Hello everyone! Wyatt and I declared a Frog and Toad summer for our summer this year, and we have been really enjoying our slow days. We wanted a summer full of whimsy, of cookies and berries and picnics, swimming and fireflies. And while not all of our plans have worked out, we still have a few more weeks to try again.
First of course, I needed bunting. I love bunting, I would hang it everywhere. So I made a Frog and Toad bunting for our den. It turned out super cute, but it needed something so then we made a strawberry bunting to hang above it. And I love how it all looks.
One of the first things we did was make blackberry bread and watch for fireflies in our yard. I love love love fireflies, they are one of my favorite things about summer! So one night we threw down a blanket on our deck, and had blackberry bread and tea while we just all chilled out, watching for fireflies and listening to the sounds of evening. My bread, sadly, did not really turn out! LOL. It was so wet and I had the rack in the oven set too high, so I had to carve around the very underdone parts to salvage the bits that were done. And the bits that were done were overdone since I was trying to compensate for the underdone! But you live and learn. Lol. Next time I will get it right! The bits that survived tasted good though so that was alright.
We’ve had picnics, one of our favorite things – and also something very Frog and Toad!
We set up under our favorite trees, and it was the breeziest, sunniest day, warm but not too hot, and it was a fantastic way to spend a couple of hours. We draw and talk and paint and read and then when the boy gets restless we pack up and go home. Sometimes we stop for ice cream on the way home as well, which makes it even better.
And of course we went to the kite festival and attempted to fly our own!
We have spent many afternoons and mornings picking out stacks of books to bring home and flip through and read, spooky stories for us both. (Oo I haven’t done a Wyatt book post for a while! I need to rectify that!) We have shopped book sales and thrift stores, looking for small treasures and trinkets. I hope to get a little shelf or two just for our trinkets and treasures, and I am thinking about even adding a box on our little free library for trinket sharing. We have planted seeds and plants, although our gardening skills couldn’t handle this version of summer we are getting. However, our snapdragons and lilies are going like crazy, and they make me happy whenever I see them!
We have met friends for coffee, for Greenfield Village. We went to the art fair. We have gone to the art museum, and to the nature center. Graduation parties and summer reading kick off at the library. And I still have a bunch more for us to do – moth sugar to look for moths, concerts at the zoo, and we still need to make pancakes! Canoeing or a ride in a rowboat, camping, baking a big summer cake whatever that means. More nights spent outside, a fire with friends, board game nights. And maybe a few surprises too. We just have to wait and see!
I hope that however you are spending your summer, you are finding small magical moments that make you smile.
I love that you have a fun theme for the summer, and it definitely looks like you are having a great one! I noticed more fireflies this year than in past years, which is good because I thought I had heard they were going extinct. So yay for maybe they are coming back? I hope you guys continue to have a wonderful frog and toad summer!
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I had heard that too!! The larvae like to eat slugs (super gross I know lolol) so I always joke that our yard will be the last sanctuary for them since we have so many slugs.
And thank you! We wanted to keep it simple and it has been such a good summer that way. This weather and smoke is another thing though. Yuck.
Your Frog and Toad summer sounds perfect!
Thank you! We are having so much fun!
This idea is so freaking cute!!!!
Thank you!
That sounds like such a wonderful laid back summer. Your bunting is adorable.
Thank you Joanne!!
I cannot imagine a more perfect way to spend a summer! It sounds so much like the summers I spent as a kid. Your posts are magical moments that make me smile so you’ve already accomplished that!
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Thank you Marsha! That is what I was trying for, just remembering the summer of my childhood as well. We didn’t do much but it was always fun you know? Running through sprinklers, going to the library, playing frozen tag with the kids in the neighborhood. Just that sort of thing.
What an amazing post. We should all have a summer full of whimsy, that is the way summer should be (and your bunting rocks).
Amalia
xo
Thank you Amalia!! We are really enjoying our slow and whimsical summer! And thanks!!
This just gives me all the cozy summertime feels 😍😍😍 Such a perfectly delightful old fashioned way to spend the summer! And that strawberry bunting is entirely too cute 😍😍😍
I hate when ovens do weird things, but I am very very intrigued by the idea of blackberry bread! Sounds delish!
Thank you Rebecca! We are having a pretty good, simple, easy summer. 🙂
I am so bummed it didn’t turn out! I will try again when I feel it is safe to buy blackberries again. LOL.
It really sounds lovely! Enjoy the second half of your Frog and Toad Summer.
Thank you Cat. It has made a hard summer easier, to just relax into these sorts of activities with Wyatt and Billy. 🙂
This is so lovely to read and I’m glad it’s giving you some nice relaxed moments, too. I love your bunting!
Yes, it has been helping me through what is a hard summer.
And thank you!