In summer, the song sings itself.*

Last week was made up of mostly dreary, muggy summer days, and little boys do not do well cooped up inside for days on end. We tried to take every opportunity for outings, whether it was just stepping out onto the deck to blow bubbles or dashing to the playground at the mall to run off some energy while it poured outside.

The Dairy Haus is within biking distance from where we live, and not only do they make really yummy homemade ice cream, they have perfectly-sized kiddie cones for toddlers. (They also give extras to daddies just in case toddlers drop their cones.) Great place for summer outings!

I just happened to have some change in my wallet for once, so B got to go on the little mini-carousel at the mall a couple times. He LOVED it.

Check out his "Buh! Buh!" (boots)

Saturday was my dad's birthday (Happy birthday, Daddy!).

We made a trip to Halfmoon to the Korean store to stock up on some goodies.

Those two things aren't really related, except for the fact that in honor of my dad's birthday, we bought the ingredients to make samgyeopsal for dinner that night. The irony, however, is that my dad doesn't really like samgyeopsal that much. He's more of a seafood man. But we enjoyed dinner!

Our haul from the Korean store

When I was little and we went to visit our extended family in Korea, this was one of my favorite treats. The "yogurt ah-jum-mah" would come by my grandparents' house (much like the milkman of yore) with her cart, and we would get these drinks. B loves them, too!

Before we went to the store, though, we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We love Cracker Barrel and before we had Little B, whenever we headed out on a road trip, we always timed our departure so that we could hit Cracker Barrel for breakfast. It was the first restaurant where Little B "ate out" (meaning I brought along homemade baby food to feed him).

Did I mention we love Cracker Barrel?

 

Anyway, we discovered that those little games with the golf tees that they have on the table kept B occupied for a good while. N and I got to actually take our time looking through the menu -- though I don't know why we bother; we get the same thing almost every single time.

Check out the look of concentration.

N and I stayed up much too late Friday night watched the Olympic opening ceremony, which resulted in me going to bed at a ridiculously early hour on Saturday.

This morning, I'm all thrown off from the wonky sleep patterns of the weekend (On a related note, N recently told me that many adults essentially put themselves through something similar to jet lag every weekend, because they don't maintain their normal sleep pattern). So I opened the coffee from Costa Rica that one of the kids from our youth group brought back for us last year, and now I'm hopped up on caffeine.

Clearly, my brain isn't making rational decisions, because I decided on this muggy day that it was a good idea to use up the bananas in the freezer and bake.

Chocolate-free muffins for little boys

Little B wanted to "help", so I let him stand on the stepstool and play with measuring cups and spoons. He sneaked his first taste of chocolate by swiping a stray chocolate chip right out from under my nose.
 

This is the first time I've used this particular recipe, and it is SCRUMPTIOUS. It has sour cream in it, which make for a denser bread than most banana breads. It's not quite as moist as other recipes make, but I really like it! Try it out for something different!

*William Carlos Williams 

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Today's Joy Dare (via Ann Voskamp): 3 Gifts Heard
 

Mine are: The crazy laughter of my mischievous little boy, the "Hello!" of a husband walking in the door from work, the beeping sounds of a Skype call connecting us to my parents living in Africa
 

What are yours?