Let The Summer Begin

Memorial Day weekend is the official kick off to summer.   Nothing says summer like playing in the water, bbq's and home made ice cream.  We did all of that this weekend.  Poor Greggers just watched.  He is better, I am happy to report. But I am afraid he has a long way to go. 

I made home made vanilla ice cream, and mint n chip, and lemon sorbet.  Then with Hannah yesterday we made snow cones.  What fun!

Oh my gosh, was it ever good.  And I am not even a fan of ice cream.  But home made ice cream reminds me of our old hand crank ice cream maker that Dad used.  Us kids took turns sitting on the top while he cranked it!  I wish my Mom still had that old machine.  It sure is easier to make these days.  No salt needed!  We enjoyed our ice cream with Genny and Jake and the girls, sitting out on the patio after a delicious lunch of In N Out (thank you Jake!).  I had a bunch of fresh berries so we had those on top of our ice cream and it was so good.  Then we watched the girls play in buckets of water.  They had a ball!!

Hannie wanted to go in the pool sooo bad!!!  Later I took them into the spa.  She did NOT want to go home.  (Sorry Gen!)
That little Claire is something else!  She is just fearless!!

She walked around like this forever.  One croc on, one off. 

I love summer!

This is Hannah's face after Geeps told her she can't go in the pool because it is too cold.  One more week of warm weather and the pool will be ready.  I was actually in it at 7:00 p.m. to clean all of the darn little flower seeds that our next door neighbors tree drops!!!   It was chilly, but refreshing!
I am loving my Pioneer Woman cookbook.  Made the corn salsa, or corn salad I believe it is called in the cookbook.  Oh so good.  You grill all the veggies for it, all except the tomatoes, then toss it with a dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.  Amazingly good!!!!

I used my grill pan to do them all indoors. But it can get a bit messy to do this in the house. 

Greg took this of me.  My son Drew said he liked it because it shows me actually doing the demo.  So I put it in.

Oh, I forgot to mention the basil. There is fresh basil in the dressing too.  Just roll your basil leaves into a tight "cigar" and then take your knife and cut tiny strips of confetti or chiffonade, as it is called.  I used two big handfuls of fresh basil leaves.  I love the taste of fresh basil.  Luckily I grow it in my garden, because I use it in a lot!!
And here is the finished corn salsa.

It makes a bunch.  We had it over chicken tenders the first night.  With corn chips the next day as a snack. And then over tri tip that evening for dinner!  Oh, and there was enough left over for Greg to have with his dinner he made last night.  Fresh lime cilantro shrimp, mixed with corn salsa, served over tortilla chips.  I wish I had taken a picture.  He was very proud of his dish!  But I was out working in the yard.  No camera handy.
So that was our kickoff to summer weekend.    What did you do?