A little TOO close to Nature, Nature Walk

The temps around our parts have been reaching the high 90's......indoor weather for us.  But on a recent, uncharacteristic act of early morning motivation on my part, I fed the kids breakfast, sunscreened them up and we headed out the front door for a nature walk before it got too hot.

Stafford Lake is just across the street from the ranch with a trail running from it all the way into town, about four miles.

We didn't walk four miles {eight round trip}, I am not that motivated.  But we did walk about two miles round trip, without too many complaints from the kiddos.

We made it an adventure to see what type of creatures we could encounter on our walk. 
Lizards a plenty.

One thing I had not even anticipated was that my little guy would also find his first experience with poison oak....although we didn't find out until a day or so later.  It's on his face, arms and hands. 

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Old Glory at the Farm

With strong winds coming from the west on most days at our house, our American flag is replaced once a year, due to the tattered edges it acquires.  We choose to replace it on the 4th of July.....it just seems to fit.

Every morning of the 4th of July, for the past four years, the kids and Dominic replace the flag that flies high right outside our house. The very first year, Dominic, the kids and Papa {my father-in-law} raised the actual flag pole{but I accidentally erased that pic.....and it was a good one too}.

And sometimes, after our strong winds snap the flag line and our flag becomes tangled at the top of the pole, maintenance is required.

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Ice Cream, Ice Cream

Gotta love when an entire month is dedicated to ice cream.  July is National Ice Cream Month and so far we're batting 2 for 2.....two days into the month, two days of eating ice cream.  Of course it helps that we were at yet at another county fair and there are ice cream booths a plenty.

Paige loves her chocolate.

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The Difference Between Sea Salt & Kosher Salt

Have you ever wondered about the difference between kosher salt and sea salt?

No?

Well, I'm here to put in my two cents:)

I use both in my house; kosher salt for cooking with and sea salt for baking with.  Plain table salt, I haven't picked up in a long while, it just tastes flat to me compared to kosher and sea salt.

Kosher salt is courser than sea salt.  I find it really brings out the flavors in food, especially when I roast vegetables.  Plus the coarseness of it makes it super easy for pinching, I have a little ceramic bowl of it on the counter top ready to go at all times.

Side by side, the sea salt is a little finer than the kosher salt........

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BOTW: Alfresco Dip

The Fourth of July weekend is all about Old Glory, backyard barbecues, hometown parades, fireworks, warm weather and spending time with friends.  But let's face it, the food is 3/4's of all the fun.....at least it is for me.

My 'Best of the Web' for this week is a little something I found on the Whole Foods website.  Something that would be perfect for any backyard barbecue.  It's fresh, healthy and with lots of flavor.

Alfresco Dip

All you need to do to enjoy this bowl of fun is..........

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Food Safety Tips~Keep your holiday weekend Food Safe!

I am  frequently amazed by the ideas and information I gain just by having a Twitter account.  Today, for a short time I was following the hashtag #checksteps, which happened to be all about food safety and I thought, perfect for this upcoming holiday weekend as well as all summer long.

Here are some of the food safety tips and reminders I found useful:

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A Simple Gardener

This past February, when we were having 80 degree temps and what I thought was going to be an early summer, so I sprinkled some seeds and planted some bulbs in the simple container garden from last summer.  Little did I know that our spring/summer like weather we were experiencing was only to last through the month of February.

I have yet to plant our 'formal' garden for the year.

Yesterday, it poured down rain all day long.

Today I went out to the containers in which I planted the carrot and parsley seeds, onion and garlic bulbs.  I have never planted garlic {the larger bulb on the left} so I'm not sure if this is what it's supposed to look like or not, but I plan on hanging it to dry.

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Three Ingredient Mini Ice Cream Sandwiches with Nutella

It's June 28th, the kids are on summer vacation and it's pouring outside here in northern California.  We haven't been indoors for the last week because of hanging out at our county fair, so finding a rainy day activity was fairly easy to come up with. 

And who could turn down mini ice cream sandwiches?  Especially the type that are easy to make yourself and require no baking on my part.

Here's what you need.....

