Cherry Picking

With the long holiday weekend and the pleasantly cooler weather, today was the perfect day for picking cherries. Last year we learned the trick was to go right before the cherry festival so we could avoid the crowds and have the best selection of cherries.

 

There were plenty of cherries on the lower branches for the boys to pick and this year there were even plastic crates out in the orchard to stand on, making it even easier to reach the good ones.

Kyle really wanted to help, so if he wasn't picking cherries off the tree, he was either picking them up off the ground, pulling the stems off the ones in the bucket, or transferring the ones everyone else picked into the bucket. He's a hard little worker, that one.

And he ate a few while he was at it....just look at those red lips.

Speaking of red lips...

Six pounds of cherries later, it was time for an ice cream break. We got some scoops of Winegars from the stand in front of the Big Red Barn. Huckleberry, Cookies and Cream, and Strawberry. Yum!

Tyler also marked another Waldo off his passport after finding him in the gift shop. Add that one to the one he found at Sharky's Pizza and he's up to 10 out of 25.

4th of July

We spent our 4th of July at home for the most part. It was just too hot to bother with the carnival over at the State Fair Park.

 

As usual I tried to get everyone to wear patriotic colors and get a family picture together. Kyle wasn't having it though. He wasn't getting along with his brother at that moment and kept making pout pout faces.

So Tyler thought up the perfect plan...

He gave him some of those poppers (what are they called???) that you throw at the ground and they explode, making a little popping sound. Kyle loves those things and here he is about to throw one.

And the result: So much better than the pout pout face. We had to take several shots though because Tyler kept ducking for cover.

For dinner I made grilled pork chops, rice pilaf and green beans. Then for dessert I skipped the usual strawberry shortcake and went big with a homemade apple pie. Super yum!
 

Right after 9:00 we left to go watch the fireworks from the Arboretum. The freeway exit we needed to take was already closed off, so we had to take the next exit and take a big detour to get back to where we needed to be. We barely made it in time.

The show seemed kind of short this year, but who are we to complain. We'll take it!

Where's Waldo?

Throughout the month of July, there is a scavenger hunt happening here in Yakima where you can search for Waldo (of the Where's Waldo books) in 25 different local businesses. The event is being hosted by Inklings Bookstore, where you can pick up a passport that you take along and get stamped as you find each Waldo.

 

I took Tyler to the bookstore last night so he could pick up his passport and start searching for his first Waldo, which was hiding somewhere in the store. Tyler and I were looking around and didn't see him anywhere so we asked for a hint. The lady told us that he was hiding in the children's section, but more to the right side of the store. Still we didn't see him. Maybe because we were looking frantically since the store was going to close in 10 minutes. Anyway, a mom ended up pointing him out to me and separately her son pointed him out to Tyler.

Okay, so we kind of cheated on the first Waldo not having actually found him ourselves, but there he was hanging out on the Penguin Classic Book carousel. So Tyler went and got his passport stamped and off we went.

Today our plan was to hit a string of businesses that were located in the same shopping center and our first stop was at Boehms. After getting a hint from the business owner, Tyler found Waldo hiding between two baskets of Chukar Cherries treats.

At the Cake Decorator Shoppe Waldo was hiding in a cage hanging from the ceiling.

At the English Country Market he was in a cabinet with baby clothes and stuffed animals.

Tyler spotted Waldo easily in the Oak Hollow Frame Shop since they have a very neat, uncluttered, gallery-like store.

And at Gasperetti's Floral he was hiding in an arrangement on the wall.

So after two days of hunting Tyler now has 8 businesses marked off on his passport. Only 2 more to go and he can check back in with the bookstore for a small prize. But with 17 more places total to visit, I'm sure we'll be busy for at least a week.

Art in the Park: Petroglyphs

The temperatures in our area have been at or above 100 degrees for the last several days, so I made sure that we attended the morning session of art in the park this week. That way the boys could finish their art projects before the heat got too unbearable.

 

The theme this week is Geology and the kids were making drawings that looked like petroglyphs (rock engravings) and then used glue and colored sand to color in the pictures.

Kyle was scribbling away at his paper (in a backwards left-handed manner), but I tried to copy a few petroglyphs from the sample paper so we'd have something to color in with the sand.

