With the lack of sun and warmth, our local produce is ripening very late this year, but at least it is super plump and beautiful due to the surplus of rain in the NorthWest!
So, finally raspberries were ripe in the last week of July! Colden and I headed out to the farm on the opening weekend and picked 5 pounds of beautiful berries. They were so easy to get, it only took us 30 minutes. Colden was a great picker and eater... he didn't really contribute much to what we brought home though!
I promptly made a batch of jam, a raspberry tarte on a shortbread crust and a rhubarb raspberry crisp that is the best I've ever had (my recipe below)! Now I have to work it all off since I ate my share of the tarte and the ENTIRE crisp!
Rhubarb Raspberry Crisp
fruit mixture:
3/4 cup white sugar
2 Tbl cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt
3 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 heaping cup raspberries
topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup oats (I used regular, but you could also use quick oats)
1/4 cup butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8X8 inch pan (or something smaller and deeper).
2. Combine sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add rhubarb and raspberries and coat them with the dry ingredients. Pour mixture into the prepared pan.
3. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and oat. Add the melted butter and mix together to make a crumbly mixture. Spread over the top of your fruit mixture in the baking pan.
4. Bake for 45 minutes or until bubbly throughout.
We shopped a lot. More shopping than I've done probably since her last long visit! It was fun.
The weather (common theme in my blogs this year) was supposed to stay nice (70's) during her stay, but every time I checked the forecast it was downgraded to cooler temps, rain and lots of clouds. I thought this was the year that we realy deserved an indain summer--God has a different plan. Well, the funny part about this is that my mom NEVER packs warm enough clothes. I keep a couple warm sweaters for her, but its never enough. She did, however, pack berry picking attire consisting of my dad's brush pants for hunting and an old denim shirt. It was slightly embarassing when she walked out the front door, but worth it when she came home with huge bowls of wild blackberries! She canned 3 big batches of jam and took almost every jar with her. We even made a lower-sugar version for the first time and it was great. 
All Colden wanted for his birthday was ice cream! So, in addition to the Heath Bar cupcakes that I made, the kids all made their own ice cream sundaes. 
Renee, Dan, Lydia and Henry arrived on the 20th for a 10 day visit. They were thrilled to excape the triple digit Texas heatwave, we were excited that summer arrived in time to do some things with them outside!
And we managed to get out for dinner together with Jeremy and Dan. What? A picture of two of us? This never happens!
Renee and I spent lots of time at the parks and out for walks around the neighborhood while Liddy and Colden took turns on the bike and scooter.
We missed the 10:40 ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge, but managed to make the ferry ride over and back with a super quick stop for lunch and ice cream at Mora Creamery... YUM! 
Renee took the big kids to a local farm/amusement park for the day while I baked and cleaned in preparation for Colden's birthday party. 
Renee and I even managed to sneak out to enjoy a spa treatment one morning while Jeremy coralled the kids! It was a great visit... so glad you all came!
The villages each had really nice playgrounds for the kids and conveniently located near the coffee and ice cream shops! 
We also played a little putt putt in the Upper Villiage one day. 
And stopped for the obvious photo opp with a Canadian Moose Mounty :)
By the time that Papa arrived and we boarded our flight to LA, the rain returned. The Texans didn't mind the cool rainy weather and I got to enjoy 4 more days of 78* and sunny in Santa Monica.
Colden and Lydia challenge eachother, but are still best friends. Blakely loved any attention that Lydia would give him, but didn't really seem to notice his cousin Henry (who is 2 days older than Blakely). I look forward to seeing how that changes in August.
We loved the splash park... Lydia was a little cold, not my kids! Blakely could have played for hours!
Thanks for the wonderful visit... we are looking forward to having you in August and next spring we promise to stay longer!
We had a wonderful visit with my parents... very relaxed and not busy. It was kinda like being home, but better since there was SUN, a pool in the backyard and a golf course too! Colden was in heaven. All three of us loved the Yacht club too and I think we bored my dad by eating there more than once in a week :) Mom and I walked every morning with the boys and I dove for dive sticksat the bottom of the pool a million times for Colden. He was so good on his own jumping in the pool (with a live preserver of course).
We love the Texas State Acquarium... the Dolphin show is as good as Sea World's.
Colden went for a ride in Paca's "fast car".
Colden and Paca also spent some quality time on the golf course... Colden is seriously good!
Colden has been thanking me at least a couple times a week for taking him to the fountain at Nana's house (still... weeks later) Blakely loved it too!
Of course, we had some Chic-Fil-A while we were there! Colden spotted the advertising for ice cream and chose to turn in his toy in favor of an ice cream cone which he also has been talking about for weeks!
My favorite evenings were the one when dad made me a black cow and watched a mexican american movie that mom rented thinking it was a sequel to the Devil Wears Prada... and the one where we sat outside with a glass of wine and chatted for a couple hours. Jeremy really missed out that night! thanks Mom & Dad for such a nice visit.