the dog days of summer?

I don't think the dog days of summer officially start till August, but they might as well be here with the hot, humid, heavy weather we've been getting! Yesterday was one of those days you sweat buckets just standing still. I like warm weather, but this kind...not so much.

Luckily, I wasn't out in it very much yesterday. After Meyer's morning nap, we headed to the local police station for a stranger danger presentation by one of our police officers. I thought Logan would understand the concept a little better this year (we went to one last summer too), but he was kind of fidgety and I don't think he was paying much attention. I'm hoping once he starts getting used to a school setting, he will listen a bit better.

After the presentation, we walked with some friends to the park behind the station. Some local teenagers were having fights with water blasters and I'm sure we ruined some of their fun. As soon as Logan finished a frozen treat, he ran to the nearest group of teenagers to start talking their ears off. Of course you'd never guess he just finished learning about stranger danger. My kid- the social butterfly.

We grilled some tasty bratwurst for dinner and topped them with sauteed onions and mustard- delish! I also whipped up this salad that I'd been wanting to try for awhile. It was on a Giada At Home episode and sounded intriguing. While slicing the mushrooms, I also was surprised to learn I'm starting to perfect my chef knife skills. It's about time!

recipe: Mushroom Parsley Salad
source: Giada At Home, Food Network

Ingredients
1 pound large button mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned and thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2-ounce piece Parmesan
Serving suggestion: assorted French cheeses and Poilane Bakery-style breads
Directions
In a medium salad bowl, mix together the mushrooms and parsley.
In a small bowl, whisk together the oil and lemon juice until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Add the oil mixture to the salad bowl and toss until all the ingredients are coated. Using a vegetable peeler, shave the Parmesan on top and serve.

After dinner, we took a walk to Dairy Queen for some family time and an ice cream treat. Having a Dairy Queen within walking distance is way dangerous, but that's another post! We were in line behind a man and FIVE boys- all ordered ice cream cones. All those potential drips and mess = my worst nightmare!! But it did remind me of some fun I had recently taking care of FOUR boys!

I watched a friend's 2 boys a couple weeks ago for 2 hours or so. I was dreading it a tiny bit, because let's face it, 4 boys versus little old me was a little intimidating, not to mention the fact that it was my very first time being responsible for other children beside my own! But we had SO much fun reading, playing outside, taking a walk and having a snack. And those 2 hours went by super quickly and made me confident in my childcare abilities! Now I'll look forward to next time. :)