This week for mommy happy hour a couple of our favorite mommies and kids came over to play. The weather has been so nice and warm lately that I decided to throw together a refreshing summer sangria for the mommies. Aren’t these little mermaid glass markers the cutest? I got them at Cost Plus World Market. 
  
The kids ate juicy watermelon, played with the chickens, and made an enormous mess creating mud pies. Somehow they just didn’t seem to ever hear us yelling “Turn off that hose!!!” Luckily my mommy friends are pretty relaxed and didn’t mind taking home mud covered 1 to 5 year olds.  
 
 There’s nothing I would rather be doing than sitting on the lawn with a cool glass of summer sangria watching the kids play and chatting with my mommy friends. It’s my idea of a perfect summer – no airplane required. Yes, my friends are really pretty. That’s La and baby Jess. 
 
 I pulled some edible flowers (lavender, wild daisies, and mint) from the garden and stuck them in an ice cube tray with water to make pretty ice cubes – an idea I got from Pinterest. Actually I don’t have an ice cube tray… so I used a baby food storage container 🙂
Sangria is best made several hours in advance so that the flavors from the fruit come out. 
I made a really yummy watermelon salad that I’ll share in another post. Colorful meringue cookies from Renaud’s made a light one-bite dessert. 

Kiwi Blackberry Sangria
printer friendly recipe 
Serves 4

1 bottle white wine (I used Viognier)
12 oz. berry juice (I used 1 bottle of sparkling wild berry Juice Squeeze)
3 very ripe kiwis, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint

Place all ingredients into a large pitcher and gently stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use. Sangria is best made several hours in advance so that the flavors from the fruit come out.