A Strong Start to Summer

 Summer has begun, but first school had to wrap up for Maggie (last final was on Monday), Declan and Brendan (last day was Tuesday), and Phil (teacher's last day was on Wednesday).

Maggie took D + B to The Cottage for lunch and a treat on their last day, as one does:

Declan and Brendan both had really lovely teachers this year and had amazing years all around, academically, socially, physically, mentally... you name it and they grew leaps and bounds.  We are very thankful for our Catholic schools!

Apparently they call him Decky?  Who knew? We typically shorten to Dex at home.

Brendan's teacher comments from his last report card:

Brendan has a natural curiosity and is always eager to explore new ideas and concepts,
making him a wonderful contributor to our classroom environment.
He always put in his best effort and faces every challenge with confidence.
I would encourage him to continue putting his best effort into all that he does
 and to continue to love learning.
Brendan will do great things!

Not to be left out, Phil was June's Faculty Spotlight at the high school:

They also made a nice video of him here.

And then the weather took note that summer had started and we had some nice beach and pool days with friends over the long weekend (Juneteenth was off and then I took Friday off as well!).  

This beach day was a little crazy, as I was trying to meet my friend and her cuties at a new-to-me beach but I got lost, didn't have cell service for a while, and then it ended up being the longest walk and windiest day ever.  Thank God I had Maggie with me.  But in the end, it was still so fun!!

Summer Martins and Summer Not

When the days end of "Hey Mom! Look what I found!" I will be sad for sure.  This was a hermit crab.

Another day...another beach (our normal one)...more friends...more digging...

On Saturday, we took Declan, his friend, and Brendan to the outdoor YMCA pool:

And then for ice cream, of course!  

Declan and Brendan have been doing the 33 Day Consecration to Jesus in the Eucharist with Phil and I, so I told them they could get "whatever they wanted" at The Cottage to celebrate the consecration day.  Brendan wanted a medium coffee oreo in a waffle cone, and Declan wanted a Black Cow frappe (rootbeer and vanilla ice cream).  Experts!

Aldi's sells these Chile Lime Chicken Kabobs and they are soooooo good.  Phil made some sweet potatoes topped with pecans and cinnamon and I don't know what else, but they were delish too.  The steamed broccoli was just a garnish I guess :)  Give me raw veggies over cooked veggies any day.

I think I mentioned that Andrew and Eamon have really been getting back into golf this summer, and they play a few times a week (for only $5 with a Youth on Course membership), usually with their cousin Tommy who played golf in high school and can teach them some tips.  The three of them went to the Travelers Championship on Friday and got to see their golf heroes up close.

Scottie Scheffler is their absolute fave and I agree!

Eamon got Justin Thomas's signature!

There was a bunch more pictures with guys I don't know, even though I watched all three seasons of Full Swing on Netflix!

Have you all heard Benson Boone's new(ish) song "Mystical Magical"?  Well there's a line in the song where he sings "moonbeam ice cream" and I decided we needed that flavor STAT at The Cottage.  

So here is our version of Moonbeam Ice Cream - vanilla ice cream with rainbow sprinkles, graham crunch and pink buttercream swirls.  People are kinda going crazy for it :)

We also switched the Dole Whip from pineapple to raspberry:

And I made a homemade raspberry sauce for a PB+J parfait and an ice cream topping, it's yummy:

In other news, I grew something in my Aerogarden (wow those prices have come way down since I bought mine!) but I don't know if it's a radish or a beet because the seeds contained both.  I'm thinking beet but maybe I picked it too soon?

I hope you all have had a great start to Summer 2025.  What's on your bucket list??