Beat-the-heat treats

The temperatures in the desert during my visit to see Bubby and Mac were, as I expected, ridiculously high. Spending time in the pool or at the water park was a great way to stay cool, but because we're not fish, other ways to chill out had to be devised.

Yesterday, the last day of my visit, Megan offered a frozen treat to the boys that I thought was quite clever — and yummy, too. The night before, she dropped gummy bears into the bottom of plastic cups, filled the cups halfway with 7 Up, then added a popsicle stick and froze the cups.

Bubby and Mac (and Megan and I, too) enjoyed licking the icy pops to free the candy bears from their frozen confines. So cool!

I'm not sure what Megan's treats are officially called — I think she found the idea on Pinterest — but the way the boys enjoyed them reminded me of snow cones of summers past. Frozen fun on a hot summer day made all the difference in surviving the heat with a smile. It still does.

With that in mind, I found the following feature — used with permission from Family Features — for a similarly syrupy sweet and frozen treat that grandparents still have time to make for the grandkids this summer.

Frozen Summer Treat is Frosty Blast from the Pastcourtesy Family Features

Cool down this summer with a rainbow of color and flavor. Just like skipping through the sprinkler when the sun is shining bright, homemade shaved ice offers sweet relief on a hot afternoon. Plus, making this frozen favorite is a fun family activity.

"Celebrate the flavors of summer with Easy Fruity Shaved Ice," said Mary Beth Harrington of the McCormick Kitchens. "The secret is in the flavorful syrups, which come together in just a few minutes with less than five ingredients, including fruit extracts and food colors."

Add raspberry, orange or strawberry extract to a simple syrup and mix in a few drops of vibrant food color to create this classic frozen treat. But don’t stop there. Bring the family together and let their imaginations run wild as they create their own personalized color and flavor combinations. Here are a few tips from the McCormick Kitchens to get you started:

Make it snow at home: If you don’t have a shaved ice maker, crush ice to a snowy texture in your blender or by wrapping a plastic bag of ice in a kitchen towel and smashing it with a rolling pin or mallet. This can be a fun project for kids so long as they have adult supervision.

Mix and match: Store syrups in small squeeze bottles and mix and match flavors in each shaved ice. Create layers of color and flavor in the ice, and then gobble them up before the creation melts. You’ll have a different summer treat every time!

Easy Fruity Shaved Ice

Prep time: 5 minutes

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

desired flavoring/color (options below)

Blue Raspberry Syrup:

2 teaspoons McCormick® Raspberry Extract

10 drops Blue McCormick® Assorted Food Colors & Egg Dye

Strawberry Cotton Candy Syrup:

2 teaspoons McCormick® Imitation Strawberry Extract

10 drops McCormick® Red Food Color

Crushed Orange Syrup:

1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Orange Extract

8 drops McCormick® Yellow Food Color

2 drops McCormick® Red Food Color

Lemon Blast Syrup:

1 teaspoon McCormick® Pure Lemon Extract

10 drops McCormick® Yellow Food Color

Bring sugar and water to boil in small saucepan on medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. For desired flavor syrup, stir in extract and food color. Cool to room temperature. Pour into squeeze bottle for easier serving. Pour syrup over shaved ice. Makes 2 cups syrup.

For more cool summer ideas, visit www.McCormick.com, www.Facebook.com/McCormickSpice or www.Pinterest.com/mccormickspices.

Note: This is not a sponsored post.

Today's question:

What is your favorite beat-the-heat treat?

Desert oasis: Boys and their buds

Contrary to what many might believe, residents of the desert must be water worshippers of a most dedicated degree. For when temperatures hover around triple digits for days on end, staying cool in the pool with your pals is pretty much a matter of survival — yet loads of fun, too, as you can see.

Today's fill-in-the-blank:

The most enjoyable way to stay cool is ________________.

Dads rule and sea life's cool: A picture book roundup for summer reading

 

When my daughters were little, we spent many summer days perusing the shelves at the public library, gathering up stacks of stories to take home and read together. No matter their ages, picture books were always represented in the piles we happily carted away — for my enjoyment as much as for theirs.

I love picture books and love, too, sharing with you those I think you will enjoy reading with your favorite kids — or on your own, if your penchant for picture books is as strong as mine. Following are six delightful hardcover releases that recently came my way courtesy the publishers (for free, without obligation), stories that make perfect additions to summer reading lists for kids of all ages.

