Krause Berry Farms

Today Sydney and I shared a great summer adventure with our friends Christina and Jack as we headed out to Langley to the Krause Family Berry Farm.

This amazing place has so many things for both kids and adults to enjoy.  We met up with Christina's friend Leanne and her son Ewen who live on a farm right by Krause Berry Farm.  Sydney, Jack and Ewen had such fun playing together in the sand pit and playground.

There is an amazing patio there where you can get yummy treats of all sorts made with the bounty from the farm.  We enjoyed their signature corn pizza, berry milkshakes and berry shortcakes.

They also have a full fledged bakery and store where they sell all of their amazing prepared food as well as fresh produce and gifts.  I couldn't get over how delicious this mile high berry pie looked!

Syd had fun shopping and got herself this new hand knit ladybug hat.

The berry farm also has an estate winery on site.  There is a beautiful garden with sitting areas where you can enjoy a glass of wine.

There was even an artist amongst the flowers today painting away.  Sydney thought this was the coolest thing ever, especially because she was making a chicken painting!

The farm has a petting zoo with horses, goats, sheep, pigs, chickens and rabbits.  The kids loved having the chance to see the animals.

After all that excitement we finally got around to berry picking.  We headed to the blackberry patch first where Sydney quickly filled her little white basket with luscious, juicy berries.

Then we hopped aboard a school bus which took us to the blueberry patch and we got ourselves a basket of those too.

We ended the day with an ice cream cone of homemade ice cream made with the berries from the farm as a reward for the kids for all their hard work picking.

What great fun we had checking out a new place and having another fantastic summer adventure!

Horizons

Today I spent some very special time with my sister celebrating her birthday which is coming up in a few days. 

We met half way between each of our homes at Horizons Restaurant at the top of Burnaby mountain.  The view from the restaurant is breathtaking!

We sat on the beautiful patio there and had an amazing meal and visit together basking in the sunshine.

The server brought a special dessert complete with a birthday candle for Liane.

We so enjoyed ourselves, what a special treat it was to have some time together and share an amazing meal!

While I was at lunch Sydney was home with Alexa creating some pretty awesome masterpieces.

When I got home Sarah and Emma came by for a play date.  We have so missed them as they have been away in Toronto for the past several weeks. 

Emma brought me a beautiful bouquet of pink gerbera daisies, love them!

What a perfectly lovely day!

Monday Funday

This morning Sydney and I spent some time at home just chilling together.  I figured it was the perfect opportunity to take an item off of our bucket list that was an 'at home' activity.

Sydney has a book that she loves to read every night, it's a book about bugs and insects and different crafts and projects that you can make or do inspired by bugs.  She calls it "the wire book" because almost every craft requires some sort of wire, which we never have around here.

The one craft that didn't need wire was for patterned spirals, inspired by snails.

So this morning we whipped up a batch of dough, rolled it into snakes and curled them into snails which we baked in the oven and then painted.

Syd was so thrilled to do this craft at long last!

I decided to try a new recipe today for deviled salmon cakes to use up some canned salmon that Paul's nephew had given us.  They were absolutely delicious!  I served them with a side of dill mayo sauce and we loved them!  They could easily be used as salmon burgers in a bun, in fact I think the next time I make them that's exactly what I'll do!  Click here for the recipe.

This afternoon we met up with a few of the families from preschool at the David Livingston water park to play at the playground and splash in the water.  Syd so enjoyed playing with her buddies Levi, Leo and Noa.

It was a nice mellow day, we enjoyed it!

Bowen Island

Today Paul, Sydney and I spent the day on Bowen Island.  Both Paul and I had never been to the island before so we were excited to check it out and spend some time in the sun enjoying discovering a new place close to home.

Bowen is a quick twenty minute ferry ride from Horseshoe Bay and yet it literally feels like a world away from the city.

The views of the city from the island are amazing!  It was so pretty and we enjoyed wandering around and checking out a few of the neighborhoods.

Snug Cove, where the ferry docks, is the life of the island where all of the restaurants and shops are.  It is so quaint!

We had fun wandering through the Sunday market today as well and enjoying a special afternoon together.

What a fun day exploring a new place!

Nail Art

Today I took Sydney with me to see Tammy, my sweet esthetician who has known me for as long as I've lived in Vancouver. 

Sydney loves coming with me to Tammy's because she always gets a special treat, her toe nails painted.

Today she chose a rainbow of colours and got each toenail painted a different shade along with a few white spots on her big toes.  I was teasing her that she had toadstool toes!

Syd has a very bad habit of biting her fingernails down to nubs!  We have tried a variety of different strategies to get her to stop to no avail.  We finally came up with the idea that if she stopped biting her nails for a week we would make a special appointment for her to see Tammy for her very own manicure to get her nails painted pretty.

So today while I was chatting with Tammy I told her about the deal that we had with Sydney, which she had yet to keep...  I love that Tammy is a seasoned Mom and often gives me great advice that she's learned along the way about raising kids.  She apparently had the same nail biting issue with her daughter and instead of waiting for her to stop, she painted her nails so pretty that she never wanted to bite them again!

So I figured it was worth a try, Syd got the most beautiful pink nails with gold glitter and black stripes.  She was thrilled!

And she has gone a full day without biting her nails as she thinks they are so pretty and doesn't want to wreck them.  Plus Tammy told her the nail polish was poison and that she didn't want to eat it!  Seems to have worked so far.

I took Syd out for a little nature walk tonight before bed.  We wandered up and down a few back alleys collecting some beautiful wild flowers and made a lovely bouquet for our kitchen.

Syd found herself a wooden walking stick as well, a sturdy branch that made the perfect cane!  She just had to bring it home!  She told me she was sure that Daddy needed it for his garden!

Happy Saturday!

Friendly Friday

What a fun day of connecting with friends Sydney and I had today!  We had not one, not two but three play dates planned today and enjoyed every minute of it!

We woke up early this morning and decided to whip up a batch of gingersnap cookies to take with us on our visits.  Sydney had great fun helping me roll the cookie dough into balls and then roll the balls in sugar and put them on the cookie sheets.

We headed to our friend Sally's house first for a morning and early lunch together.  Our friends Liz and Erin were both there with their newborn babes, it was lovely to have snuggles with them both and to hear how they are making out being Mommas for the second time around!

Sally served us a wonderful lunch, homemade pizza with roasted veggies and goat cheese, homemade macaroni, fruit salad, veggies and homemade cupcakes for dessert.  We cracked a bottle of champagne sometime around noon and toasted the new babies and old friendships.  I can't tell you how much I love these girls!

From Sally's we headed over to visit with Tracy, Alexis and Avery.  Alexis had been dying to have Syd over for a play date and was waiting anxiously in the backyard in her swimsuit with the sprinkler running when we arrived.

The girls had a great time splashing and playing in the water outside and basking in the sun while Tracy and I had a visit.

We ended the day with a trip to Maple Grove Pool to meet up with William and Michelle for an evening swim and to take in the Friday night concert that takes place every Friday night in July in Maple Grove Park.  We so enjoyed listening to the music while we swam with the kids and had a picnic dinner together before unleashing the kids at the playground for a while.

What a perfect way to end a summer's day!