We pick, do U Pick???

I've been craving a way to really break into summer...some recent events have kept me inside and in bed and sick, so when I thought "U Pick! Strawberries!" I knew that would put me even more in the spirit and McKinley would love it.

I was right! We even convinced Mom to tag along, so I planned a quick trip to the grocery, packed a picnic lunch and we began our little road trip to a nearby U Pick farm.

We laid our little feast out on the picnic table and enjoyed the cool (okay, a little TOO cool) breeze while we ate salad, pita and hummus, yogurt, pop chips and dip, watermelon and cantaloupe...and a long-time fave of mine and McKinley's - Blood Orange Italian Sodas! Oh it was perfect. And delicious. And Mom even bought a little piece of cake that she and McKinley shared.

Once we were finished, we packed back up an hopped on the farm's golf cart for the worker to drive us to the patch. Honestly, I think the golf cart was McKinley's very favorite part of the entire trip. He was giddy as he rode in the front like a big boy. It was so cute!

We were assigned our rows and set out to work. We made quick picking out of it, Mom chose two small baskets and I chose the medium basket (which was about 5 pounds of berries). It didn't take long to fill them up, the three of us were plucking away! The berries were the most beautiful color...and the taste, OH MY GOODNESS I have never ever tasted a sweeter berry. We didn't add any sugar to them at all, they were perfect as is!

And if it tells you anything, McKinley was previously NOT a strawberry fan. So, why would I take him to pick them? Because I intended to use them in his smoothies and in ice cream, no actual berry to bite into, which is what is doesn't care for. However, he is a changed man! One taste of these suckers and he was hooked!

During the picking, a moment of perfect comedic timing happened when "Precious" the farm dog left her perch beside the employee and ran to befriend McKinley, just seconds after I pulled out my camera and started clicking. The dog KNEW I had a camera. Matter of fact she began posing in various ways: rolling on her back while laying on my foot and turning her head JUST SO. Lying with McKinley and looking back at the camera. And my favorite - her little sneaky way of capturing her good side in the shot with Mom and McKinley. What a diva! I turned off the camera and replaced the lens cap and poof! Precious was gone. Imagine that!

Once our baskets were full we headed back to the golf cart and to the stand to have our berries weighed. We tucked them safely in the hatch and headed home.

On the way there we made a stop at Cary's office where he had just arrived. The four of us stood, hatch up, eating those strawberries right there in the parking lot! Holy Moly those things are so good!!!!!!!!!

Today was awesome. The perfect way to put me back in the summer spirit! Here's hoping we'll be back soon for more strawberries and then blueberries!

YUM!!!

Lynn

The tale of a giant tube

We spent Saturday evening with our dear friends, The Cook Family. It was so wonderful! Easy, laid back, just fun - and exactly what we ALL needed. The boys played, we all chatted, we ate some yummy food then everyone hopped on the boat and headed out for a fun night of tubing on the lake. McKinley wasn't real sure about the tube at first, so The Cook boys went for a spin. As McKinley watched he became really eager to get out there himself. Randy stopped the boat, reeled the boys back in and McKinley and Lisa hopped on too! McKinley had perma-grin for the ENTIRE ride. Later Lisa told us that he was squealing with delight all the way. Randy went pretty slow at first, but several rides later and McKinley was making the motions for donuts, to speed up and to "Rock and Roll"! I'm actually surprised he didn't swallow some bugs, his smile was so big for so long!

Finally, it was time for some dessert after a quick swim at the dock and a dip in the hot tub. Ice cream sundaes? Yes, please! Everyone had some - complete with sprinkles, as requested by McKinley.

The boys were all worn out and plopped on the bed to watch a movie before gaining a second (third? fourth?) wind and playing more.

We ended the night really late but so relaxed having had the best time!

I love summer!!!!!!!!!!

Lynn

Vernon weekly recap

Whew-what a busy week!

McKinley said his full name for the first time (and well, I might add). More on that later...

We had a playdate with Lincoln that involved heebie geebies and a big ol' bore bee. The bore bee tried to make friends with a very unwilling McKinley while we attempted to eat our lunch. He actually followed us over to the playground, where McKinely AND I were equally as displeased with the whole mess. Then these LOVELY, giant swarms of large gnat-like insects dive-bombed our mouths, ears and eyes as we simply tried to play on the playground. McKinley kept shivering when the gnat thingies would hit his ears, so I asked if he had the heebie geebies. He promptly replied that he had, "Heebie Geebies in ears and eyes!" lol Yikes! This was even after the application of bug repellent! We got out of there! Despite Mother Nature's blessed insects we had so much fun with Lincoln and Kylie. Hope to do it again next week with even more of our friends!

