Summer Themed Bento Blog Hop

Bento Bloggers & Friends are celebrating the first day of Summer with another themed blog hop. I am excited to see the variety of lunches these talented bento makers are  creating about Summer. Be sure to click below the summer photo at the end of this post to see the bento Sarah has created at Bentoriffic. You can then follow the summer photo through twenty Bento Bloggers & Friends Summer Bento Blog Hop posts. I am putting my post up a little bit early. All of the Summer Bento Blog Hop posts should be live by 10 a.m. on June 20th.

I always use our bedtime stories as inspiration for Boogs' lunches. 

Stella Star Of The Sea by Marie-Louise Gay
This book is about Stella and her little brother, Sam. Stella has been to the sea and knows all about it. Sam has never been to the sea and is very nervous about getting into the water. Sam asks many, many questions and Stella comes up with answers to all of them. Our favorite question was, "Where do starfish come from?" Stella answered, "Starfish are shooting stars that fell in love with the sea." Sam eventually overcomes his fear and plunges into the water. The illustrations in this book are detailed and playful. Boogs enjoyed searching through the pictures and pointing out silly things like a crab chasing a dog, two ducks who look like they might try on a pair of swimming fins, and the dog wearing a swim ring. This book makes me want to take a trip to the beach, hunt for shells, dig in the sand, and swim in the sea. Boogs has never seen an ocean. Hopefully, that will change this summer.

In the ELB lunchbox today: blueberry ocean, spinach seaweed, fruit leather starfish, cucumber dolphins, Goldfish crackers, dried papaya seahorse, ham shells, half Babybel cheese Stella with carrot hair, and half Babybel cheese Sam with apple hair.

I am re-posting our Sam and the Firefly lunch here because fireflies always remind me of long ago summer nights with my siblings. 

Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman 
I loved reading this book when I was Boogs' age. He liked it, too.  Boogs asked me to include Firefly Gus and the scene in the book where Gus causes a bunch of cars to crash into each other. Then Boogs ran around yelling, "I am a firefly! Look at all of the words I am writing with my light. G-o go f-a-s-t fast!" In the lunchbox: Pb&j Gus the Firefly with a dried apricot light, Babybel full moon, Sam owl pick in a blueberry night sky, banged-up car boiled egg, green beans and carrots.

Click here to go to Bentoriffic's summer bento, the next stop on the hop!

Check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar! If you want to see more book inspired lunches, click on the "lunches" label at the end of this post. To see the previous Bento Bloggers & Friends hops click on the "hop" label.