I’m into the last few days of my summer holidays and am so glad the weather in Durham Region as been so wonderful. It has been a perfect little staycation; relaxing, working in the garden and enjoying life in Scugog.
Earlier this week, the boys and I did a walking tour of downtown Port Perry. By “tour”, of course, I mean we made a beeline straight for Toonie Tuesday ice creams at The Nutty Chocolatier. I love strolling around downtown, but with an eight and ten year old in tow, first thing is first: the ice cream.
Like so many kids their age, our boys are overflowing with curiosity, energy, creativity and enthusiasm and this combination led me to have one of my most memorable afternoons of parenting to date.
On our way out of town, we stopped to get some gas and the boys asked me for an iced tea from the adjoining convenience store. In school this year, Jordan learned about reading food labels and while it hasn’t made them like their sweets any less, it has lead to some really amazing conversations from time-to-time.
The boys led off by asking why there was salt in the bottle of iced tea they were looking at. They also wanted to know about the host of other ingredients that were tough for them to pronounce. We try to keep these conversations as fact-based as possible in order to help the boys learn to decide for
themselves, but at the end of our little chat Dallas said “Mommy, I don’t even think I believe them that there is real lemon in this!” Cute.
As we proceeded out to Willowtree Farm to shop their excellent produce market, the boys were excited by our discussion of ways they could make their own iced tea once we got home. (Getting excited about food is a bit of a family tradition.) The timing couldn’t have been better – our haul included some of Willowtree’s very own strawberries and raspberries as well as some fresh local blueberries.
Back at the ranch, we always have a pretty vast selection of loose tea. In particular, our stash of Seven Sister’s loose teas is somewhere well over fifteen. The boys lined up the pouches of tea and gave each package a thoughtful sniff, searching for just the right tea to build their masterpieces upon.
Being aware of Mommy and Daddy’s concerns about consuming too much sugar, the boys opted to sweeten their teas with some local maple syrup that we purchased from Purple Woods in the spring. They steeped their teas, chopped their fruit, wrote out their recipes and each drew a label for their new brews.
A few hours later, I was startled to realize how many photos I had captured of the whole affair. It was amazing to watch as a mom and it made me so incredibly happy, I had to share. Hope you enjoy the boys’ recipes as much as I enjoyed this marvellous summer day!
