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Inch By Inch, Row by Row
07.09.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Inch By Inch, Row by RowWe’ve been garden-free for a number of years. We moved from our home in Bellingham, which was a gardened and landscaped half acre to a yard as small as a closet. It just didn’t seem worth spending time converting it into something beautiful, especially since we only planned on being there for such a short time. So we are in the throes of summer now, with strawberries coming on, beans beginning to climb and carrots sprouting. Enjoy a tour of one of my favorite places in the world…
Strawberries growing, backed by peas, broccoli and basil.
My beans are beginning to climb…
And soon I’ll be canning them up in jars for the year!
Is there anything as magical as purple beans that turn green when you cook them? If our kids will try them, we have to grow them.
Feathery carrot tops make their way out of the soil, carrots soon to follow.
Our future salad – we’ve planted a wide variety of greens, including arugula, leaf lettuce, romaine  and bib. When it finally really starts coming in our salds will be lovely and delicious.
Not veggies, but this honeysuckle hangs over our hot tub, washing its magnificent perfume over us as we recline and relax.
And remember the five fuchsia baskets Bradley bought and planted for less than 20.00 total? they are in bloom and BEAUTIFUL!
Enjoy your garden this summer!
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Construction
07.07.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Construction
Jude has rediscovered his blocks. The other morning he was wandering around the house, asking us each in turn, “Where my bocks? Tan’t find dem, Mama?” When the blocks were located, he dragged the basket outside and began building.
Finally, after building what looked like a little village to me, Jude called me over, terribly excited. “Mama! Tome see! I did it!”
“I made our fammy!” (Family) He proceeded to point to each stack to tell me which blocks represented which person. “Dis Didi, dis Dada, dis Mama, dis Dude!”
Then he realized that he had made our whole family, but he still wanted to build! He looked at me, somewhat panicked for a moment and then raised his finger in the air and said, “IDEA! I make Marfa and Tovin!” So on he went to make block piles representative of our beloved pets.
By the time he was finished we had every ‘fammy’member he could think of: Mimi, Bop-bop, Lydia, Luke, Pipi, GSB and on and on. We also had houses, cars, stores and more. It was a busy morning spent by my sweet, explorative and clever son!
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Pool Time
07.06.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Pool TimeAt our campground there was a pool, a baby pool and a hot tub. Guess where we spent a bunch of time getting sunburned?
In the pool with Daddy, Gigi and Jude. Jude kept saying he was a turtle, a baby turtle that needed to ride on his Daddy’s back. So dear Bradley spent his time swimming laps with a 51 pound weight on his back!
And Mama got to be a mermaid with Gigi.
And we all got to wear fancy eye wear. Except Dad who has to take his OFF to get into the pool.
Gigi showed off her dog paddling skills while swimming in the 9 foot deep water!
While Jude stuck to the little splash pool for the most part.
Daddy with his baby turtle again, while Mama…
Has her feet up!
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Camping with the LJ’s
07.05.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Camping with the LJ’sA few years ago Bradley’s parents went camping at a KOA outside of Concrete. While we were there, we couldn’t help but notice all of the super fun stuff that there was for kids to do. The pool, the giant jumpy pillow, the mini golf, the playground and the outdoor tenting fun called us back this past weekend. It was our first official tenting trip using only a tent and the provided facilities (no trailers to warm up in or emergency potty in). We had our ups and downs, but by the time we packed up our tent and headed home under the banner of fireworks, we decided that we would return again.
An exerpt from an e-mail I wrote to a friend:
“We were laying in our tent with super squirrely babes.  “Can we puhleeze go to bed?!” they asked.  We naively answered yes!  Thinking that they were all tired out from the packing, the prep, the traffic, the drive, and we could get some campfire time in, but no.  They were just really excited to try out the tent. And really excited tent tryer outers are not so tired as thrilled at the prospect of secret forts and strange noises.  “What dat?!”
As we lay our heads on the pillows we started to hear the pitter pat of little raindrops making their way from the clouds.  I was wearing my camping pajamas: thigh high tube socks topped with fleece pj pants, a long sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie, with the hood up bundled in a mummy sleeping bag.  Surprisingly, I drifted off to sleep, deep deep sleep.  I awoke from time to time to notice that indeed the rain was still falling and by the time morning dawned  the world was a puddle.  Including parts of our tent. Some of us were a little grumpy and all of us were cold!  We groggily made our way to the showers to find them tepid, not the heat infusion we needed and decided to escape to the movies.  So we went and saw Kung-Fu Panda Two.  (jealous yet?!)  We dried out, warmed up (in love with car heaters right now) and headed back to the KOA.  Upon our return, the sun had also made her appearance again, so campfire and s’mores are in the plans for the evening. I think it will be fun.  Despite our grumpiness with the weather, Gigi proclaimed that this is the best camping day ever!  So our trip is a success!”
The rest of the weekend switched from windy to scorching to freeezing!  The kids enjoyed their independence as we allowed them to run hither and yon, WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION! At least for Gigi, this was her first foray into independent play and running with a pack of kids. She loved it! She also loved winning at BINGO!
The chilly sleeping drove us home a night early after spending an evening at the fair. We drove home right as twilight passed into night and the fireworks were making their ways heavenward. The reports, the crashes and the bright sparks captured our ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ all along the I-5 corridor as Gigi and Jude munched on fries and shakes from Burger King (a very rare treat). It seemed we hit all of the finales as we drove by each town, capturing the best they had to offer. As the flashes continued overhead for the drive, our little one’s chins dropped to their chests and the car grew quiet. While certainly it was an unconventional way to watch the fireworks and celebrate, it will certainly live in our memories as an unusual and surprisingly satisfying Fourth of July.
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Summer? Could it be?
06.21.11 | Permalink | | Comments Off on Summer? Could it be?The other night we got out the sprinkler for the first time this year. The kids danced through it, thrilled at the warm, evening air.  They jumped, they wiggled, they squealed, they were darling. And it is summer. I love. Sigh…