With Father's Day soon on the horizon, what better place to begin a reading roundup than with some top tales featuring fathers.

The Deer Watch by Pat Lowery Collins, illustrated by David Slonim (ages 3-7, Candlewick Press, $15.99). This perfect summer story tells of a young boy's eager anticipation of spotting for himself the deer he's heard so much about from his dad. Father and son traverse sand dunes, marshes, an unexpected rain (followed by puddles!) and more in search of a buck or fawn. Staying still and quiet enough to witness the wonder is hard for a small boy, but if he can manage, the payoff will be one to remember.

The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (ages 6-10, Candlewick Press, $16.99) A young girl visits her great-grandfather and upon his urging, chooses from his shelves a cigar box filled with matchboxes for him to tell her its story. Each matchbox holds within it a keepsake from the great-grandfather's boyhood. As a child, the great-grandfather couldn't read or write, so he created a matchbox rather than written diary, filling it with baseball tickets, bottle caps, a lost tooth and more. He shares with his great-granddaughter the mementos of his journey from Italy and his early years in America and encourages her to start her own written diary.

My Dad Thinks He's Funny by Katrina Germein, illustrated by Tom Jellett (ages 5-8, Candlewick Press, $15.99). Dads say the darnedest things and this book hilariously highlights quite a few of those silly things that come out of their mouths. This one made both Jim and me chuckle. (Yes, I made him sit down and let me read it to him.) Kids will no doubt see their own dad in one or more of the utterings and especially giggle at the page in which Dad offers up words that clear the room — "before it really starts to smell."

FArTHER, written and illustrated by Graham Baker-Smith (ages 5-7, Templar Books — an imprint of Candlewick Press, $17.99) In magical artwork and heartrending prose, this book tells the story of one young boy whose dad goes off to war and never returns, leaving a life-long dream behind, unrealized. The boy takes up his father's dream — to fly on homemade wings — tweaking those left by his father. Through magnificent drawings of magical machinery, we see the dream of the boy and his father take flight.

Nighty-Night, Sleep Tight by Jennifer Berne, illustrated by David Walker (Ages 3-5, Sterling Children's Books, $9.95) Getting little ones off to dreamland can be a bit more of a challenge during summer. This rhyming bedtime story makes the transition smoother and will have even the most rambunctious kiddo cuddling up to say nighty-night to creatures all across the globe. Tigers, chimps, turtles and other stars of the animal kingdom get the goodnight greeting from the charming pink-jammie clad cutie.

Shimmer & Splash: The Sparkling World of Sea Life, written and illustrated by Jim Arnosky (ages 6-10, Sterling Children's Books, $14.95) Of all the books here, when Jim saw this oversized book, he exclaimed, "Bubby is going to love this one." And he is, as will all little naturalists who get a kick out of aquatic creatures of endless variety. The author and illustrator — a renowned naturalist — has so jam-packed this book with life-size illustrations, it took seven fold-out pages to feature it all. Personal stories of close encounters with sea creatures plus fascinating facts and descriptions of everything from fiddler crabs to blacktip sharks and manatees make this a must-have for any child (or adult) who appreciates amazing ocean dwellers and related accounts of their discovery.

Disclosure: I received free copies of these books; I share them here not because I was paid or obligated to do so (I wasn't), but because I think they're pretty darn good. I hope you do, too.

Today's question:

What books have you read (picture book or not) that feature memorable fathers, good or bad?

What I learned this week: I must make time for life... offline

 

Summer is upon us and the outdoors beckons. Which is why, after much back and forth, debating and deliberating, I finally learned this week what I must do: I realized/learned/confirmed that I must allow time in my schedule for life... offline.

Making the time for life offline will require some online changes. Changes to my blogging schedule, to be exact. See, I have been publishing a post on Grandma's Briefs every single day since July 25, 2009. Many of you have been reading those daily posts that long, too. Which is so incredible and heartwarming and humbling.

But I think we're all sitting on our butts and staring at screens far too much. I know I am.

So I'm proposing that now that summer has arrived, we not focus on Grandma's Briefs — at least not on the weekends. I'm talking only weekend-long breaks, as I couldn't bear to take a full-fledged summer-long break from blogging; it's in my blood now, and I could not survive without it. I hope you, too, couldn't bear to live without my blogging. (Yes, I do like to flatter myself now and again.)

