Baby Chewie's First Race Car Experience

Biking Cuyuna

Lavender Bee Balm

It's my favorite! My fuschia bee balm is starting to die out - it's spread so much that I don't have a large patch of it anymore. It's dispersed itself throughout my boulevard and I don't think it looks as nice as if it were in a large patch. I think I'm going to dig up the little plants that haven't bloomed yet and put them all into a patch in our boulevard that needs to be filled in (and cross my fingers it doesn't die and comes back next year!).

Last night The Monkey had mountain biking camp at Lake Marion in Lakeville, which is about 45 minutes from us in traffic (30 without traffic!). The trails curve around soccer fields and then go back into a small woodsy area that's next to a lake (Lake Marion). I had Baby Chewie with me on the Mac Ride so I was a little slower with an added 30 pounds which gives me a chance to look at all the flowers without slowing down the whole family when we all ride together. I really am THAT person that stops to look at flowers and foliage. HA! In any case, there's a small prairie area and within all the grasses there's lavender bee balm mixed throughout - there's not patches of it, instead it's dispersed through the whole prairie area and the little pops of lavender during sunset are absolutely beautiful! I didn't think to take pictures last night because I was too busy riding and I haven't been on a trail in awhile because of the heavy rains. I will stop to take a photo next week as long as it hasn't rained and the trails aren't closed. 

Hibiscus!

With Captain America in the background! HA!

This is my first year attempting to grow a Hibiscus and it's been great - I bought two and one has not exactly thrived, but when Baby Chewie picked it out, it looked a little limp and sad with some dead edges on leaves. I didn't have high hopes for it - but it's come back strong and there's lots of buds on it. I think it'll be even more awesome by the end of August when the temperatures are even more tropical than now. 

Now I'm curious to see what happens over winter - I think I can bring them inside so maybe I'll do that and see if I can keep them alive. I've over wintered my mint plant for 3 years now and it's looking super lush and beautiful. I've also over wintered sage and oregano - all the herbs have come back more lush than the year before. I'll give it a try!

Packing for Mountain Bike Trip

Hello, difficult. I'm a semi-organized person. Packing for a family trip when it comes to bicycles is a bit crazy. This year there's more gear, more stuff, more food, and more people. Because we're going with another family that has 3 children (one baby included). We're bringing food so that means 3 other kids that we need to satisfy when it comes to breakfast/lunch/dinner. 

Oy. I'm going to need a padded room after this. Or maybe a pool day. 

And bug spray. We're going to need lots and lots of bug spray!

After this trip I know that we can do anything together as a family.

Planning for biking with children can be a huge chore - you have no idea how they're going to react if you go for a long ride. Meltdowns are infinitely worse because somehow someone forgot a beloved toy in the car that they wanted to hold on to (but as a parent you don't want that thing to be lost forever!!). You can run out of snacks, wipes, diapers, water, etc... So basically, whenever you go somewhere with children, you need to be prepared for an apocalypse. 

We're staying in a house. Thank goodness. It has a yard for kids to run around in. We're going to bring outdoor toys (like a soccer ball!). I suppose I should dig out some type of lawn game for the adults too. 

Our family is bringing 5 bikes - 3 mountain bikes, a youth fat tire, and the Strider for Baby Chewie. We need to get Chewie on a pedal bike but I'm not sure that's going to happen before this weekend. He isn't exactly interested in the pedal bike right now without training wheels, he's much like me where he doesn't want to do something unless he CAN do it. The other family is bringing bikes too.

Everyone needs mountain bike clothes. Water bottles. Camelbaks. Helmets. The Monkey is going to need some padded bike shorts (welcome to the club, child). She has a jersey.

This summer is going to be so much fun!!

Constellations

I think this summer The Monkey will be old enough to stay up late and look at stars. I bought a deck of constellation cards along with a Smithsonian book about how to find constellations and where they are in the sky. There's also some awesome free constellation apps too. 

We live in the city so stars can be difficult to see from our house but we live close to a park with a very large sledding hill so I think I can take a blanket down there some night later this summer and we can look at stars. 

I have no idea how interested she is - sometimes she can be pretty fickle and other times she says she's interested because she knows Bimmer Man or I am interested in something. So we'll see if this summer activity is a hit or if it's a total bomb!

Favorite Summer Breakfast Ever. Maybe.

Not much tops a fried egg over bok choy and sausage on the side.

Breakfast Egg Muffins

Egg Muffins

The basics:

12 eggs

Any add-ins that you want:

Peppers

Jalepenos

Cheese

Meats (sausage is the best, bacon gets gross and chewy)

Greens (spinach and arugula are my faves)

Corn

Black beans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray (you'll thank me later).

Break open the 12 eggs over a large bowl. Break the yolks and then stir them all up with a whisk. Using a 1 cup LIQUID measuring cup, scoop enough egg for it to fill about 1/2 of each muffin cup. I wasn't paying much attention and some ended up with more, some ended up with less. Each muffin cup still had egg in it though.

Add your add-ins to the muffin cups. 

Bake for 13-20 minutes. You'll need longer if you have added more to your muffin cups. 

I keep these in a Ziploc in the fridge and reheat for about 1 minute. 

My favorite adds are sausage, peppers, jalepenos, and cheese. YUM!!!

Quick Parent Pro Tip

When we go to places with large crowds, I usually write my cell phone number on the kids' arms. In case we get separated on accident, they can find any police officer or parent and call me.

I decided to make this a little more tolerable and fun - so I'll probably still write my number on their arms but I made Baby Chewie his own bracelet so now he matches The Monkey. 

Safety first!!

School's Out For Summer

Help me now. Give me strength to keep my composure while these two completely make a disaster of the house, the car, and leave me in the dust. 

HAPPY SUMMER!!!