My friend Robin and I headed to St. Ben's Longaberger/Vera Bradley Bingo (I didn't win, but Robin sure did!!! :-D ) while Cary took McKinley AND Savannah to the park together (Robin's hubby, Ricky had to work). Robin did great winning a BIG raffle prize, but Cary impressed me with toting around TWO toddlers for some park fun and a great dinner. WOW! Good night!

Mamaw was put in the hospital again, but is back home and doing okay. Thankfully, it was just a prescription change.

Cary played some golf with his Dad and I did some zumba with Jen.

We continued our big makeover of the house (I'm lovin' it!) and I finally finished my...

LAST.HOMEWORK.EVER.

Dum, dum, duuuuuuuuuuum

I became BFF's with the powerwasher (ugh) and McKinley discovered that three of his very favorite things to do all involve being 'OUTSIIIIIIIDE!'

*Watering our flowers and plants with his frog watering can

*Playing his self-invented ball toss game in one of his three kiddie pools

*Using the shower-like handle for watering flowers as a microphone for his adorable singing talent

By far, though, the absolute cutest thing ever this week was the repetition of McKinley's name, "Kinney Dane Bernon" as told by MSV himself. Translation: McKinley Shane Vernon

Seriously, it makes me CRY.

What a great week, we're off to a fabulous summer!

Lynn

A good way to end a great summer

In honor of the unofficial end to summer (Labor Day Weekend), I thought it would be a great time to do the long-standing tradition of the 'What I did over Summer Break' Report.

This is the Vernon Version:

Our summer was filled with lots of excitement, beginning with our first family vacation to Myrtle Beach and my birthday (30!) and ended with a great trip to B-town for Cary's birthday over the holiday weekend.

Myrtle Beach was beautiful and the perfect getaway for our first family vacay. We had so much fun visiting the Biltmore Estate on the way to M.B. and really soaked up the sun for a whole week. Yours truly got a little too much sun...painful. See slide show of vacay here.

My 'Big Three-Oh' was soon to follow, and was a total blast. Cary and my Mom threw me a wonderful surprise party - I was SHOCKED - and had a great time, even if they did make me wear goofy glasses and a GIANT party hat (think dunce cap). lol

We celebrated the fourth of July together and the following night Cary and I had a great date to see a long-time fave, John Mayer. Good times!

After that it was time to get everything ready for another birthday...McKinley's FIRST! We had a lot of fun with that day and were so honored to have so many wonderful friends and family members there to share such a special day with.

I guess the next 'big event' during our summer was my wreck...but I promised that this post would be happy and upbeat, so that's all I'm gonna say about that!

In the beginning of August, McKinley attended his very first wedding and reception. My old buddy from...gosh, can it be ELEMENTARY SCHOOL? Yep...we go back pretty far...Jim and his lovely bride Caitlin got married. It was such a beautiful day for them and we were honored to have been guests at such a special occasion. I think McKinley's favorite thing about the whole day was taking a carriage ride around the Circle in downtown Indy and the horse he met. He loved it!

After McKinley was fast asleep, thanks to my Mom, Cary and I headed back to reception for some alone time. It was great catching up with Jim and Mike and their families. We had a great time. After the reception ended, we strolled around downtown Indy, hand in hand for a while. It was a nice feeling to be out on our own and relaxed together. We stopped off at a restaurant/brewery and had a little snack and drink (I had the Godiva Martini...YUM!!!), then headed back to the hotel for the night. Though it wasn't a planned date, it was so nice to be together in such a beautiful area of the city. I love being impromtu with Cary!!!

So, the summer 'ended', unofficially this weekend with the Labor Day Holiday, and Cary's birthday. Sunday we picked up Mom and headed to B-town for some R&R, tacos and cake. We had so much fun playing around all day, but my favorite part was watching Logan and Mason 'chase' McKinley through Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was SO CUTE! Check out the video-listen to the screams of delight! Love it! Ever seen anything cuter? Didn't think so...

(You can turn the music down or off at the bottom of the page to better hear the silliness!!!)

Those were most of the big things, but we also had so much fun watching McKinley go from baby to boy (and trust me, he's all boy, folks! hahaha). He's made some big changes over the summer. His vocabulary has grown, he's become VERY opinionated (No, really???!!!), 'graduated' to one nap a day, table foods and whole milk (organic, of course) in a BPA-free sippy cup. We've also had so much fun making many trips to visit family in B-town, going to the park, finger painting, coloring with crayons and playing in our backyard 'waterpark'.

Our boy sure is a ball of energy and loads of fun. Everyday is new and exciting and full of a new word, sound or trick. He has made it an extra fun summer for us.

We are sad to see the summer go, but anxious for a gorgeous and event filled fall. We've already got some fun things to look forward to for McKinley (Wee Read, Kindermusik, The Pumpkin Train), and for ourselves (anniversary #4!!!!, Zumba for me, Golf tourneys for Cary, and a special getaway).

Hope everyone had as great of a summer as we did!

Lynn