Blueberries for Sal or Nature Girl

Blueberries for Sal is a classic book. We always pull it out when we go berry picking in the summer. What can I say it's the teacher in me, I have to included some type of educational link in each activity. As you can probably guess, we went blueberry picking this week. The berries were big, juicy and YUMMY! We planned to go early in the morning to beat the heat but didn't make it to the blueberry farm until noon. It got pretty hot standing under the sun picking berries. Nature Girl and her 4 year old cousin M. helped me pick. The two kids ate and picked before getting too hot to pick any longer. They ended up sitting under the blueberry bushes for a break. I picked as fast as I could trying to fill my bucket. Here's the tally of pounds picked by each of us; M. - 1/2 pound( I think he ate more than he picked,) Nature Girl - 1 1/2 pounds( she also ate a lot of berries as she picked) and me - 7 1/2 pounds. So what does one do with almost ten pounds of blueberries?

We made blueberry pancakes of course! They were so delicious!!! We also made a blueberry crisp which looked a little funny because the crisp part was blue but tasted wonderful with vanilla ice cream. Of course blueberry jam is in the works today. Let's hope it turns out.

Artful Moments

Here is a picture Nature Girl drew of Wall.e. She drew Wall.e then created a background for him. He's riding on Eve's spaceship. I love that part of the movie when he see's all of the stars and wonders of space for the first time. I love that she tried to capture that.
This dragonfly is a that Nature Girl painted. It's hanging on the wall in our entrance. I love dragonflies. I especially like the flowers on her dragonfly.
Lastly this is what a creative little girl makes while her mother is busy packing for a family vacation. She used a hamper, cowboy hat, slippers, barrettes, paper, makers, plastic bags and scissors to create this sculpture.

First Concert

We took Nature Girl to her first real concert this week. When my husband surprised me with tickets for John Mayer last winter Nature Girl's nose was a little out of joint that she wasn't invited along too. So when Jack Johnson tickets went on sale this spring my husband bought tickets for the three of us. We thought this would be the perfect concert for her as it's family friendly music and he runs a green tour which is an idea near and dear to Nature Girl.
She was funny when she saw all the trash and broken bottles in the parking lot outside of the concert. She kept commenting on how these people weren't taking care of the earth and that was bad. We got to the concert early and took our seats. Nature Girl and I began reading a book(Where the Mountain Meets the Moon) until the warm up bands came on. Jack Johnson didn't get on stage until 10pm. Nature Girl was excited but shortly into the concert she began to be bothered by a smell. I should note that Nature Girl has an especially sensitive nose and doesn't like smelly things. Not that I like that particular smell either and it's illegal. Anyway, we got through that just fine and she was thrilled when Jack Johnson played Bubble Toes, it's her favorite song. Overall it was a great concert. Jack Johnson is one of my favorites. I usually listen to his albums when I'm sewing. I find it to be very relaxing to listen to his music and sew. I told my husband I felt like I should have brought my sewing machine with me to the concert. Of course I didn't really bring it!!
We arrived back at the hotel at 12:30am. After eating a bunch of gummy bears she settled into bed and finally went to sleep at about 1:15am. Here she is snuggling with Puffy(her down blanket,) her new travel pillow(from Barb) and four stuffed animals.

Meeting A Blogger Friend

I have to say one of my favorite parts of our vacation was getting the opportunity to meet my blogger friend Barb. Barb lives in Florida. We've been blogger friends for years now. I was so excited when she offered drive up to meet with us at the airport.

We had a very long wait after getting off the cruise ship. I had no idea what I would do to entertain a six year old in an airport for eigth hours, but Barb came to the rescue. She met us in the airport, then took us on a tour of all the wonders the airport had to offer. Barb even brought her daughter Julz along. We joked because Julz had reminded her mom that you aren't supposed to meet in person with people you have met on the internet. While Julz is 100% right, meeting with Barb was like meeting with an old friend. It felt like more like I hadn't seen her for a few months instead of a first meeting. It amazes me that just by reading each others blogs and e-mailing that we could form a friendship that was so easy and enjoyable. I was thrilled to spend the day with Barb and Julz!
Here is a fountain located in the center of the airport. We walked, shopped, chatted and had lunch together. Barb and Julz even got to meet my husband. As most of you know he is elusive and blog shy so he's never featured here but alas he does exist!

Barb was too kind, she brought handmade goodies for each of us. She made a tea wallet for me with a beautiful green mug(same color green as my kitchen) and one of her famous wonder wallets for my husband. We greatly appreciate her kindness and even better it's ironic. Barb and I became blogger friends when I won one of her wonder wallets for leaving a comment on her blog. I still have that very wallet and a matching tissue case in my purse! I've always been impressed with Barb's craft talent. She has an ETSY shop here and makes beautiful bags, wallets and goodies. She does custom orders too.
She made this wonderful travel pillow case so Nature Girl would have something to remember Florida by. Nature Girl loves it!
Since I started blogging a few years ago I have been in contact with many bloggers. I have been constantly amazed by the kindness and generosity of my fellow bloggers. Until last week I have never had the opportunity to meet in person with a blogger friend. I have to say it was a great experience!! Meeting Barb in person was even better than I expected. She is the kind of person anyone would be happy to call their friend and I'm glad we got to meet in person. I hope that this is the first of many more meetings with Barb and family. So Barb if you ever want to come up North you'll always have a place to stay.

We're Back!

We're back from vacation! We enjoyed a four day Disney cruise in the Bahamas. We visited Nassau and Castaway Cay. This is a picture from the island in Nassau where we participated in a stingray adventure. We got to snorkel with, pet and feed the stingrays. Nature Girl was not a fan of the salt water as it tasted bad and hurt her eyes. I was not a huge fan of the stingrays. They felt a little slimy. I would compare them to mushrooms, harmless but a weird texture. The fish we feed them were smelly and gross. They flocked around the feet of Nature Girl and I when they realized we had food. They almost knocked us over and I had to hop on one foot to avoid stepping on and possibly injuring them. It was definitely a different experience.


We enjoyed the water and the beach. It was hot and humid but very enjoyable. Nature Girl bought a big conch shell and has been practicing blowing into it. She's getting better at it.


One thing that amazed me was the color of the water. I think you hear everyone say that but it's true. It's so much more blue! If you are looking for a fun family vacation I would suggest a Disney Cruise. The food was great, the shows and movies were fabulous and we enjoyed ourselves!

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to you! Nature Girl drew this picture and said "Happy America Day!" It seemed like the perfect picture for this post. We hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Vacation Toes

We're getting ready to go on vacation. Yesterday we spent the morning with Laurie as she pampered us for hours. Nature Girl got her own special reclining pedicure chair. She was thrilled! It was the best manicure & pedicure I've had. Laurie really spoiled us. Thank you Laurie!!!
Look how great our nails look! We had them done in our vacation theme. Can you guess where we're going?