Saturday in Manhattan

Today we went up to help my sister in law move. The boys did most of the heavy lifting, while Sumre and I mostly put away some things into the house. The kids played....

Here they are in the "forrest". Sumre has some great landscaping in her new yard.

The kids enjoyed helping with the wrapping paper. Actually "helping" might not be the best word. They enjoyed playing with it!

Afterwards, Sumre and her boyfriend took us to one of their favorites restaurants. It is a steak place, and they remind you of that with a big old cow in the front!

When we were heading home, we decided we would take the "scenic" route home. When Zack suggested that, I thought he meant the scentic byway that goes to Alma. That sounded great to me! But no, he meant just turning off on some county road! We ended up on these tiny, windy roads. With steep hills up and down. It was a blast!! And totally gorgeous. Zack and I have been itching to explore the land outside of Manhattan and it was well worth it. We came to lots of cross roads and just picked one and went with it. So neat.

There are lots of stone buildings in this area.

Here is another..

Some scenic shots..

Can you see why this was so much more fun than taking the highway home??

We met this bad boy along the way. It was definitely the closest I have ever been to bull and it was very intimidating! I didn't zoom in or anything. We were very close!

We ended up connecting with the scenic byway after criss crossing through the country side and ended up going through two small towns, Alma and Eskridge. I wish we would have had some time to look around, but it was getting late. Alma is a great little town and there was quite a crowd at a little ice cream shop downtown. It was very "Small Town on a Saturday Night".

It took us 2 hours to get home, but it was so much fun! Nice to roll the windows down and meander through the Flint Hills. Brenna loved sticking her hand out the window. She said, "momma, the wind is holding my hand!" This picture pretty much sums the trip up.

CSA 5/28

CSA pick up was postponed yesterday because of too much mud. They changed it to tonight and we decided to pick up in town since it was still pretty wet out.

We got black seeded simpson lettuce, spinach, a chicken and eggs. I am really excited about the chicken. I have never roasted a chicken before, so I am reading up on how to do that. I will be doing that in the next couple of days. Have lots of spinach, so I need to incoporate some of that in a recipe. I am still thinking manicotti. Just need to get a recipe for that. If you have a good one, send it to me!


Here is our share. A bit more than normal because mom is going out of town this week so she just took enough for a few days.



I am in a salad mood so I think I will be using up the lettuce pretty quickly.

Our note from the CSA told us that because of the rains, they have had some flood and our shares could possibly be light, or non at all for a couple of weeks this summer. I think that is a good lesson for the kids (and all of us) as well. In our "grocery store" culture we get used to all of the foods we want being at our total disposal. This is a lesson in that we need to be grateful for what Mother Nature has provided us and appreciate the times of good harvest! I hope that we won't lose any shares, but I am prepared for some lessons if we are.

Track meet

Gavin had a track meet on Tuesday. He choose to join the Emporia Track Club this year and it has been a really good experience. The track meet had people from all over Kansas. Anyone can participate so Brenna decided she would like a try. Actually, she may have been the most enthusiastic athlete! Brenna did the long jump and 50 meter dash. Gavin did the high jump and 100 yard dash.

This gives you an idea of how BRAVE and confident Brenna was! She was at least a head shorter than her competition! But she got right up there and gave it a try! I was very proud of her.

And here she goes....

Next was the 50 meter dash.

Here is Gavin at the high jump

And the 100 yard dash.

Both the kids did well enough to get a ribbon and we were so proud of them getting out there and trying!

Yay, It's summer!

Saturday we had a "Yay It's Summer" party! It was fun with good company, but not good weather! We grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and corn. (grilled corn is so good!) I made a big salad out of the red sail lettuce we had gotten at the farm. It was great! I had lots leftover so I made two big salads for myself the next day!



Afterwards we had strawberry shortcake. The kids ran around and seemed to have a good time. The adults got to visit and we played a new game.

It was a great time!

Spinach

Tonight I used a new recipe that I had found to use the spinach we got in our CSA share. Spinach fritters. Seemed like an interesting and easy way to use spinach. And kid friendly. They were very much like a "spinach pancake". One of the neighborhood kids was here and said that she had never tried spinach because it was gross. So I let her try one and she said it was pretty good!

They were pretty plain and didn't have a lot of flavor. Which is a good kid thing, right?

