Camp Mom

Bryn is off all week as camp doesn't start until next week, and Luke is home with me every Monday through the summer, so I've been working hard to keep the kids entertained. Yesterday we went to Linvilla Orchards to pick strawberries, but when we got there, we were told that the strawberries were largely picked over. So instead we had a lovely day of raspberry picking.

The bushes were absolutely loaded with berries, so in an hour's time we picked about 10 cups worth. We used 6 cups in a raspberry crisp which is delicious warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
After a picnic lunch, the kids spent some time on the playground where they had the most fun feeding crab grass to chickens and guinea fowl, which seemed to prefer the grass to the dried corn for which you pay 25 cents.

Today Luke spent his first day in his new classroom at the Bala Cynwyd School. NO MORE NAPS. Yay!!!!!!!!!! No more staying up until 10:00 at night! Luke also had his first swim lesson of the season at school, and one of his teachers commented that he "swims like a fish," and I think he was quite pleased with that compliment. Per Ken's suggestion, I took Bryn to Chinatown where we stopped in on a tiny fortune cookie factory that cranks out # fortune cookies every year. For $2.25 we bought a big bag of strawberry-flavored fortune cookies. At a produce stand we saw durian, imported from Thailand -- a fruit that we've learned about through watching "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern." The fruit has a putrid smell, but only when you cut it open. We tried sniffing the durian, but we couldn't smell anything. Bryn suggested that we go inside to look for lychees and sure enough they had some. Yay! And to be adventurous, we also took home a dragon fruit from Vietnam. Haven't cut into yet but it certainly looks foreboding from the outside. Then the piece de la resistance -- dim sum at a restaurant recommended by my friend Julie Shaffer. As soon as we were seated, a cart was brought to our table with all kinds of dumplings -- shrimp dumplings, steamed pork dumplings, fried dumplings, and yet another that had spinach inside. We tried them all. Then another cart and another cart, and we took way more things than we could eat. We passed entirely on the fourth cart that was brought our way. Bryn ate tofu and tried a pork bun and liked the steamed shrimp dumplings the best. We also got eggplant and calamari, which was way too sea-salty. We passed on the chicken's feet and some stomach but thought of Andrew Zimmern and his daring. Bryn rocks for being so adventurous.

Tomorrow Bryn and my Mom and I are meeting up with friends Tami Stark and her two daughters, Hannah and Grace, to go to the National Constitution Center and lunch. The girls may be too young for the museum, but we're going to give it a go.
Haven't yet sorted out a plan for Thursday....