Summer is here!!

Finally summer has come to our fair town!! We decided to go try a new fountain that a friend told me about, one that isn't so crazy crowded and also fun for the little ones. 

The funny story is that we didn't actually go to the fountain at first, but to another "water feature" in the same area. We found the "real" fountain after we had played at the other water area for quite a while. We wondered why there was no one else there.. haha! We still had fun and enjoyed the time there.. but next time we will go to the real fountain!

She LOVES the water!

Matthew boycotted the water this trip.. and sat on this rock the entire time Evelyn played in the water. He was completely happy to do so, too. Silly boy...

Evelyn took this picture of my and insisted that I put it on my blog. So, here it is! HA!

She has such a good time splashing around!

After that we headed to Jody's to say hi (Doug was working late so we had time). My son decided that he liked water once we got there and Jody let then have at it with her hose. They had a great time! 

Sibling love at its best! HA!

He is fierce with a hose!

Loving being in control of the water!

He really does love his JoJo!!

Evelyn running for her life!

Needless to say, after spending most of the afternoon in the sun and water, both of them fell asleep within moments of lights out. Let the summer fun begin!

Park Fun

 They often walk to the park holding hands. So precious!

 Evelyn is FINALLY learning how to swing on the "big girl swing" independantly. She is pretty excited, as are we!

 Chatting with her brother on the "microphone"!

 Since Evelyn was really little, she loved to play "restaurant" at the park. There is a spot in the play structure that looks like an "ordering place". Apparently she wasn't too happy with Matthew's order in this picture.. HA!

 Happy to pose... notice my son in the background. All he wanted to do was go up the slide! 

 I seriously think he went down the slide at least 50 times! 

My sweet monkey!

Thankful for such great places to play that are in our neighborhood, and for my sweet kids who love to play at them!!

Berry Picking

This was the year, I thought. Time to start berry picking and making my own jam. I haven't done it since before Evelyn was born. Both kids are old enough now. Both kids will love it. Right?

To make the deal even sweeter for my two cherubs, the farm we went to had a HUGE play structure made out of an old combine/tractor. Certainly that would be enticement to get berries picked with good 'ol mom. Right?

Negative, ghost rider.

Okay, okay.. it wasn't all bad. They both were very well behaved and didn't run off or eat all the berries, etc. Evelyn really loved picking berries and was actually quite the speedy picker. I actually might have eaten more than she did out in the field! HAHA! We had two buckets full in a relatively short period of time.She was super excited when I taught her that some of the best berries lie behind the "pricklies", the prickly weed that grow between the plants. Most stay away from them, but if you gently push them aside, you find untouched, big and sweet berries!

Matthew on the other had, had absolutely NO interest in picking berries. He stood at the end of the rows with our wagon, watching Ev and I do all the work. He didn't fuss, didn't even move. He just stood there and watched. I invited him to come help several times, but no. He just waited for us to fill our buckets, occasionally braving it and joining us for a moment or two. I felt bad, but he really didn't seem to mind. Silly kid!

Sadly, the great play structure the farm had was a bit too big and overwhelming for my two. The slides were too steep, the structure too tall. They were happy to head home and try again next year. I was pretty proud of them being such good sports about the whole thing.

Here are the only two pics of the two of them. Sigh...

During Matthew's nap, Evelyn and I made jam. We had such a good time chatting, laughing and tasting the sweet strawberries! It was a great two hours with just my girl!

Oh.. and the jam turned out pretty good, too!!

Ducks!

We are so fortunate to live within minutes of a beautiful park that surrounds a pond full of hungry ducks (and fish!). It also sports not one, but two playgrounds, too! I have spent time there dating back to when I was a teenager. Evelyn and I have been a couple of times. We went again today and Matthew now can say he, too, has experienced the fun of Commenwealth Park. I have a feeling we will be visiting there a lot this summer!!

 Matthew getting ready to give out some grub. He was laughing and giggling the entire time!

 My sweet girl showed him how it was done!

 "Follow me, Ducks!" (and they did!)

 Good thing I had lots of bread with us!

The ducks would NOT leave us alone since we had been feeding them. Evelyn was trying to gently explain to them that we were all out of bread and that they needed to go away. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they didn't understand her! HA!

We visited both playgrounds after feeding the ducks and the kids had so much fun playing together. There was a double slide at one of the play areas.. and the two of them just got silly!!

 They are so stinkin' cute!!

No doubt about it.. we will visit this fun place again soon!!