Anyone Have a Good Raspberry Recipe?

Well, I didn't mean to take such a long break from this space, but here we are almost at the end of June already. It's been an eventful month around here. Lots of activity on the house front (though no sale yet)  and we spent two weeks with Chris' mom and brother, showing them all the summer fun there is to be had in Minnesota (it really is awesome here in the summer). The kids have one more week of summer school this week and then we have a couple of weeks to free-wheel before we head to California for our summer vacation. "Vacation"...see how optimistic I'm being??

The weather this month has been gorgeous and we've spent most weekends out on the lakes at least one morning, fishing and generally hanging out. The kids have each caught one fish and each dropped one fishing pole in the lake (not to be retrieved) which I guess balances out. I'm particularly aware of how lucky I am that my time is my own (well, within the constraints of the kids of course) during the summer and how happy I am to be able to do so many fun things as a family.

This morning I took the kids to a farm about 15 miles from here and we picked raspberries. It was a truly beautiful morning and they did pretty well with the picking. We have two pints of local, organic raspberries that of course they are both refusing to eat so I guess I'll get my fill (confession: I don't really like raspberries all that much). I liked getting to show the kids roughly where fruit actually comes from and these sort of outings are getting easier and more enjoyable all the time.

I spent an hour several weeks ago going through a website I found listing out all the kid-friendly activities in our general area. I composed a list that's roughly 25 items long of things I'd like to do over the next couple of months...that oughta keep us busy. Last summer I overdid it a little and ended up really sick by the end of August, so I am determined to build in our down time too.

I have a book post due...I have been reading a lot and if I don't write about the books soon I'll have no memory of ever having read them! My To-Read list is dwindling, so feel free to suggest anything good you've read lately.