Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day! We wish you a safe and happy holiday weekend.

If your family is like ours, you're likely having a picnic this weekend as part of your celebrations. My mother-in-law was famous for bringing homemade ice cream, which we all had to take turns cranking.

So, in honor of Grandma Merle, here are some homemade ice cream recipes - many of which don't require an ice-cream maker!

• Ginger Lemon Ice
• Strawberry Ice Cream
• Rasberry Coconut Milk Ice Cream*
• Non-Dairy Ice Cream *

* requires an ice cream maker, but I think you could probably make it work without it.

Enjoy!

Protecting ourselves: Lessons from "The Body Toxic"

As a parent, you want to do everything you can to protect your children. What worries you most are the things far beyond your reach.

We bottle-fed our non-nursing son during the height of the BPA controversy, wondering if we were doing the right thing. In my ignorance, I didn't realize it was a minute tip of the iceberg.

And then I read "The Body Toxic: How the hazardous chemicals of everyday things threaten our health and well-being" by journalist Nena Baker. It's quite possibly the scariest book I'll read all summer.

In it I learned about the breakdown of my government in protecting our nation's health. Spurred by lobbyists from the chemical industries, we've evolved the last 50 years into a toothless siutation where weak laws and tiny budgets leave littel room for our government to examine what chemicals are truly hazardous to our health. In fact, we're often lagging far beyond Canada and European nations in taking action against known harmful substances.

What's scary is that the chemicals you're exposed to come from the most unthinkable of everyday places:

• the microwave popcorn packaging
• your shower curtain
• the flame retardants in your TV
• non-stick skillets
• grease-resistant food packaging

One interviewee in the book likened the situation to 9/11, where the hijackers were under the radar screen and grabbed control. "Certain contaminants can hijack the control of gene exppression, contributing to a number of illnesses on the rise."

What frightens me the most is potential damange not done to me but to future generations. Tiny bodies are more susceptible to the chemicals exposed to during pregnancy or through breast milk and every day life outside the womb. (Not that formula is immune - chemicals can leach from its packaging, too!)

So what do you do?

• Write your political leaders and encourage stronger legislation (an update to the Toxic Substances Control Act) regarding oversight of chemicals, and larger funding for those oversights.
• Choose organic whenever possible.
• Ditch plastic, particularly for food and drink - reheating can cause hazardous substances to leach out.
• Avoid stain protection treatments from floors and upholstery.
• Filter your tap water rather than use bottled.
• Use low-VOC paint.
• Choose cast-iron or hard anodized aluminum pots.
• Think twice about using air fresheners.

It's a little overwhelming, to be honest. Keep in mind that the author writes: "I don't obsess about chemical pollutants; I make informed decisions based on my understanding of the hazards of pesticides, plasticizers, flame retardants and stain protectors."

The strangest sibling battle we've had to date

Tonight as I picked up my kids from day care, I fully expected a sugared-up nightmare. After all, there was not one but two birthdays in the house that day.

Instead, I was happily greated by the birthday princess, complete with tiara and new Barbie doll (making the Barbie count for this week exceeding her years of life!). My son, however, was not empty handed.

No, he was toddling around with his prized possession: A cucumber. And not just any cucumber. One that stretched nearly to his knees, curling around in just such a way it looked like he was playing a trumpet.

Because you see, circling his lips were tiny slivers of cucumber skin as he knawed away at it. To each his own.

It only got stranger on the way home. He knawed away at his cucumber, until his sister declared that she was hungry and insisted on eating some cucumber as well. So that poor cucumber was passed back and forth for the next 10 minutes, each kid chomping away at it while the other protested furiously that it wasn't in their hands.

As a parent, I expect sibling rivalry. I expect fighting over toys. Fighting over cucumbers? That's not in the parenting books. That much I am sure!

City girl, country girl

Twice a year, we're blessed to visit with my sister-in-law and niece, who live a nine-hour drive away. We just finished playing host for a four-day visit, and we'll be mopping up tears for the rest of the day.

Our visits are always marked by the contrasts in the way we live our lives. The "city girl," my daughter, is very much a hands-on, get-in-the-dirt kind of kid. She comforts slugs and snails at the park. She prides herself in the garden and chases frogs in our backyard. She can't go a Saturday without a drive to the farmer's market.

The "country girl," my small-town-living niece, splits her time between her parents and lifestyles. She's used to eating out all the time, going to movies, and running around. Our pace - driven by baby brother's schedules and other priorities - is a stark change for her.

Seeing the cows at the farmers market? It's the one thing she talks about - other than the community pool - that she wants to do during her visits here. She thinks it's a treat to bake a pizza or snap beans.

And our visits to her home? Often marked by tiredness. Tired babies from a long drive and disrupted sleep schedules. Tired from being in the car from driving to all the events and places that we "must" somehow visit before we leave Kansas City. It's a pace that's doable for parents on a family visit, but it's tiring for the kids.

The truth is, sometimes it's the little things that matter. And what stands out in their minds isn't the tourist stops or favorite haunts we visit. It's eating at a place that had a train. Or having ice cream with a cow. Or playing splash party in the sprinkler. Those are the things that they remember.