Stay-cation Part II

Our stay-cation has come and gone, and we are back to the reality of work and life.  Yes, summer is still here and we are embracing it, but amidst the hustle of work and life tasks and preparation for the fall.

After going pretty hard for our first week of holidays, we fizzled out a bit and took the second week a bit slower.  We had a bunch of household tasks we had hoped to accomplish, but who really wants to do house work when you're on vacation.  We played a bit more, rested a bit more, and then spent the majority of the time dealing with the harvest around us.

Due to the heat and I don't know what else, this year's harvest came very early.  We were picking apples on our tress on the first of August!  Blackberries are bursting off the bushes all around town.  Our garden needed picking every two days to keep up with the lettuce and beans and tomatoes and peas.  I realized it is one thing to plant and water a garden... but to pick and eat and store all your growing is a task in itself!

Needless to say, I spent much of the last week of vacation harvesting, baking, canning and preserving!  It sure is a satisfying feeling to pack away jars of food you've grown yourself!

The first weekend of August is always filled with super fun festivals in our town.  The Filberg Festival is a gorgeous arts festival filled with music and all handmade gifts to buy.  Nautical Days is full of fun nautical-themed activities and family entertainment (including ice cream).  Then, on BC day there are fireworks and lots more going on!  We had company in town for the weekend and it was hot but so much fun to sit around and visit and enjoy the summer.

We've lived in this house for 6 years now, and this is the largest apple harvest I have ever seen!  This week I took 80lbs of apples to the press to make into apple cider.  I have about 60lbs more to make into juice for the kids.  I've made 5 pies/crisps already and frozen more apples for baking.  And I still have more tress to pick!   Crazy, crazy apples.  And lucky deer that pass by our house. 

 Lastly, we are still taking time to get out on adventures, walks and hikes on a daily basis.  We want to get it in as much as we can before the rainy winter starts again.  I love my little adventurers!

All in all, it's been a pretty incredible summer!  I am so grateful for these memories and the fun we are having.  Tell me, what has your summer been like?