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From Queens to the Show Ring

Yesterday was a full day in our household. After a full day at the county fair the day before and putting the kids to bed on later than usual, at 9:15 p.m., I had to physically wake them up at 8 a.m. Sunday morning.  Paige needed to be in Sebastopol, which is a 45 minute drive from our house, by 9:30 a.m. to walk in the Sebastopol Portuguese procession.

Amazingly, we made it on time with smiles on our faces. 

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Candid Shots at the County Fair

Some of my favorite shots at the county fair, in no particular order are;

I love that Dairy Princess, Amanda Moretti can shovel out a stall, while holding her princess composure.

Free ice cream, we were at this booth every day.

Bryce hanging with his cousin, Cameron.

Nice udders on these Holsteins.

Judging in the show ring.

The kids loving the carnival rides.

By the end of the day, all we felt like doing was hanging around.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment, I love to hear from you!. Have a fantastic day!

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Watermelon Lemonade~Loaded or Unloaded

My six year old, Bryce is always thinking.....about how he can make a buck.  I'm not sure if his motivation is all about making the actual money or the fact that he just loves to go shopping for himself.

Lemonade stands are high on his priority list.  The only drawback is that we live on a dairy farm, four miles from a residential neighborhood.  But this doesn't deter Bryce from setting up his stand.....he just calls Nonny and Papa {grandma & grandpa} from down the hill and asks them to come up to his stand he has set up on the lawn.....and then tries to sell them a cup of lemonade for $5 a piece.  Needless to say, he's also getting some practice on his negotiating skills.

Just the other day, when the temps reached 80 degrees, some fresh lemons were squeezed and some watermelon pureed-for a twist on conventional lemonade.  The watermelon lemonade was so good in fact, Bryce didn't have any left to sell at the stand.

Here's how it all went down.....

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A Day at the Fair

My nephew, Gavin is showing Emma {aka lap calf} at the fair this year.  She stays for five days and as you can see, she totally acclimated to her new sleeping arrangements.  Paige named Emma when she was a few weeks old and feels it's part of her responsibility to check on her a few times a day while at the fair....and even take a little rest with her.

After checking on Emma, we were in search of some food.  I was on a quest to find some healthy carnival food.  Spending five days at the fair, I really wanted to keep my food intake as healthy/low fat as possible.

Roasted veggie/panini sandwich was the ticket for me yesterday.  Bryce requested a hamburger and Paige had some turkey and watermelon.

Clover Stornetta has an ice cream booth located near the livestock exhibits and they hand out FREE ice cream cones every day from 1-4 p.m.

They now know us on a first name basis.

We only reserve a small amount of time for the carnival rides.  For us, the fair is more about the livestock exhibits and 4-H exhibits so we try to stick to that portion of the fair every day.

We did, however venture in to the carnival portion, to ride just a few rides last night.

Bryce rode on his first Ferris wheel....

And Dominic took Paige on a few rides.......

What's your favorite 'fair food'?  Mine is a corn dog but haven't had one yet.

Related Posts:

How The Pioneer Woman Helped Bryce Win a Ribbon

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How The Pioneer Woman Helped Bryce Win a Ribbon

Our county fair is going on right now and Bryce, my six year old, being in 4H with cooking as his project, entered a couple of baked  goods in the fair.  One of them being the Pioneer Woman's Best Basic Brownie recipe from her Tasty Kitchen site.

We've baked them before, and I swore I would never make brownies from a box again.  Amen. 

They are that good.

And guess what,

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Pathway to Summer~Pt. Reyes National Seashore's Kehoe Beach

June 21st marks the first day of summer, the longest day of the year for us.  The temps crept up into the 90's and has sent a shock wave into our systems here in northern California.  I think every year we go from the mid 60's straight to the 90's, no in between to ring in the summer climate change.  This year was no different.

So to help ease the temps on our northern California bodies, the kids and I headed to the beach.....where it is always 20 degrees cooler.

Pt. Reyes National Seashore is just a 30 minute drive from our front door to one of the many beaches we have to choose from.  Our favorite, Heart's Desire was closed Tuesday so we drove five miles further to Kehoe Beach, our first visit.

