Farm Fun

Prior to the camping trip, Harrison spent a day at Remlinger Farms in Carnation with mom and Auntie and also visited the Snohomish Farmer's Market. I had never visited downtown Snohomish before and found it to be a neat area with a mix of old and new shops and lots of antique stores. The Farmer's Market was sizable and we bought some pickling cucumbers, beets, spice packets to make dips, flowers and last but not least, an ice cream bar. Since it was 4pm, I could not in good conscious buy each of us our own ice cream bars (although I admittedly had to fight the urge) so we agreed to share one. Harrison was beside himself with happiness and a chocolate covered face.

note the ice cream at the tip of his nose

We drove over an hour to Remlinger Farms with the intent to pick raspberries to make jam and visit the animals however we were surprised to find that this farm was a major operation. It has carnival style rides including antique style cars on a track the kids can "drive", a train looping around the property, a canoe ride on a little lazy river for the little ones, a small roller coaster (too big for Harrison), a hay jump, petting zoo and a lot more. I was not prepared for so many activities and should have arrived earlier as Harrison could have stayed and played all day.

Antique Fire Truck

 

Met with the Choo Choo conductor who showed us the real steam engine and Harrison got to pull the cord to ring the bell!

Before we left we spent 45 minutes picking raspberries and hauled home 7.5 pounds! Of course when I say "we" I mean Chyna and I picked while Harrison ate them as fast as we could pick them until he was satisfied and then spent 30 minutes wandering the aisles of vines, ducking into the foliage and hiding and running away when we called him. He had fun considering we were not paying any attention to him and it was hot and late in the afternoon.

The next night, Chyna and I proceeded to make jam using borrowed jamming equipment and a recipe book from our awesome neighbor. In short, we followed a recipe for "berry jam" which listed 10 types of berries. Since I had previously read that fruit contains varying amounts of pectin, I was not overly concerned when the recipe did not call for added pectin. We were concerned when we were still stirring 7 pounds of raspberries and sugar at 10:30pm and it was not gelling the way one would expect jam to gel. We managed to get it semi-thick and figured it wasn't too bad for first try.

The next day we flipped through the book where I found a recipe for "Raspberry Jam" which indeed called for pectin... evidently we had originally followed a recipe for a mixed berry jam, however the recipe in no way indicated to mix different berries! This left us with 12+ jars of what we lovingly refer to as "raspberry Sauce" which is great on toast as well as ice cream!

Dad & Kids Camping Trip - 2011

 The end of July brought about the annual Dads and Kids Camping trip. Dad and Harrison had fun last year so they trekked into the mountains again this year with Aunt Chyna in tow.

Last year Harrison reportedly threw up all over the tent at bedtime due to consuming an obscene amount of unhealthy food so this year I told dad to help him eat healthy. Then I told Aunt Chyna to make sure Michael helps Harrison eat healthy. It doesn't sound like he ate very healthy, but at least he didn't throw up this year. Evidently Harrison was given a jumbo marshmallow which he carried around in his hand, palm up, taking bites out of it as he wandered around camp. Breakfast entailed bacon and cinnamon buns. This must be why moms can't come, we would never allow these types of nutrition shenanigans on our watch.

Camping near a lake also includes swimming, boating etc. and the weather was absolutely gorgeous on Saturday. There are a set of 14 stairs leading down to the water. Harrison held hands with Chyna or another adult when he climbed them and they all started counting steps with him. Before he left for camp, he could semi-reliably count to 3. He returned home to his momma counting to 14! Funny thing was no one mentioned he had learned this. I was sitting next to him on Sunday evening when he suddenly started counting his toys to himself... I was daydreaming but snapped to when I heard him saying "six-seven-eight-nine-ten"!

Dad also gets some props because they returned home significantly less dirty this year than last year. In 2010 Harrison was 18 months and they walked in the door with grime a quarter inch deep under Harrison's fingernails and dirt marks smeared all over his face. This year Harrison was 30 months old and either has learned more advanced cleanliness skills in the last year or his dad did a better job keeping him clean. That said, he still needed a bath immediately upon returning home!

Aunt Chyna, Michael, Harrison, Aunt Rae Rae, Zaidy & Uncle Stephen

Annual Mariner's Game

Team Fein has a tradition of grabbing the Coyle's and taking the families out to the ole ball game once each summer. July 2011 was no exception with Emily and Harrison especially excited to see the Mariner's Moose.

We planned to arrive a little late since two of the three kids needed naps right around first pitch however when we arrived the game had been played so quickly that we walked in at the bottom of the sixth inning! Twas ok though since a 1 year old, 2.5 year old and a 3 year old generally don't feel the need to watch all nine innings. The kiddos had plenty of fun just "sitting" in the seats, oblivious to the game taking place below.

Orange "crush" soda tongue

Top of the ninth, Rally Caps!

 Fun was had and most importantly, the kids got to run the bases after the game. You may recall last year and Harrison's fear of the giant key shaped bank mascot on second base scaring the pants off of him. Behold, he was there again this year which made Harrison pause but with dad's hand and some reassurance he made it around second, looked over his shoulder to ensure that thing wasn't following him and made it to home plate!