My Darling Days

Ice Cream Date

The best summer treat, in my book, is ice cream.

We are fortunate (or maybe not so fortunate for our bellies & wallets) to live exactly 2 miles from a local walk-up ice cream shop that is open seasonally May through September, and I’d say that Zac & I account for roughly 45% of their sales.

Sadly, I’m not kidding. We typically visit at least twice a week. Good thing we’re still working hard on that couch to 5k app, right? Rightttt.

Anyways, its yummy soft-serve ice cream & their peanut butter cup flurries are my weakness.

To kick off the weekend, we took my niece & nephew there for a Friday night cool down.

I think Elena ate more of Zac's ice cream than her own…

They enjoyed the ice cream, but honestly, I think they had more fun making a jungle gym out of the picnic table...

It was hot, the ice cream melted quickly, & we made a mess on their picnic tables. We were all a sweaty, sticky mess by the time we left, but it was perfect.

Ice cream date nights are my jam, especially with these little love bugs!

Happy Sunday.

Ten things to do with a cucumber -- definitely trying some of these with our over abundance from our garden.

Speaking of cucumbers -- here are some uses for cucumbers that I've never even heard of! Have you tried any of these?

Check out these tips for keeping your online life private.

This grilled chicken looks SOOO tasty. My husband has a real "thing" for grilled chicken, so I bet he'd love this!

These DIY tea towels are SO SO cute!

Kirklands Serving Tray Wish List

I realized the other day, when we were grilling supper on the campfire, that we don't own a single serving tray. Because I'm lazy & didn't want to make a million trips back & forth to the house, I had to use a 11"x17" baking sheet to bring out the meat, veggie foil pack, spices, & cookware.

The baking sheet did it's job, but I realized I'm in desperate need of a serving tray.

I've rounded up my 5 favorite trays right now at Kirklands, which is one of my all-time favorite home decor stores.

1. Floral jardin -- this reminds me of my grandma & I sorta love it.

2. Wood & galvanized metal -- I like the farm-house feel to this.

3. Reclaimed wood finish -- cottage & country chic, so cute!

4. Light blue vintage chalkboard -- super fun, you could write messages to your guests!

5. Red gingham -- I love that this looks like a picnic table cloth!

Help me decide... which one is your favorite?

Gone Fishin'

If you follow me on instagram, you might have seen that I caught a nice little salmon this weekend...

of course, with the help of my husband -- those suckers are a bit of a challenge to reel in!

My husband LOVES to fish. Like, in life, fishing is his #3:

#1 - Me (at least it better be) ;)

#2 - Hunting

#3 - Fishing

He asks me to go fishing with him all the time, but most times I decline, as I have no interest to wake up super early on my weekends. But, we are blessed to live about 15 minutes away from Lake Michigan & 2 minutes away from the Bay of Green Bay, so really, we are surrounded by large bodies of water, filled with fish. I think sometimes I take that for granted.

Over the years, I have learned to like fishing, however I sometimes get bored when there's no action. This weekend though, I witnessed the pure joy it brings to my husband, which was totally worth the 2:30 AM wake up call.

Zac gets so excited & is always optimistic about the fishing report. The night before, he made sure the launch ticket was accounted for, the coffee was prepped, & the alarm was set. At the sound of the alarm the next morning, he jumped out of bed, anxious & ready to get our fish on.

After picking up a couple friends & Zac's brother, we arrived at the busy harbor. The guys quickly launched our boat -- they have a wonderful system & each person knows their role. The process is like clockwork for them. Totally seamless.

Zac drove us out into the dark lake, and then put auto pilot on & the guys quickly worked to set the lines. Something about fishing on Lake Michigan when it's pitch black out is both nerve-racking & rewarding -- it's just such a large body of water & knowing that it can turn rough at any moment is scary! But Lake Michigan was so good to us that morning....

Since it is currently the KD Salmon Tourney, the lake in the distance looked like a city of lights (which I neglected to document) -- filled with boats of fisherman hoping to catch the $10k winner.

Around 4:30 AM, we got two bites at the same time & the guys made the girls reel them in. We lost one, but they helped me get my catch in safely.

I'm still tired, I have a sore arm & a blood blister on my pinkie (how? I have no idea), but it was so worth it! The thrill of catching a nice fish & seeing how happy it made Zac, was my favorite.

We watched the sunrise & had a slow rest of the morning on the water. Needless to say, we didn't catch a winning fish, but it was so calm & relaxing. I even got in a little snooze -- the rocking of the boat puts me right to sleep! :)

We ended the morning with breakfast; a perfect start to our Sunday.

Date Night: Campfire love

A few Saturday evenings ago, Zac & I had no plans. We took advantage of having nothing on the calendar, amongst a busy summer & had a low key night, checking "have a campfire date night" off my summer list!

It was a quintessential summer evening: a warm breeze, a colorful sunset, & a blazing campfire complete with s'mores. We watched fireflies swoop through the air & star-gazed, reminiscing old times & feeling thankful for how blessed we are to have each other (and Gracie Lou)!