The parking is along the street.  At the entrance to the trail head you'll find some pit toilets.  The walk to the beach is a .6 mile trek.  Very do-able with kids.  The trail is narrow though, so strollers aren't an option.  Dogs are allowed, leashed, on a portion of the beach, but we decided to leave Chloe at home.

Just about there, just need to hike over the hill.

During the spring time, the trail is loaded with wild flowers.  I love the color of this thistle we saw yesterday.

Ahhh....a nice cool 70 degrees near the water, but it felt like 80 as we were laying on the beach and the sand was too hot to walk barefooted on unless you were near the water.

We didn't go near the surf, this beach claims to have undertows and sleeper waves that can catch you off guard, but one of the reasons I chose this beach is the fact it has a creek that feeds into the ocean....perfect for kids to play in without worries.

We were having so much fun, we stayed for five hours.....plus I wanted an empty cooler to carry back to the car.....with two big eating kids, mission accomplished.

How did you ring in the first day of summer?

Click the link for directions and information on Pt. Reyes National Seashore beaches.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to leave a comment, I love to hear from you!. Have a fantastic day!

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Top 10 Ways to Eat Blueberries

With blueberry season here, one of my kids, Bryce, is extremely happy.....he loves them and can never get enough of them!  Paige.......not so much, she's more of a strawberry girl.  When blueberries are in season, I like to buy plenty and store in the freezer to use through out the year. 

Top 10 ways to consume blueberries in our household may go something like this........

1. Rinsed and eaten fresh.
2. Add to our favorite muffin recipe.
3. Mixed in with yogurt.
4. Tossed in a green or spinach salad with some feta cheese and poppyseed dressing.
5. Mix in with oatmeal for breakfast.
6. Add to a quick bread recipe.
7. Mix into your waffle or pancake batter.
8. Dipped into chocolate.
9. Puree and mix into cream cheese for your bagel or toast.
10. Puree and mix into soft ice cream and then re-freeze.

How do you like your blueberries?

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Even Little Queens Have Mishaps

It's early on Sunday morning, hair is being done,

hoop skirt on, check

full length white gown on, check

white gloves, check

7 ft. cape is in the car, check

tiara bobby pinned into place, check.

A day in the life of a 'Little Queen' on parade day, has just begun.  This was Paige's first experience walking in a procession as Petaluma Holy Ghost Portuguese Society's 'little queen'.  She did better than expected.

Let's just say, she took on her new role seriously.  Queen wave and all.

Until.....

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Father Daughter Dance

Even though these photos were taken on Friday night at the Portuguese Holy Ghost Queen's Crowning, today, on Father's Day,  much of our time will be spent doing a lot of this....

Father daughter dance.....in the very same dance hall, but with 700 more people in attendance.

Probably a lot of this..........

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BOTW: To Please Any Meat Eating Dad

Holy smokes!  When I saw this on Bon Appetit's site, my mouth began watering immediately.  Since this weekend is all about Dads, here's a sure fire recipe to please any meat eating Dad.  Who would pass this up with short rib meat tender enough to fall off the bone, carmelized onions, melted cheese on toasted crusty bread?!

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Barbecuing for the Better ~ tips

It's summer time, Father's Day is just around the corner and I'm sure many of us will be spending time outdoors around the BBQ.  Here's some quick and simple tips to make your BBQing experience the best it can be.

Thaw your frozen meat out in the fridge.  Try not to defrost meat or poultry and fish on the counter top....bacteria can easily multiply at room temperature.  If you need to speed things up, use the microwave on its defrost setting and then grill immediately.

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The Farmer Fathers In My Life

Our family's farm legacy began in the 1800's when Dominic's Great Grandfather Domenico Grossi immigrated to the United States from Switzerland.  He eventually got married to Teresa and settled at what we call the 'Home Ranch' that sits just down the road from where we are now.

Domenico and Teresa had 10 children, one of whom is Dominic's Grandfather, George.  George married Mary and they ended up settling on their own ranch, just adjacent to the 'home ranch' and where we call home today. 

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