Monday, June 28, 2010

Long summer days, laughter and frozen Pop-Tarts!

This is a compensated review by BlogHer and Pop Tarts.



During the summer months, many of the families in our tiny town of Smythe, Oregon, take their children to a place called Sawyer’s Dam. It’s only about 6 miles east of town, right off the main road. After you make the turn and follow the original wooden sign, you have to travel about a mile and a half through the deep woods (along a very muddy, rocky and windy dirt road) to the special spot.

It’s a public park, with plenty of picnic tables; a few pavilions; public restrooms; a small snack bar and some boats that are available for rent!

The most compelling feature of Sawyer’s Dam, of course, is the beautiful water and fake sandy beach! On a beautiful summer’s day, it’s not hard to imagine that you are just a breath away from heaven.

I was remember all those summers past when B, Sassy and Golden Boy would all invite friends and we would have weekly “meetings” at the damn. Last week when I packed the Boy up with several of his friends, I remember the one thing that has accompanied us for these last 15 years of summer fun.

Frozen Pop-Tarts. I am not kidding!

A friend that I teach with here at Smythe Elementary School introduced me to frozen Pop-Tarts. She had spied our pantry shelves on day when we had arranged a play date for the kids.

“We love Pop-Tarts, too!” she said, “But we love to freeze them!”

Well, I’ve been doing it ever since, and taking them in a cooler with us when we make our treks to the Sawyer’s Dam.

So this summer, as I volunteer to drive the kids to the Dam for what will probably be the last season that I’ll be needed, I will remember the frozen Cherry Pop-Tarts for the Jack and Sam, and the frozen Brown Sugar Cinnamon for The Golden Boy.

And the smiles on their faces as they open the cooler and dig in? It takes my breath away every single time.

What’s one of your family’s Pop-Tart summer activities? Go over to BlogHer and share for YOUR chance to win a $100 gift card.

Now, where’s that cooler?

35 comments:

  1. We like frosted Pop Tarts toasted with Ice Cream. That is an often treat and the kids adore it.

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  2. Swimming is our favorite, but PTs get soggy.

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  3. I love going to the beach and eating pop tarts when I get home. :)

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  4. We like taking them with us to the park.

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  5. My kids love going to the swimming pool.

    mami2jcn at gmail dot com

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  6. Pop Tarts go anywhere during the summer, especially on the beach!

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  7. We like to go the mountains where it is a bit cooler, and of course we take pop tarts along for an easy and yummy snack.

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  8. My boys like taking pop tarts to the park as a snack!

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  9. We love eating pop tarts in the mornings toasted and when we come home from the pool we toast them and eat them. We also take them on vacation to have as a quick snack/meal.

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  10. Never had them frozen, but I bet my kids will love it. That lake looks wonderful!!

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  11. Going to the park.

    breezysmom123(at)gmail(dot)com

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  12. i love going fishing .

    purple_lover_04 at msn dot com

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  13. I never would have thought of freezing pop tarts! What a great idea!

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  14. Never thought of that. Toasted with a glass a milk - 24/7/365. :)
    shutterboo at gmail dot com

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  15. I love going swimming or taking walks with my hubby

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  16. We'd take pop-tarts climbing if they came with their own harness!

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  17. What a great idea to freeze them...we just eat ours Before we go somewherebut I bet my grandkids would love the frozen idea.

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  18. we would take poptarts with us on road trips, especially long car trips!

    Artisticbaker@gmail.com

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  19. I love going to the beach and eating pop tarts when I get home

    mjharvey26 at yahoo dot com

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  20. Swimming is our favorite, but poptarts are a good afternoon snack when they've had too much water for one day

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  21. Our favorite summer activity is a trip to the zoo. Pop-Tarts come in handy as a tasty snack when we come home.

    Thanks for a great giveaway!

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  22. Poptarts are great to pop in a bag with the water bottles before a long hike!

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  23. Camping, for sure. You burn them up hiking. :)

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  24. Hiking and picnic lunches! scg00387 at yahoo dot com

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  25. I love the frosted strawberry toasted with butter and a hot cup of coffee!

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  26. The frosted grape are my fav but they are hard to find most of the time. I hope they didn't discontinue them. I love eating them cold out on my deck in the summer mornings.
    Angie
    one 4 earth at aol dot com

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  27. We like to take poptarts on picnics, since they are so portable.

    ajolly1456 at gmail dot com

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  28. we love to hike on the trails nearby...frozen pop tarts would be great!

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  29. brown sugar cinnamon is my fav..frosted...toasted...with a big glass of cold cold milk!
    Scott
    nynekats at aol dot com

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  30. My family often took long road trips during the summer to visit family members throughout the Western U.S. We all loved the Brown Sugar Cinnamon Poptarts, except my dad, who would only eat the Frosted Strawberry ones.

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  32. I haven't tried them frozen, but it would be a cool treat. Perfect to pack up for a trip to the park

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  33. Taking them on road trips! Our favorites are strawberry, smores, and raspberry!!

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  34. We like to make ice cream sandwiches with pop tarts. Cherry is my favorite, my dh loves smores flavor.

    runningmatey at hotmail dot com

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