Traditions

Each year for the past 2 years, on a warm June morning, my mom, son, and I have gone blueberry picking at a local u-pick blueberry farm. Today marked the third year for this. It was breezy, overcast, and just sticky enough to remind us we were in Indiana, after all. He made sure to bring his little tin pail, "just like" the one Sal carries in Blueberries for Sal (which we read last night in preparation for today's outing). Kaplink, Kaplank, Kaplunk really is the sound those berries make dropping into the bottom of an empty tin pail. 

Another Summer

Although the first day of summer has not officially made its appearance, here in Indiana, summer is upon us. Summer with a toddler is the best summer I have ever experienced in my adult life. Museums, parks, farms, camping, dirtying, hoses, sprinklers, water guns and balloons, bubbles, fires, treats, and cloud dough. So much cloud dough.

What's that, you say? Never heard of cloud dough, you say?? It is magical stuff. Flour and baby oil (note, use unscented baby oil) mixed together forms a soft - one could say cloud-like "dough" of sorts. Not quite sand and not quite mud but something equally deserving of child's play in its own right. Try it. Make it and put it in a large container (large enough for a toddler to sit it = bonus), and GO. It's never-ending fun and oh-so-summer.