Endless Summer

Oh, how we only wish this summer would be endless! The title refers to a Beach Boys album, which we'll get to in a minute. For now, take a look at some beach girls, Elena and our friend Annie.

And some beach-ready (if not at the beach) grillers, Steve and Grammie Ellen.

Tonight we were inspired by THIS from a Sunset Magazine this summer:

To do this - host our own urban clam bake with some of our dear friends. On the grill now are sausages, mussels, clams, and the smoker box with apple wood chips. Waiting to be grilled are zucchini from Kate and Kevin's garden.

We dove in to the meal (augmented also by grilled corn and potatoes and lots of ramekins of melted butter!) and had our fill of summer deliciousness.

In the midst of our dinner, we heard the strains of some familiar music. It was the Beach Boys, playing live across the river! Sometimes the acoustics are great, and this is one of those nights - we heard several familiar and beautifully summery melodies from the Beach Boys as we enjoyed our urban clambake in messy splendor.

After the main course, the girls got some wiggles out. They showed us some of their "moves:"

They picked some carrots from the garden and pretended to be bunnies:

And they dove in the pool. It was 100 degrees today, and they took advantage of this being "just like a waterpark!" with the slide going into the pool and really went to town.

Then we brought out plum cake (doesn't this remind you of Little Jack Horner, who put in his thumb and pulled out a plum?) from our plum tree.

The sun set as the Beach Boys begin playing their finale.

On a bittersweet note, the sunset was made much more beautiful by the forest fires that must be going on locally - it was smokey tonight, and not just from our applewood!

As the evening was (regretfully) wearing down, out of nowhere Clara said "How bout we make popcorn, Mama?" And this Mama thought, "Why not?" It sounded delightful. So we took to the stovetop and shook up some kernels until they burst into puffy white clouds, and salted the life out of them and brought them out to our friends for a bit more partying.

Mid-popcorn feasting all three girls got into pajamas, ran around the soft green grass, and exhausted themselves on tricycles, scooters, and rolling telephone toys. It just epitomized what we want their summers to feel like, and we didn't put them to bed until they were almost falling down.

It was wonderful.