I love the days of summer... The days of hanging at the pool, balanced with fun activities and food prep.
Don't laugh. That is the picture of my summer. ;)

We had no appointments last week and none this week, so we tried to plan a visit with my family who lives 6 hrs away, but due to circumstances out of my control, we could not go. So around noon, we made plan b.

Lee was working with his mentor for the day. The other kids were hanging out with me, listening to messages online and relaxing on the hammock. A friend called and asked if I could pick up a case a cherries for her...
So we decided to hit the road. I love shopping local.

We first stopped at the little local hardware store, run by a plain older man who always has interesting conversations going with other old men who hang out there and tell weird old stories. (funny thing is, they do not know I speak their language)   I love this place, its messy and nothing is ever where it's supposed to be, but everything is dirt cheap.

Second stop, the little locally run grocery store for 40 lbs of cherries and 20 lbs of blueberries. My goal is to freeze and can as many fruits and vegetables as possible this year.

The kids had a dinner of apples, pickles (from our garden), and cherries in the car.

Third stop, the local farm that has THE BEST ice cream and milk. The kids got ice cream for dessert..

Then on to another little amish store, because I forgot to get freezer boxes at the first store. I picked up eggs, and tons of very reasonably priced freezer containers!

Finally we were done!!! The kids had been riding along patiently, without complaint. So since we were at the other end of the county we stopped to see our old neighbors. The kid absolutely love their farm. It's huge and a kids paradise. (parent's safety nightmare!) This friend has 8 kids with the oldest only 10 yrs old!!! They have massive old tobacco barns and the kids love to run and play in them, along with the big old hay barns. They got good and dirty in the 45 minutes us momma's were visiting.

We headed over to pick up Lee, at his mentor's house. They had a fun, but hard working day of cutting up and old tree. I am so thankful for these opportunities for my kids!

After loading up my dirty sweaty boy we headed home... But the kids were begging to see Grandma E. So we turned around and made a stop at her house! Grandma has red berries growing along her driveway. The kids were in heaven, stuffing their faces with berries!!

We finally arrived home at 8:30 pm. Tired, dirty sweaty kids and lots of fruit needing attention.

I love that my kids know how to enjoy hard work. I had 2 get in the shower while the other 2 worked on the cherries and I worked on the blueberries. Elizabeth and David had a competition going, to see who could fill containers faster.   It took us 30 minutes to clean and freezer package all our berries and cherries!!