Picnic By The Pond

Today was a perfect day for a picnic down by the pond. The breeze was blowing and the fields of hay were rustling around us as we enjoyed lunch :)

A couple of days ago we got rained out just before we were ready to head outside but today despite the cloud cover the rain held off and we had a great afternoon. With the tables and chairs on the back of the pick up truck and the picnic baskets loaded we headed down to set up.

Preparations started early as we peeled peaches and pears to slice along with strawberries for a deliciously fruity pie tucked inside my whole wheat oat pastry and topped with a streusel crumble :) We mashed eggs for egg sandwiches, tossed salads and packed our picnic basket!

Have I told you how much I love my picnic basket *grin*. My mom and I found them a couple of years ago and they came with real plates, glassware and silverware. You've got to love that it's not packed with plastic and the bottom of it has a zippered cooler pouch for keeping everything from overheating :)

My daughter is crazy about using all the fancy dishes when we have little parties so we brought out the best treasures from the china cabinet to dress the table with :) No sense keeping them hidden away most of the year, we really should enjoy them more!

Boys!! Our tea party etiquette mustn't have rubbed off on my oldest. We're definitely going to have to work on this *grin*.

The kids' favorite salad. A combination of napa cabbage, carrot & noodle tossed in rice vinegar, mirin and sesame oil. I think it's just the sweetness of the dressing that they really like the most but if they're eating all that cabbage and carrot along with it I'm all for it :)

While the kids played badminton, watched water skeeters and tried to catch some of the fish in the pond the rest of us read the weekend paper, sipped on our coffee and savored the fresh pie :) Now if only we could do this every day!

How is your weekend shaping up? I'd love to hear about what is keeping you busy or ultra relaxed :)

~ Rosina

Sunny Day Treats ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 24

It must be a sign that summer is on its way!
The little ice cream shop down the road has officially opened for the summer season *grin*. As a special treat today I took the kids down for an ice cream cone and then we slurped away on them and enjoyed the warm sunshine this afternoon. Yup, it was a lazy dazy day! LOL

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Hiding Out ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 23

What to do when the pouring rain and wind returns....

Why you hide out in the woodshed! *grin*
The weather has taken a turn for the worst again but in our quest to make sure that we get outside at least once every day this month I thought that the perfect place to play would be in the woodshed :)



It's also the perfect place to hunt for salamanders! We dug around in the lumber pile and underneath the wood and were able to spot a couple of different ones but the little guys were much to quick for us today and we just couldn't catch one to share with you :(

My oldest son K has taken a liking to splitting wood and I couldn't be happier :) Just look at the size of the pile that needs to be split & stacked!! And that's only half of it!

He's been working away at it slowly and his dad is going to be so proud of him when he gets home :) Hubby is gone for weeks at a time as a tugboat captain so any extra help with the 'manly' chores is always greatly appreciated. You should have seen K the first day he came in from splitting though. He was so gung ho to get started that he worked out there most of the day and when he came in just before dinner he was so tired that he fell fast asleep on the couch by 5:30pm LOL. I think he's definitely deserving of a little raise in his allowance for taking on this mammoth pile!

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina