P 52 Catch Up - Summer's Ending

This summer has been the busiest summer ever for us I am sure. It has been so much fun keeping busy and doing all that we can in the short amount of time we have. It is also the first year we didn't do school through the summer and actually took a break. I think that might be why we were so busy. Without the normal routine/schedule in place we felt a bit more freedom in doing more fun stuff. We started school back up at the beginning of August and with all that we were still doing I did not post any of my normal back to school or homeschool helps/resource posts that I normally do. We are still ironing out the kinks to our routine and figuring out all that we are doing this year but for us, it has been full steam ahead - squirrel!

We went camping a couple of weeks ago with some friends. (Taking a quick school break.) It was a very short camping trip and there was no water in the part of the lake we went to. (Everyone was depressed about that.) But getting out of town even for that short time was great. (Can you say Momma needs a break?) Getting to connect with friends and not worrying about the normal business of the day was perfect. We roasted marshmallows over the campfire, played card games, and talked a bunch. Then we turned our camping trip into a field trip (In typical homeschool fashion. *wink*) by visiting the Chinese Temple/Museum in a nearby town on the way home.

P52 Week 34 - Heat    

Around here, summer time is synonymous with wild fire season. This season has been bad, but I remember worse. Here is the view we have had for a while now. Some days it is worse than others but the smoke from the many fires settles into the valley. There are some days this year that we couldn't see the trees in the photo below. Those days are really bad and the atmosphere while choking and harsh is also eerie with the absence of the happy sounds of the birds and squirrels and owls and even the bats and crickets. While we are out of the danger of the fires it seems as though the animals still know that something is not right. I love the heat of summer and the long days. I do not love the smoke. I am so thankful for those who give up their summer to put out the crazy fires that occur. It seems never ending and the ones from this summer are either contained or out.

P52 Week 35 - Endless Summer

We took our first nature walk of the school year in search of some native plants and some bugs on said plants. Sadly I had forgotten that there were indeed some fires that had made their mark on our park.

It changed the objective of our walk and instead we found bird skeletons, fish skeletons, a couple of bugs and some other surprises I am saving for the next post. I did however happen to take this photo of the kiddos.

P52 Week 36 - Back to School

Another thing I have done a lot of lately is baking. I try not to bake too much during the summer heat but I can't help myself. I baked a ton of cupcakes and cookies for different friends events and I also dipped strawberries. I made little grooms and brides for a reception and for my daughter's 12 birthday I tried my hand at swirls. It was so much fun and of course they were yummy. (Chocolate covered strawberries, how could they be anything but yummy?) This is a gluten free lemon cupcake with lemony-white-choclate-cream-cheese frosting (Say that 5 times fast.) and the swirl berries. Baking is such a yummy hobby with fall weather just around the corner I am giddy with excitement over all the yummy treats waiting to be made.

P52 Week 37 - Hobbies

This post is linked up with Project 52 Photo Challenge with Kent Weakly.