Because It's 102 (In The Shade)

Some pooped out kids with their beloved Oma (grandma)

Lately, it has been so, so, so hot. Even too hot for swimming, although we are still going to the pool about 1 to 2 times a week. Instead, we've been taking off for afternoon field trips to indoor places with cool, very cool air, and preferrably with no opportunities for consumerism ~smiling~ like the big library, the children's museum, the ice cream shop (okay, a little consumerism) and the indoor play center at the Y. Most recently we took off to Exploration Place, a state of the art science and history museum and activity type place. We had a great and fun afternoon.

A few highlights of the afternoon

I mention that little bit about consumerism because the goal I've been secretly working on with two of my children in recent weeks has been this notion of "keep them out of the stores!" in an effort to ward off an abundant wave of "I wants" and "Can I have this or that". Not to mention the fact that the last time we were in Wally world (walmart) my budding readers noticed the word s-e-x on 5, they counted, magazine covers, and they concluded this was something big and what is it, mom? Personally, I thought it intelligent of them to draw the correlation between frequency of a word and its' popularity, however, I am NOT going there with them. Yet. Don't you love how I'm trying to draw a positive out of this situation? ~laughing~

Well, to conclude I'm leaving you with my very loose recipe for what I refer to as my go-go juice. My picker-upper so to speak, because as the temperatures rise so their energy levels are rising as mine are plummeting ~sigh~

Blackberry Smoothie

In the blender I am mixing together about 1/2 c. vanilla yogurt, about a cup of orange juice, a banana, a handful of frozen berries, a handful of ice cubes, a squirt or two of honey, a sprinkling of ground flaxseed, and a tsp. or two of Splenda. It is so good it even replaces ice cream for me.

And I think it might just be keeping me going as the peanut patrol is mopping the floor with me lately - whew! :o)

God Love You and Keep You