We had our family's summer vacation last week. It's a week just for Us. And we love it that way.
Admittedly, the word "vacation" used to imply hours upon hours of uninterrupted, blissful sleep, quiet time for reading or spacing out, and leisurely evenings of adult beverages and decadent meals for Mike and me. When we grew bored of our own laziness, we'd go see a few big sights or shuffle through a museum. (You know... when in Rome... literally...)
Times have certainly changed... but we still know how to have fun! Last week, we were treated to hours of splashing in the lake, hikes in the forest and many trips to the ice cream shop. We'll take it. The day will soon come when they don't search us out for playtime every waking minute and Mike and I will be able to go back to our 3-week long European adventures. For now, though, a week at the lake with our kids is Just Right for us. All of us.
We did watch a few movies after the kids were in bed, and I read a very engrossing novel, and also managed to squeeze in a bit of car knitting. Mike and the kids went for jogs in the state park almost every morning and were treated to one very close and memorable deer sighting one morning. Those are the perks to a 6:15am run, right?! We did some cherry picking as Door County is famous for their sour cherry season and we happened to be there right in the middle of it. The cherries are pitted and waiting in the freezer. I'm thinking of making a Sour Cherry Slab Pie this weekend. That is, if it's not over 90 degrees. It's hard to justify oven use (even for pie) when it's over 90 degrees and humid.
Earlier this week, Michigan blueberries hit the store in full force. While making jam (and doling out handfuls of berries to two little hungry mouths), I realized that my happy blueberry memories now cover three parts of the country.
2002 - Mike and I took a 2 week camping/hiking trip through Northern California and Oregon. We hiked and camped our way through some beautiful settings. We spontaneously picked a big paper shopping bag full of blueberries one afternoon at the foot of Mount Hood. They were as big as marbles and tasted of utter blueberry perfection. We snacked on them while driving along the gorgeous Columbia River enroute to Portland and I can still remember how delicious they were after a night of camping in our cast-iron-griddled pancakes.
2008 - Living in Boston, we took a day trip up to a favorite New Hampshire town: Portsmouth. Following a friend's tip, we visited a wonderful little farm that grew several varieties of blueberries. Intensely flavored and meant for pie, I made a few mean desserts that summer. It was as close as I ever got to my Maine blueberry picking fantasy.
2012 - I didn't pick the berries that I jammed earlier this week, but I mean to get around to doing so in the next few years. Michigan blueberries are the best in this part of the country and that's just a few hours around the lake... I think that Christopher and Colin would enjoy nothing more than standing with a pail in front of rows upon rows of berry bushes just waiting for their tastebuds and curious fingers.
Maybe next year.
Until then, I'm thinking I need to bake up a batch of cream scones this weekend to fully enjoy this loveliness.
