Picnic At Duck Hill Pond

After being stuck indoors all week...

With a bad cold....

Freckles and I had a well deserved picnic at Duck Hill Pond.

 We packed up a few of our favorite card games, lunch,

 snacks and of course bread for the ducks!

Say Cheese!!!!

It was a sweet afternoon...

Just, Me, Freckles and the ducks!

 

P.S. We also celebrated

National Cheesecake Day with a slice of cheesecake for dessert!

Yum!

Kitchen Fun

Freckles & I have spent this week with colds.

Today was a better day... and decided we needed a little pick me up.

Cookies will surely do the trick! 

We used this darling vintage cookbook from the 30's... 

A delightful little find from Thrfiting for 50 cents!

Love it!!!

Freckles decided she wanted to bake up some Peanut Butter cookies...

One of her Daddy's favorites!

The exciting part is I gave full reign of the kitchen to Freckles.
She got everything out, measured, mixed and baked.... Oh and she cleaned up too!

She made her Mama proud!!

This is surely a great way to start out cooking/baking on her own.

We have done a lot of baking together, much of it has been with my help. 

This year we will be introducing more baking and cooking on her own...

with Mama helping overseeing. Sometimes that is hard for me to do.

But I know I have to let her make a mess and possibly muff up a recipe...

That's is how we make mistakes learn right?

So... I will bite my tongue and restrain my hands from taking over.

Wishing you all a happy Summer day!

Little Life Lessons....

I grew up moving around a lot. I mean A LOT !

I can't even count on my hands and feet how many times I moved. 

Many people asked me over the years if I was Military kid. NO! 

I guess I just had a dad who was sort of a dreamer. 

We never had much growing up, times were always tough

to make ends meet. Both my parents worked out of the home.

I never really knew what it was like to have things,

so I learned the contentedness of playing with anything around the house... 

Things such as Tupperware, canned food and paper bags became my childhood toys. 

I had a doll or two and a few stuffed animals but that was it.

I always wanted Lego's and a Cabbage Patch Doll...

But never got them.

I do remember playing outdoors a lot...

Daydreaming and pretending is what I did best.

I would ride my bike around, play with the animals, 

made up my own club houses and secret hide outs. 

I would even play with my brothers toys outside. 

Many hours were surely spent outdoors.

The simplest things became my playmates.

Since moving around so much, there was never

enough time to really grow friendships.

My Sister mainly lived with my Grandparents and my 

Brother was always into his own thing. 

So... Much of my time was spent alone.

Though life may have seemed rough at the time... I really do think it was a good lesson learned...At least for me. To truly appreciate what I had and have now. It is not about what you have, how much money you make, where you live or even what you look like. Those are empty, surface things. I have learned to appreciate much and be content with little and know I have been blessed beyond measure with my treasures. Treasures that are not of this world. I am thankful to God He has given me this gift. I only pray now that it will forever be instilled in my own children.
My children certainly have more then me or Mr. Darling had as children.

Yet, I know they are thankful for what they have...

For these are the truths we have instilled in them.

What is most important is what they have in Heaven. 

Be content... Be thankful... You will be rewarded!

Not that I am speaking of being in need,

for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.Philippians 4:11

Double Date

We went SIGHT SEEING! 

All the years we grew up in Orange County, 

California before moving to Washington and back 11 years later... 

We have never really seen the sights of our surroundings. 

True, we have been to the San Diego Zoo, the Airport etc.... 

But never really have seen the sights. 

Our dear friends so graciously asked us out for a double date,

  with seeing the sights of San Diego and surrounding cities and beaches.

First stop... The Stratford Cafe nestled close to the beach.

We had a lovely breakfast consisting of iced coffee, 

waffles, omelets, and bran muffins.

Then off we went as our fabulous tour guides

took us all over the neighboring beach cities.

My favorite part of the whole day was probably the buildings in Old San Diego. 

I just love the architecture and history behind it.

Our friends went way beyond our expectations of our sight seeing adventure. 

I don't think my eyes have seen so much in one day...

and It was a LONG day. We were out from 9 a.m to 10p.m.

It was a fun filled day though. 

We walked around for a wee bit 

and had a lovely dinner overlooking the water.

It was a delightful meal. 

Afterward we went to a little coffee 

shop and had coffee and tea with a bit 

of sweet somethings for dessert, 

sitting by a fire pit with two great friends! 

A perfect ending to a perfect date!

Day At The Zoo

Hello !!!

This weeks out door challenge is a trip to

The San Diego Zoo. Freckles, Gramma called the

other day to see if we wanted to go to the zoo this

weekend since she had a couple free passes. Yes!

Of course we said, we would love to join them to see the animals.

First, we took the 35 minute bus tour around the zoo.

It was our first time ever going around the zoo this way. 

And... gave us a pretty good view of most of the animals in their habitats.

Of course Freckles had to stop for

  a smashed penny souvenir.

It was kinda neat actually seeing the hippos sleeping on land.

I have always seen them in the water.

For lunch.... We ate at The Saber tooth Grill located

right in the new Elephant Odessy,

overlooking the elephants roaming around. 

That was surely the highlight of our day! After lunch me, 

Freckles and Pop Pop went off to view the elephants up close.

Our last stop was The Polar Plunge where you will find 

two big polar bears frolicking in the water

and eating on big pieces of meat. 

They are really huge bears up close!

We then took the sky tram back over to the front where Gramma

and Great Gramma were waiting for us. Notice... 

We even got the sky car Freckles was hoping for....

The Elephant!!!

It was exciting to get up there, except Freckles had a bit

of anxiety and fear of  being so high up... 

It took a couple of minutes for her to relax...

Enough to snap a shot of her and Pop Pop!

She smiled!

It was a nice warm Summer day spent outside sharing 

the day with Grandparents and animals...

What more could one ask for !

Here's to a great week ahead!!!