Lemon Strawberry Moscato Punch

IS IT SUMMER YET??

Everyone I know who works in the school system is counting down to school letting out. Not kidding, everyone knows EXACTLY how many days, and some have it broken down into minutes. I bet a few of them even know how many seconds, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they had it programmed for a giant explosion of confetti to erupt everywhere when it counts down.

A lot of people are planning their summer vacations that involve something with water or cooler weather, especially they live somewhere ridiculously hot (like South Carolina, for example). We’ll be going to the beach several times throughout the summer, hitting the lake, maybe some waterfalls in the mountains, but most definitely will be mooching off my brother’s pool.

There’s a little story behind my brother’s pool.

We used to have a pool in our back yard. When we bought our house, the pool was already there. It was great having access to a pool, but it wasn’t what we wanted. It was too far from the house and located in a very shaded area (which meant it was too cold to use 10 months out of the year unless we wanted to take out a second mortgage to heat it), it was very small, a pain in the rump to maintain, and not something we had to worry about until babies came along.

Several years ago, my brother and his family built a new house, and his wife set aside a pool fund. Literally within 24 hours of their pool being built, my husband started filling ours in. Seriously.

My brother lives 7 minutes away and I have a key to their house. He can’t get rid of us.

Unfortunately, throwing pool parties where I invite a ton of people over to the house and stuff them with food and alcohol is not an option at my brother’s house, so we’re talking about moving…

…and getting another pool.

Irony.

Until then, we will be enjoying some incredible Strawberry Moscato Punch by my brother’s pool. I might even share some of it.

Strawberry Moscato Punch

2 cups sliced strawberries, divided

2 lemons, sliced

1 container frozen lemonade concentrate

1 1/2 liters Moscato*

1 liter ginger ale

Throw 1 cup strawberries and frozen lemonade concentrate in a blender. Puree that glorious combination until strawberry chunks are small. Pour moscato and ginger ale into a pitcher and stir. Then, pour the strawberry lemonade mixture through a mesh strainer if you’d like to refrain from drinking the strawberry seeds. Add to the pitcher and stir, then add remaining strawberries and lemon slices. Serve chilled and with a smile.

*If Moscato is too sweet for you, use a dry white wine (like Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay) instead of Moscato.