This is Kyle's finished project. I just chose simple shapes that would be easy to trace with glue and color. From left to right and top to bottom, the shapes mean: night, drum, moon and lightening.

Tyler's project is not of random shapes, but of pictures that tell a story. It says: Man hunting a horse for food.

Once the boys were finished and set their projects aside to dry, we went over to feed the ducks a hamburger bun we'd brought from the house. It was too hot to play on the playground equipment, so once the bread was gone, we collected the dried art projects and headed home for lunch.

Bite of Yakima

Over the weekend we attended the first annual Bite of Yakima out at the Arboretum. It's the same idea as the Taste of Chico where you go and sample food from different local restaurants.

 

We paid $5 per adult to get in (the kids were free) and then paid around $2 for each sample plate.

Tyler gravitated towards the sweet stuff, getting a baked donut and some ice cream. It was lunch time though, so he did eat some pasta dishes as well.

Smiling despite the fact that it was nearly 100 degrees outside and my face was melting off.

 

On to the food....we got some lamb chops from 5 North and they were probably my favorite sample. Yum! The meat was so tender.

From 901 Pasta we got a sampler plate with a pesto pasta, a peanut butter/chicken pasta, and a quinoa and rice salad. I liked the peanut butter noodles the best. Mmmmm!

Then from a new upscale restaurant called Twigs, we got some chicken and beef samples along with a cream puff.

All in all, it was an okay event, but much smaller then we were anticipating. I mean, there were only around 7-10 restaurants in attendance, in addition to a few catering companies. Then there were fair food vendors selling things like chips on a stick and funnel cake. Who needs that? The fair food needs to go and they need to bring in more local restaurants. Our town has so much more to offer than what was represented. We can do better.

June Favorites

It's time to look back at my favorite pictures for the month of June. These are the ones that made it into my Project Life or would have, if there was enough room. Here they are:

 

When we were at PetSmart picking out our hamster, the only guy that was actually up and at 'em was the robo dwarf who was running on his wheel at lightning speed. Neither of the boys could get enough and I'll agree that the cuteness factor was pretty high.

This is Fluffy's first run in his exercise ball. The track seemed like such a good idea, but the ball does better going in a straight line on the floor rather than in the circular constraints of the track.

Hamsters running up your arm can be tickly....or at least Tyler thinks so.

This is Carmelita's reaction to the hamster. Coco Bear, on the other hand, either hasn't noticed or doesn't care.

Sometimes I take the boys grocery shopping and when we go to Wray's, they like to use the small child shopping basket. Normally it's Tyler that does the pushing, but this time it was Kyle.

In the evenings we've been trying to get out and walk to the nearby middle school and sometimes to the park if we walk just a little bit farther.

Here Tyler is working on a batch of salt dough and I love how his little brother is right up next to him and is perfectly content just playing with the tools in my measuring cup/cookie cutter drawer.

I took the boys to the park a few weeks ago and a stranger gave Kyle a hot dog bun to feed to the ducks. Surprisingly, he's really good at throwing the bits of bread. Sure, some of the pieces landed at his feet, but a lot more ended up in the water.

This picture is one of my favorites purely because of Kyle's handsome smile.

And lastly this one is Kyle Bear holding a ladybug in the front yard, also known as ladybug land. He was so proud of himself. It was funny seeing his face change from a puzzled look to the biggest grin you've ever seen.

Art in the Park: Constellations

This week the Art in the Park program started back up for another 6 week run. This summer the ArtsVan will be going to two different parks in our neighborhood so we have the choice of going to Randall park in the morning or to the West Valley park in the afternoon.

 

We missed the morning session earlier this week, since I honestly forgot all about it, so it was nice to have a second chance to go today.

The theme this week was Astronomy and the kids were making constellations with sequins and glitter.

My original plan was to let Tyler do the craft and I would just keep Kyle busy coloring or something like that, but then Kyle was given his own set of supplies so we worked together to make our constellation.

We made the constellation Aquila, which is an eagle. You can see his scribbles of gray crayon on the page and he actually did a great job placing the sequins.

Tyler chose to make the constellation Delphinus.

The boys finished the craft rather quickly and then headed off to play on the playground for 30 minutes or so until it was time to head back home.