Homemade Blackberry Pies & Mikayla Goes Home

We had a special treat last night, homemade blackberry pies!! It was Mikayla's last night with us before she heads back home today, so we thought we'd make something special for her - and blackberry pies are indeed special! We were going to barbeque as well last night, but we made the mistake of asking Mikayla what she'd really like for her "Last Supper" here this summer? Her answer - pepperoni pizza!! So, pepperoni pizza it was!

Fresh Blackberry Pies just out of the oven - one crust top and one crumble


Now, for the blackberries, Paulette and Mikayla drove down to the bottom of the hill at the end of our street to pick the berries. There are huge blackberry bushes along the roadside that the whole neighborhood helps themselves too. So, it wasn't long before they returned with a couple of ice cream buckets full of ripe, juicy blackberries.

First, add some sugar, corn starch and a few other ingredients


With the hardest part done, Mikayla was really looking forward to learning how to make these pies. Paulette got out all the ingredients, and after washing all the blackberries, let Mikayla pour in the sugar, corn starch and whatever else was required before mixing it all together. That part was a lot of fun!

Then mix it all up with Grandma watching on and giving advice


After deciding to top 2 of the pies with "oatmeal crumble", and 1 with regular pie crust, it was into the oven and before long we had 3 delicious looking blackberry pies. So, what was my job in all of this? Well, I had to go to the store to get some Vanilla ice cream and I volunteered, graciously, to be the official taster after dinner!

Then, evenly pour the blackberry mixture into the pie plates


Unfortunately, as I said earlier, Mikayla will be going home to Victoria this afternoon following her 2-week vacation with us. We are really going to miss hearing her cheerful, laughing voice around the house and all the fun she has brought us this past two weeks. But, school is calling and it begins for Mikayla a week today - Sept. 8th, so she has a lot to do getting ready for the big day.

This wasn't in the recipe - never get Rylie involved in this kind of thing!


Apart from the fun of Mikayla's company, we have really enjoyed another great benefit of her visit. Paulette and I have taken the opportunity to explore and visit a lot of sites and attractions, located right here in the Cowichan Valley, that we haven't been to in years - a few of them not at all! So, that has been a great experience for us and one that Mikayla seemed to enjoy as well. It's been a terrific end to the summer for all of us.

Finally - add the oatmeal crumble mixture to two of the blackberry pies


So, by this evening, we'll be left with our other two 'little one's" - Molly and Rylie. The puppies are going to miss Mikayla for sure as they really loved going for walks with her. Each morning, it was always a great game for Molly and Rylie to charge into Mikaylas bedroom and try to jump up onto her bed to wake her up.

So, from now until we head south after Christmas, we'll be back to visiting Mikayla in Victoria and, we hope, she'll be up for a few weekend 'sleepovers' with Grandma and Grandpa! I'm sure we'll be able to fit at least a couple of those in before Christmas.

And yes, before I forget, Paulette and Mikayla's blackberry pie was absolutely delicious - every bit as good as it looked!