Bucket List: Boulder Ridge/Zoo

I'm checking two off our bucket list at once here - I'm not cheating - I promise.  I've been hearing wonderful things about Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park and added this to our bucket list earlier this summer without realizing it was definitely more zoo than anything else.  I guess I had sort of envisioned animal petting zoo.  Last week we got to join in on what my girlfriend calls "Mom Camp" with Lily's bff Adalyn and a former Appletreer Charlie.  Lily, Adalyn, and Charlie pretty much opened Appletree and have worked their way through the classrooms together until Charlie's mom decided to stay home.  Lily was so excited when she found out we were going to get to see him.  So on pretty much the hottest day of the week three moms traipsed after seven littles trying to make sure no one injured the baby bunnies or got their fingers eaten off.  And check check.  Everyone came back with 10 fingers and we left the baby bunnies thoroughly shocked - not injured.

Just another 4th of July

I love love love the 4th of July holiday weekend.  To me it's always meant spending lots of time with family and friends.  This year Lily and I even got festive...hopefully next year we can get Daddy in on it.  And maybe even Grandma and Grandpa.  Because one of my favorite memories is seeing my grandparents all jazzed up for one of our favorite family traditions.

It's been so fun watching the transformation of Lily and her cousins year after year.  And there seems to be a new baby to add in each photo as well.  The group just keeps growing - in every sense of the word.

Bucket List: Blueberry/Strawberry Picking

It's been so so hot but somehow we've been incredibly lucky to find some of the coolest days to hit the fruit fields.  Lily and I were looking for something to do one day and she randomly said she wanted to go strawberry picking.  My girlfriend had gone at a farm in Dorr so I quick looked up their Facebook page to see it was the last day for it.  We dropped everything and headed out there to bring back six pounds of fresh strawberries.  We froze a bunch and made some delicious (and healthy) strawberry popsicles.

More recently we hit up the same farm for some blueberries with our friends Maisie and Mackenzie.  I lugged my bulky camera into the bushes with us in hopes of catching some good photo ops.  We managed to haul in ELEVEN pounds between the two of us.  Lily and I came home and worked on muffins and blueberry buckle and froze a couple of pounds.  And Daddy turned some into blueberry vodka.  We are considering going back for more if it will cool down just a bit.