Washing berries and thinking...

of my grandpa, who has been gone almost ten years now.

He had the most amazing raspberry patch(which my cousin Rob now tends)...

I remember as a kid going into the patch and coming out with a gallon

size bucket filled then eating a bowl of raspberries and milk as a treat.

 So many great memories are attached to that wonderful man.

Some people in this world just get you(I don't know how else to explain it)

and he is one of those people in my life.

 I have to smile and think how he would have loved

my raspberry jam...he had a sweet tooth!

Right now, I'm thinking of how blessed I am to have

all of the wonderful memories that I do of our time together.

He may not be on this earth anymore,

but his memory goes with me everywhere I go.

 

 

Millions of peaches and blueberries and cherries and....

What I put up this weekend

2- 1/2 bushels of free stone Georgia peaches

2- 10# boxes of blueberries

1- 15# box of Rainier Cherries

2- 30# box of Bing Cherries

The peaches getting ready to can.

Only a sample of the cherries I canned and ready for winter.

Blueberries ready to go into the freezer.

I do try freeze them so they freeze individual

and then put them in gallon bags.

The jars go three deep on this shelving unit...

I got 34 quarts of cherries(Bing and Rainier)

 

Everything on the bottom shelve is what I did this weekend.

The second shelve all the 'red jars' on the right and same with the top shelve.

Only fruit left to can is the pears,

 besides the pie fillings and maybe some more applesauce.

 

A little trip to Lake Wazee

My mother-in-law planned a fun trip to the beach

with all the cousins

to Lake Wazee. 

It ended up being on a day that was one of the hottest

so far this summer in Wisconsin.

Couldn't have been a better day to go to the beach.

I'm sure no one is surprised to see my kiddos eating:)

It did take about an hour before they started getting hungry though....

it was too much fun in the water.

 My adorable little nephew...he loved those tubes!

 The cousins loved My Big Girl's new raft.

 Here are the newlyweds:) 

It was cute to see the love gushing, as it usually does with newlyweds.

 My 2 year old niece who just wanted to swim by herself!

I don't know who had more fun,

the kiddos or grandma?

My sister-in-law and her daughter....what a cute picture!

We all had a blast and even got to end the trip with a rescue mission.

My other sister-in-law forgot how to get out of the national park so

we got to turn around and 'save' her...the kids were thrilled. 

All-in-all, it was a great day!



This weekend's craziness included...

 Soaking up the rays on our back deck.

 Shucking peas from our garden

along with a whole plastic bag I bought from the Amish...

a favorite pass time!

 Picking blueberries in our woods...

the wild blueberries are so tiny that it hardly seems worth it,

but it's too much fun to stop.

(We yielded about 1 cup)

 My berry picker insisted on hiking to find more.

 My little princess took it easy and enjoyed picking comfortably.

Getting out my Big Girl's raft for our pool:) 

 

We came back to this

 My garden is growing crazy right now.

 We will be picking peas soon.

I'll be canning green beans within the week. 

 My cucumbers are climbing over and already have mini cucumbers.

 We brought back some blackberry plants back from the island.

They are in shock, but I'm hoping they pull through.

We picked all the cherries of the trees

and I had just enough to make a small batch of jam.

Love this time of year!

The Last Days of Vacation

We tried out a different beach this year,

which turned out to be lots less stress for this mama because it was so shallow.

 They all wanted to go on the raft at the same time, of course:)

 My gentleman of a son rowed my big girl to and fro.

I didn't even have to go in the water until...

 my eldest asked to take me for a ride...

How could I say no?

 The boys were addicted to playing Angry Birds.

"No Papa, turn that and then press that button."

It was pretty cute.

 My parents ready for the parade.

 My hubby and I.

 The kids anxious to get in the parade.

 This was the first year she rode her bike...no more buggie.

 We stuck towards the back.

  My mom and I walked them the whole way.

 They were excited to get back...they were famished.

(I just love this picture)

 A quick fishing trip in the morning before we left.

Yes, that's my eldest driving the boat!

 He caught more fish than we did that morning.

The ferry ride home is never a fun one:(

We had a wonderful time and

can't wait to go back.

Birthday Girl

 

Here is my birthday girl- 4 years old!

I can't believe it. 

 Her one request for her birthday was to help make the cake!

She does love food.

 We got a chance to go to the farm museum as well.

My eldest was so cute when we were looking at the gardens

and said, "Mom, animals can't read

so that's not going to keep them from eating the veggies."

It was so cute.

 The kiddos all said, "Now were Amish."

You can tell they see their share of Amish buggies.

Our friend from the island was driving so we

got the wagon ride to ourselves.

 Even the boys are having fun...

 but not as fun as the birthday girl!

Then came the celebration with friends from the island.

She loved blowing out the candles at her party.

She had a great day and was excited to get into

her new sleeping bag to try it out.