day of work and an evening of cooking, gardening, and hanging out with Walter, it's good to have that little bit of quiet time to myself. I could do without this crazy heat though. 
So, we're busy. But I'll get back into the swing of things here soon enough. I think my camera is hiding somewhere under a pile of canning jars. 

Bike night

A new (used) bike from the thrift store and a park with a big flat patch of concrete is all it takes to put a smile on this boy's face. The one thing our house is missing is some level ground for practicing on the bike, but the park is just a short drive away – and it's right in Gramma and Grampa's backyard! By the end of our stay, Walter was pedaling and steering like a pro. 

Buzzed

No more shaggy hair for these boys! (Would you let a three year old cut your hair?)

Up, up and away

Today was the annual fly-in breakfast at Morey Airport. This was our third year attending with the Lee family. As I was looking through my photos from this morning, I realized I had almost none of the kids faces. Either they are getting faster, or I'm just too tired to keep up with them. They ran from plane to plane and watched a lot of take-offs. Here are some photos... of their backs...

Starting to stock the pantry

Saturday afternoon was spent making filling for two peach pies, 5 jars of black raspberry peach preserves, and 6 jars of dilly beans. The canning kitchen isn't ready yet, so I heated up/messed up the kitchen in the house. So, Saturday evening was spent eating burgers from Culver's and cooling off at the beach. The perfect reward. 

Berry bliss

We've discovered that our property is full of black raspberries. We can easily spend an evening gathering a few beans and zucchini from the garden, then wander the paths and fill the rest of our bowl with berries. Walter gets the low ones, I get the high ones, and Nate gets the ones way back in there, far off the path. It's a good system. By the end of the night, our fingers (and mouths) are stained purple.