But weekends, especially in the summer, beckon all of us to get up and move, to do something, to live. So I'm going to do my part this summer and no longer post the scintillating — and, yes, sometimes silly — stuff you've grown to expect in this space on Saturdays and Sundays.

It's going to be hard. My four-year habit will surely be difficult to break. But a break is what we all need. A break that gets us offline. At least on the weekends. At least for the summer.

With that said, consider this post the official notice that you will not find new content on Grandma's Briefs come tomorrow morning. That doesn't mean, of course, that you can't visit here on the weekends, if you choose. Grandma's Briefs will always be open, always welcome one and all who want to visit any day, any time, any page throughout the site. So if you do drop by on a Saturday or Sunday, feel free to catch up on anything you may have missed during the week.

(Of course, you just might see me drop in on the Grandma's Briefs Facebook page on Saturdays and Sundays; just nothing regular or scheduled, for sure.)

Now, as I said, it's going to be be a challenge for me to not share with you over the weekend. Proof being that I already had a doozy of a video to post for my regular Saturday Post feature. So I'm going to share it here today; I simply couldn't wait until Monday for this one.

This video came to my attention courtesy the awesome women at Better After 50. I hope it makes you chuckle as much as it did me.

With that in mind, I hope you'll remember come tomorrow that there will be nothing new happening here on Grandma's Briefs until early Monday morning. I hope I will remember that, too.

I'm pretty sure I will remember, though — because it's what I need.

And that is what I learned this week.

Today's question:

What did you learn this week?

Boys in a Batman pool

Bubby and Mac kicked off summer with their first swim in the Batman pool Gramma gave them last year.

Megan texted a photo of their first dip:

 

Megan also texted a video snippet of the Memorial Day fun:

Thank heavens for iPhones and a daughter who's willing to use hers quite wisely now and then to help this long-distance grandma endure the space between.

Today's question:

Where do you swim in the summer?

The Saturday Post: Music to kick off summer edition

Billboard Magazine released its Top 30 Summer Songs this week. Not a whole lot on the list resonated deeply with me, for a variety of reasons — mostly because I'm too old, they're too old, or they're just too not my style.

There were a few, though, that made me smile, tap my toes and cross my fingers this summer will be light, carefree, happy. Is that possible at our age? Or are such things bestowed only upon the young?

I share those here: the four light, carefree, happy and downright summery songs from the Billboard list that made me want to grab an ice-cold beer, kick back, and believe that such things are possible at any age. They're the ideal soundtrack for kicking off the holiday weekend, the unofficial start of summer.

Cheers to summer! Enjoy the holiday weekend!

Today's question:

What song screams summer for you?

Springtime fun: Bird nest cookies

The forecast at my place calls for snow tomorrow — despite being in the 70s today. Such is springtime in the Rockies.

Despite the snow, it is indeed spring, which is the perfect time for making Bird Nest Cookies. They're simple to make, and kids get a kick out of eating the eggs (M&Ms) out of the nest of sticks (chow mein noodles). There are several versions of such cookies on Pinterest, but I couldn't find any just like these that I've made for years and years.

I knew around Easter time I'd later make these with my grandsons, so I picked up pastel-colored M&Ms when the holiday ones were on sale. There's no rule saying the bird eggs in imaginary nests can't be primary colors, though, so use whatever color —and flavor — of M&Ms you desire.

What you need:

• 12-ounce package chow mein noodles

• 12 ounces vanilla candy coating, broken into the pre-cut squares

• 12-ounce package M&Ms (you likely won't use entire package, but that allows for nibbling)

What you do:

Line decorating space with wax paper. Provide each child a dish of eggs (M&Ms) for decorating.

In large bowl, empty bag of chow mein noodles. In small bowl, microwave the squares of candy coating 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between and until smooth. Do not overcook! It takes only about a total of one minute or two, depending on the wattage of your microwave.

When coating is melted, pour over noodles, then stir to even coat the noodles. Using a spoon, plop little piles of "nests" onto the wax paper, flattening slightly for a spot for the eggs. You can spend a lot of time perfecting the nests, or you can just let the kids have at it. I prefer the "have at it" method.

The have at it part: Have the little ones quickly lay several eggs in each nest (har-har), pressing ever so slightly into the nest so they stick to the candy coating when it hardens.

Allow nests to cool completely until candy coating has hardened.

Makes about 30 nests, depending on size of each nest.

Today's question:

What is your favorite springtime food?