Annual Blueberry Picking

 We were all tired out after the busy day yesterday, but I felt it was important to get to the blueberry farm on Masa's day off. 

Who is ready to drive us?

Evie was a determined blueberry picker!

Rosamund sang under an apple tree for most of the time while Clara looked for potato bugs. But they didn't really complain much and were patient as Masa and I filled our buckets.

We picked 17 lbs of blueberries (7.7. kg)! Now what will we make with them all...

Cousin came to play for dinner and so did her doll:

Happy Fourth of July!

 The Fourth of July came with red, white, blues, stars and stripes, fireworks and all the hallmark foods of summer. Watering the plants in the morning I noticed our "4th of July" Bachelor Buttons had bloomed just in time:

I made blueberry pancakes for the children and rushed to get things ready for our one hour drive south to my sister's small town. Evie was having a horrible morning because she had laid out what she wanted to wear and it somehow vanished. We ended up leaving about thirty minutes later then planned but it turned out all right! We could walk right to where we needed to be and find a place to watch the 11:00 parade.

The parade was short and sweet with cute old cars, noisy firetrucks and friendly community members handing out (too much) candy to the kids. They were thrilled...

The temperature was very comfortable, sometimes the Fourth of July can be unbearably hot.

It was a full day of playing in the pool, playing with cousins, eating snacks and exploring. 

Mako was so anxious to do fireworks. I took the kids the night before to the fireworks store and Masa had bought some fireworks onsale from last year. The little girls are a little scared of fireworks, and Rosamund was sleepy. I gave her a bath and tucked her in, sadly missing most of the fireworks show!

Ballet Camp

 The past week, R & C had the fun opportunity to attend dance camp together! It was reassuring for R to have C along with her. We woke up early Monday-Thursday to head downtown as the girls had 2 hours of camp every morning. It was the perfect amount of time, not too long but still a good experience to be independent. 

Once a week we also attend the evening practices for the Scandinavian Festival.

We enjoyed choosing a varitey of outfits and hairstyles each day for the camp. Clara seemed to really love the camp and wish it wouldn't end! They danced, made crafts and played.

On the first day of camp, I waited by myself and was able to work on all of my lesson plans for next school year. Already summer is passing before my eyes, I was grateful to get a good chunk of planning completed. On the second day, Evie came with me and we ran some errands while the little two were in camp (taking some returns to the Amazon hub at Whole Foods, looking briefly at some shops). On the third day, Mako and Evie came together and we picked up pastries while looking for birthday gifts for their cousin at our favorite toy shop.

On the fourth day, our whole family prepared to attend the final showcase for the camp. It was a jungle theme. The children had created the decorations and prepared some dances to show us. They were wonderful!! They also got to do some face painting and pretend to be animals (Clara was a jaguar and Rosamund was a hummingbird).

Look at those beautiful sisters!

Obstacle course demonstration! The best part was at the end when they balanced on their backs like a sloth! They showed us a fierce jungle pose, did the limbo, danced with some musical shakers they had made with beans, each had a solo dance moment, and danced to jungle music like "In the Jungle the Lion Sleeps Tonight". It was a little sad when it all ended but we were so proud of them!

Back at home Clara showed Evie how to make "jungle chains" to decorate for the Fourth of July