The Lake

This afternoon was our first lake adventure of the season!  After quiet time we got changed, packed up and headed over to the beach here in town.  It was the most perfect day for a trip to the lake.  The sky was a beautiful shade of blue, the clouds were perfectly puffy and it was just the right temperature.  We could not have asked for a better day!  As soon as we arrived, the girls got reacquainted with the lake and its inhabitants, clearly happy to be back at one of their favorite places.  They wasted no time getting right in the water, and then getting to work on a good few sandcastles.  Then, just when they think the day cannot get any better, some of our friends arrive and make the afternoon even more exciting! We came home tired, full of sand and super hungry.  And so another wonderful season of lake trips begins! 

Evening Stroll

Whether we were on foot or on wheels, it was a delightful way to spend a beautiful evening!

Summer Solstice Scenes

On the fourth grey, rainy day in a row, I thought it would be a great time to finally post pictures from how we celebrated the Solstice!

On the Solstice we:

made blueberry muffins and had breakfast outside.

watered the gardens.

made a butterfly puddle 

(though I think we made need to make a couple of revisions to our design).

played in the pool and hung laundry out to dry.  How could we not on such a beautiful Summer Solstice Day?!

dropped Grace off for her second day of camp and then had a picnic lunch of our own.

enjoyed the beauty of the farm.

picked a quart of strawberries as part of our farmshare this week.

enjoyed yet another meal outside (just like last year!) complete with new mealtime blessing.

It was a gloriously beautiful Summer Solstice!  We hope your day was just as special and full of as many ordinary miracles as ours was!

Our New Mealtime Blessing:

For the golden corn,

for the apples on the trees, 

for the golden butter,

for the honey for our tea,

for the fruits and nuts and berries that grow along the way,

Dear Father Sun and Mother Earth,

We give our thanks this day. 

-Traditional Waldorf Blessing

{This Moment}

{This Moment} - A SouleMama Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. We wish you a delightful weekend!

Day Brightener

I discovered this in the kitchen this morning and coulen't help but smile! It's little things like this that make a grey, rainy day like today a little cheerier! 

Rainy Day Fun At The Farmer's Market

After we picked Grace up from camp (which she is adoring) we stopped by opening day of the Wayland Summer Farmer's Market.  It was a gloriously rainy day, but that just added to the fun of being back at the farmer's market!  The girls, who have clearly never met a muddy puddle that they haven't jumped in, got right down to splashing, which brought many smiles and compliments of how great it is to see kids being kids!  It was fun to watch all the vendors and farmer's watch the girls having such fun in these fabulously large puddles.  The smiles on their face just said it all.  I am glad that we could bring a little sunshine into an otherwise grey day!

Summer Solstice

(Emma's Self Portrait)

It's 6:50pm Tuesday night and as I type this the sun is still up, the girls are playing outside, David is doing all sorts of chores, and I am getting ready to head to yoga class (what better way to end the Solstice than with a few sun salutations?!)! We hope you had a delightful Solstice Day and that you were able to enjoy the extra amount of sun (thanks Father Sun!) and the beauty and splendor of our world (thanks Mother Earth)!  We'll show you more scenes from how we celebrated the Summer Solstice tomorrow, enjoy the rest of the daylight hours today! 

One Happy Camper

Today was Grace's first day of summer camp!  She is attending a week long camp at Drumlin Farm (one of her favorite places) where she gets to collect chicken eggs, milk a cow, groom the pony, do crafts, sing songs and have lots of fun!  It is essentially a much shorter version of the preschool experience that she should have had that Em will get to have next year.  As any one who is on Facebook knows, we were sure that she would love this week but were nervous about her first day at camp since she totally was not into being at the camp open house last week. The whole way home after open house she kept saying:  "But I am done with school, right, mama?" and "We learn at home, right, mama?" So we all were keeping our fingers crossed that today would go as we were sure it would, and I am happy to report that it did! As you can see from the pictures above, she was beaming from the very moment she put her backpack on today and was just as happy when Em and I picked her up this afternoon!  Today's theme was chickens and she was pleased to introduce us to the chick she made that she has named Pearl.  As we were heading to the car the following conversation took place:

Grace:  "Mama, do I get to go back to camp tomorrow?  I had so much fun today!"  

Me:  "You do!  What did you like best about camp, baby?"

Grace:  "I liked collecting the chicken eggs, but really I liked everything the best!" 

I think it's safe to say that camp was a total hit! 

Happy Father's Day, David!

Today, we spent the day celebrating David who is such a wonderful papa to our two beautiful girls (and an incredible husband too)!  We cannot thank him enough for all he does for us, for it is his hardwork that allows us to live the incredible life that we are blessed to live.  Thank you David for making this life possible! Thank you for the love, laughter and humor that you bring to our lives.  Thank you for being our rock.  We are truly grateful and love you forever and for always.  XOXO.