I had no idea what to entree to make with spinach fritters, but I wanted to make chicken parmesan sometime this week. Last week I had bought some homemade bread from Amanda's Cafe and used the leftovers to make bread crumbs this weekend. I thought chicken parmesan would be a good way to use up those bread crumbs. It was the first time I had made real chicken parmesan (I have a really good not real recipe if anyone wants it!). Zack was thoroughly impressed that I had made it from scratch, so I didn't want to tell him it was pretty easy. I would like to point out that we are eating whole wheat pasta even though it doesn't look like it! (which is a good kid thing too!)

The fritters ended up being a great thing to eat with chicken parmesan since it was so saucy. We dipped the fritters in the sauce and they were a good substitue for garlic bread.

Brenna was pretty irritated when she found a spinach pancake on her plate. But she ended up saying she really liked them! Well, "except for the green parts of course" (she said with a full mouth).

Prodcue: Spinach

Recipe: Spinach Fritters

Dad: "eh"

Mom: plain on their own, but good with sauce to dip in. What do I do now with 15 leftover spinach pancakes?

Gavin: "Awesome!"

Brenna: "Good"

Spring

When I see the kid's boots, I think, "spring". What a fun time of year. We get to stretch and warm our bones by the new warmth of the sun. Every warm day is such a treasure to everyone. It is the time of year between being freezing cold and burning hot! Spring means new life, Easter eggs, and green grass.

AND tromping around in the mud. We have a pretty big field in front of our house along with a couple of creeks and two ponds. This equates to lots and lots of messy play in the spring. My sister bought the kids these Croc boots and they are so wonderful! Great for snow and mud. And creekin, exploring,...etc. So we keep them handy right by the door so they can go out any time.

But, with the new heat of the summer sun, they haven't needed to use them much lately since the ground is dryer.

When I see these boots, I am reminded of the kids coming back to the house covered in mud and wet from head to toe...Gavin seeing a big black snake and sprinting all the way back to the house....splashing in the creek when it was swollen from all the rains....skipping rocks in the pond......flowering weeds picked with love and affection and brought back to mom with a proud and geniune, "I love you mommy." It is new life and the hope of a flowering blossoming year full of potential.

Maybe I have a thing with shoes?! When I was in 4th grade, I took a picure of some dirty old tennis shoes piled up to next to a cabin while I was at camp. Those shoes had been on horseback rides and adventure hikes. Archery and kumbayas, roasted marshmellows and awkward first dances. I submitted it to the fair and won 3rd place. I guess I could have called that one "Summer"!

And summer will come soon. The sun will never seem to want to set, the kids will be brown as bears, the days will be relaxed and unscheduled, fish will be caught, strawberry shortcake will be eaten and homemade ice cream will drip down our chins. Sprinklers and bubbles will fill the air along with the delighted squeals of the young ones. Corn will be eaten off the cob and toes will be painted.

But for now, I am going to enjoy these last few days of spring. And all that it means.


"Spring"

5/20 CSA

Tonight was our second farm pick up. Last time I was just kicking myself the whole time that I didn't have my camera. I was so excited to bring my camera this time! Camera in car...check. New batteries in camera...check. Memory card in camera.....whoops! So I only got a few pictures....but I guess that gives us an opprotunity to post some new ones next week! We like to keep you guessing I suppose!

Chicks that are one week old

They will move to the grass when they are about 3 weeks old I believe. Farmer John says they all fall asleep at the same time until one chick will wake up and wakes up the rest of them. I could relate to that!




Here are the "layers". Chickens who lay eggs. We just missed them gathering the eggs.









Here we are walking through the garden. Scallions, radishes, lettuces and broccoli are growing here.



Hanging out with the sheep. They are set to be sheared in a few weeks and Farmer John said the kids could come out to watch.






This was our produce that we got this week. (my mom and I split a half share so this actually a quarter share). Radishes, spinach, and red sail lettuce. I also bought some eggs this week. I don't think I have ever had a radish, so it will be fun to look for different ways to use them.

Track

Gavin had track tonight which is fun. Brenna runs around the track, Dad rides his bike on the trail and Mom walks with Susan. Oh yeah and Gavin does track!

Warming up.... (he has the blue shorts and grey shirt)

Running hurdles.....

In "Gavin" style!

Evening at the Lake

Some friends of ours were camping and invited us out for dinner at the lake. It was a perfect evening and the kids had a great time.

About 3 min after we got out of the car:

The kids wanted to make a raft. They wrote a message on it with burnt wood in case someone ever finds it.

The kids exploring...

The raft did not take them too far

The younger kids made their own make-shift raft

Climbing trees.....

Playing with slinkies....

Walked down to the park

Campfire....

Three minutes after we get in the car....