summer stuff and other things.

M's been out of town.
have i told you that?
well, he has.
for the last four weeks.
i don't like telling that to the world.
because i'm paranoid like that.
and i don't want some boogie man coming to get me.
because i'm 24 and still scared of the boogie man.
but now he's home.
(M, not the boogie man. just to clarify).
so i can write now that he was gone.
when he's gone, i try to keep real busy.
because otherwise we go crazy.
well, otherwise, I go crazy (yes, that's a capital I for once...for emphasis reasons).
because, Ellie, she's on a melt-down kick.
she's a melt-down-aholic these days.
even if we're doing something mega fun, like playing outside in the kiddie pools like this:

5 mins later, she'll be screaming and crying for some random, obscure, insignificant reason, one which i'm positive not even she really understands.

anyway, like i said, to keep myself sane amongst the random-freakouts, we keep busy.
but unfortunately, i'm running out of busy-ideas.
help, please?
what are your fave summer-keep-busy-ideas?
here are some of ours:

we play in the kiddie pools lots (as pictured and mentioned above).

we go to our local farmer's market (where i bought those lovely sunflowers below).
and we get lots of deliciousnesses- like berries and peaches and fresh lettuce and cherries.
and of course, we eat lots of unwashed strawberries.
i know, how could i?
but remember how i said that we have random freakouts? well, if Ellie sees a strawberry, she wants a strawberry. and then what's a mom to do?
they also have live music and booths with treats and other fun things like balloon animals.
Ellie even got her first balloon animal there.
she was pretty cute with it.

one of our new favorite things to do is go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom.
it's awesome.
it has a Shamu-Shouka whale.
and dolphins.
and tons of kiddie areas. including a huge playground. and cute lil rides like trains and cars and planes and stuff.
and water fountain thingies to jump and play in.
and it even has a mini zoo with giraffes and tigers and lions.
and the best part, a season pass was fifty bucks. you heard me FIFTY BUCKS.
and it's only like 30 mins from my house.
we've been twice in the last week and a half.
it's fun.

and tomorrow we're going berry picking.
i can't wait for that.
sounds like so much fun.
because it's like i said, we have to keep busy.
otherwise i go crazy.
i think i said that already.
i think i'm going crazy anyway.
more meaningful thoughts to come eventually.

xoxo