Snapshots (or I Love My Phone!!)

Olive fingers!

Go Bruins!

Peter kept "hopping" his chair closer to that table and those cakes...

David vs. Mud

David vs. Garden Hose

(He gets so brown during the summer...)

David's perspective

Andi's perspective

We've been teaching David how to use the camera to take pictures of his tadpoles.

 Naturally that means Andi must take pictures too. ;)

Under the closest of close supervision she took these pictures the other day.

Garden tours (again)

Our 4x8 foot "bit of earth" (name the book) is looking green and alive. Here's another tour. Just let me know when you get tired of seeing our veggie babies... ;)

We finally filled our last square...

 Poor Thyme. It is really unhappy with me right now, I waited too long to put it in the ground. We'll see how it has done here when I go visit later.

We harvested Radish I's square and planted another batch: Radish III! Radish II is actually ready to harvest right now, too.

On with the tour!

 I'm not sure the peas are going to make it. They are growing very slowly, I might have to plant another batch in September as it gets cooler. The lettuce is super yummy, though! Did you know that red leaf lettuce is actually quite spicy?

Look who we've got here!

And ON that tomato plant (which grew a foot in a week, seriously) are these precious itty-bitty guys!

 Note the poor blighted leaves in the background. Apparently it is a bacteria in the soil. We're always VERY careful to only water at the base of the plant, but rain is not so fastidious. I pulled all of the blighted leaves off, but these few are still there. Hopefully we can prevent any more of the tomato getting blight and actually harvest our tomatoes.

So, the other side!

 They really do creep along everywhere. And we can't move the vines because they've attached themselves to the sting that sections off their square.

 Eggplant blooms are really quite pretty. I've been so happy that we added this one to our garden!

And how about that! Peppers!

And after pulling out the other zucchinis ours have been very happy and have started flowering.

Our cucumbers have also shot up (literally) the last little bit.

Cucumbers, like watermelon, have little tendrils that wrap around just about anything, including other plants. I had a booger of a time correcting these guys and getting them to go UP instead of OVER.

The beans are also doing well, though not as big as I would have liked. They have nice, lightly purple flowers on them and tiny green beans. I thought I'd gotten a picture, but apparently not.

So thus concludes today's tour. Not too much longer and I think we'll have some more yummy foods!

4th with Friends

Jonathan took the evening off from studying and we all went to the Davis' home for great company, yummy food, and fireworks.

The great thing about Michigan is that they are very lenient when it comes to fireworks. In the middle of the city, in the middle of a subdivision, we were setting of GIANT fireworks and enjoying the shows put on by all of the neighbors. It was like being a big display!

We had a lot of fun, went home very full, and even more tired. The sky doesn't get totally dark until around 10:15 here, so we were waiting a long time before we were able to shoot anything off. But when we did it was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed ourselves. It was a great 4th of July. :)

4th of July Parade

The kids and I got up a little earlier than normal to get dressed and ready to go to a parade. The parade route ended right at the park where we had Day Camp, so I knew right where to go and where to park. It was fun! Took a while for the parade to get to us, but the kids enjoyed getting the candy.

The kids each had their special outfits. Pinterest. I will take no credit for the design of those outfits.
Andi's came from here: No Sew Flag Shirts. The idea for the boys' shirts came from here: Firecracker Tie-Dye T-shirts.

 We waited for almost an hour after the parade started to finally see some of the parade. Boy were we glad when it finally arrived!

About half way through enthusiasm waned...

 The balloons were fun:

This float shot flames:

The candy was a real perk:

Then we headed home. I'd like to go back next year, but I'm definitely going to have us watch from the start of the parade rather than the end.

Garden update

 We harvested all of Radish I. The kids and I were going to go back and plant another batch but got rained out this afternoon. We've had a TON of rain lately. The biggest day was Thursday while we were at a doc appointment for the kids' well-child check-ups (they're all healthy, by the way). I left the kids inside the foyer and RAN to the back of the parking lot to get the kids. After getting to the entrance I made three trips between the car and the door (all of fifteen feet) to get the kids into the car, buckled, and to get the stroller and our stuff loaded. I looked like I'd stood in my shower. Water was everywhere, and I was completely soaked. Not pretty. Quite cold, actually. ANYWAY. So we've had rain and lots of it lately.

 Obviously the garden loved it.

 My tomato has grown six inches in the last week. I'm going to let it flower now.

My squash and cucumber are really happy, too. I pulled out some extra zucchinis last week to share with people. I think that also helped.

So there you have it. Lots of growing plants. Our salads have all had garden lettuce and radishes lately. Yum.  Somehow it is tastier when you grow it. :)