Summer Bucket List

Before summer unfurls I can't help but daydream about all the lovely things I look forward to doing. Picking berries is always high on my priority list and this year we have certainly picked to our heart's content. So far we have filled our bellies with: salmon berries thimble berries, dew berries, huckleberries, blueberries cherries

and now, finally, blackberries. Sometimes we look like we have been through a war zone after a picking session, but the girls LOVE it!

 Another thing about summer that I get excited about, is the food. I can almost smell corn on the cob slathered with butter,  a ripe peach, or steak sizzling away on the barbecue. This summer Nate made fish tacos for the fish time (AMAZING) and I plan on making this luscious peach cake before summer's end.

A couple of weeks ago I made an upside down plum and raspberry cake, which was quickly devoured, and then two nights ago I tried making some honey roast peaches. I made Nate a strawberry rubabrb pie for his birthday and soon I will have enough black berries to make some tarts and pies. I haven't made any smores yet this summer but we are going camping soon and I intend to make some then. EEEEEE!

As far as activities go, I always have a REALLY long list of things I want to do. Always at the top of this list is to swim in an ocean, river and lake. There is NOTHING more refreshing than jumping into a river on a hot day. It is pure bliss!

As I mentioned before, normally camping is also high on that list, but since Nathaniel and I have had children, we have not had the guts to do it. This year we intend to do it, even if it is a headache. The best memories of my childhood, consist of sitting around a campfire with my family, whittling wood with my bucknife, building rafts and forts and playing cards under a tarp on rainy days. I cannot tell you how much I cherished those times. We want to create those same memories for our girls.
So far this summer we have been  spending lots of time playing at our local spray park, watching Nate jump off cliffs or bridges, getting awesome tans, skim boarding,building sand castles and rock motes for Claire to sit in, walking around barefoot, having picnics, playing in the sprinkler, painting toenails, eating seasonal fruit, collecting flowers, and going for boat rides.

We have not yet been to a farmer's market, read on the beach or swung in a hammock but we still have loads of summer left and lots of fun things to look forward to. I am getting really excited about attending Esperanza's family camp, going to Tofino, working on our back deck and spending lots of lazy days at the beach. How about you? What are you still looking forward to doing this summer?