Kite flying

I think the thing Matthew wanted the most for his birthday this year was a kite. At least that's what I heard about the most. And still hear about. *photo taken by my Mom

So a kite he got. Like the gardening gloves on my hands? The wind caught it and the string rope burned a finger. Glad the little guy hadn't been holding it! *photo taken by my Mom

And I allowed myself to be photographed looking pregnant. *photo taken by my Mom

Which I'm not. Over the last 3 years I keep seeming to lose weight or inches. So I have lots of clothes in my closet that aren't as fitted as they should be. A nice problem, but not when you can't buy a new wardrobe every year! *photo taken by my Mom

I just never seem to take the best pictures. Which is fine, it's all about kites today. Nor am I an expert kite flyer. I'm hoping for a real kite flying wind one of these days, because frankly we've had alot of problems keeping this baby up. *photo taken by my Mom

On Tuesdays The Inadvertent Farmer is doing a series called Summer's Simple Things. I'm not going to probably link up every Tuesday, but I happened to think this fit. If you have time, pop over and see what other families are doing to have simple summer fun.

6 years ago today

In the present of our friends and family 6 years ago today, Phil and I said our vows and promised to love each other till death do us part. Because we promised to be a family, we now have one of the best little boys ever. Life has blessed us. What did we do to celebrate? We attended 2 different BBQ's. We've had a full day.

Powell Gardens visit

I discovered this garden by accident through their blog. What a lucky break it was for me! They now have 2 blogs. The first is here and the second is here. They have great articles and beautiful pictures of the property. Right now they have an instillation of bugs. The first one we saw was the Daddy Long Legs. We eventually saw them all and got a "bug bingo."

Matthew found the water elements the most interesting I think, because he kept sitting down to watch them.

I loved wandering through the Heartland Harvest Gardens and looking at all the beautiful structures that went with them. And the bed layout, be still my heart!

I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of photos loading wrong. Ok, as we were walking along a volunteer/staff member invited us in the garden to help dig potatoes. He had invited a family of kids before us and the whole family turned him down. But not us. We eagerly climbed in and helped for a minute.

As we went, I pointed out plants and told him to feel and smell things. Matthew started to feel and smell on his own, which thrilled me to no end. We felt every different type of fruit we saw growing on trees. Peaches round and fuzzy, apples round and smooth, figs a funny shape and on and on.

In the Caterpillar Courtyard, Matthew and I dug for worms, but we couldn't find any. It must have been too hot.

After exploring the whole Heartland Harvest Garden side, we decided it was time to run through the big fountain. We were soaked, but man it felt good. Next time Matthew, at least, will go in his swim trunks.

On their blog I had read about the Octopus Agave plant that only blooms once every 10 years and it was in bloom! I know I had to get in and see it for myself. I wasn't leaving till I located it! They named it Big Bird.

On our way to the water gardens, we ran across these cutouts and had to take pictures.

Didn't Matthew take a great photo?! *photo by Matthew

Beautiful beautiful is all I can say.

Matthew wanted to take this bloom, that he pulled down to smell, but I finally convinced him that another little guy just his height might want to smell the same plant and if he took it, then it wouldn't be there to smell. So he graciously agreed to move on.

The Wildflower Meadow with the ants instillation marching along.

The Rock and Waterfall Garden was so charming I wanted to build a tree house and move right in.

A photo of the Perennial Garden.

And finally a shot of some of the beautiful moving art they had placed around the property. I wish I had a couple at my house.

I knew while I was there I took alot of photos, but today when deciding what to show, I realized I took 105 photos! Wow! So this is a faction of what I saw, but believe me it's so beautiful there. The volunteers/staff are very friendly and willing to show you anything. The grounds are stunning. If you live close enough, take the time to drive there and explore. I assure you it will be amazing.

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 11

Because I wasn't thinking, I loaded my photos backwards, but no matter. The first 3 pictures are from a fabulous garden that Matthew and I went to on Tuesday.

It's called Powell Gardens and Matthew and I had a wonderful time exploring the property. We touched all the different fruits growing on the trees to see how different types of fruits look and feel different. We smelled herbs, we smelled flowers, dug something, we touched leaves, and...

played in water. If you want to hear the whole story, come back tomorrow and I'll show more photos and tell you all about it!

Again, why the wrong direction loaded photos? Do you remember the sad munched tomato from this kinderGARDEN post? It's really turned around this week. It might actually make something of it's self.

Tomatoes planted from seed have suddenly grown this week and are as big as the replacement plant I bought from the store.

This is the replacement tomato and it's flowering. I hope it's not still too little.

These were about 2" tall last week. This week, lots bigger!

That curved blurry strip in the middle is what I was trying to get the camera to focus on. We have very purple green beans growing.

Matthew still likes to water when it's time and he picked a pepper. I guess we'll just have to make some salsa, darn! I have planted cilantro and lettuce 3 times now and I think I might finally get a crop. I don't know what happened to our onions, they just disappeared overnight. I wonder if it's too late to try again. I'm thinking about planting more beans, but I still haven't made the time to do it.

Kirsten at Sippin' Lemonade wrote a post about getting her purple green beans. What a thrill! Her son is just the cutest. Go and read her article is here. Kim's post over The Inadvertent Farmer is here. She has pictures of baby pigeons this week. Her family has the most interesting adventures with animals!

Summer street festival

Last weekend it was time again for the street festival. It's also election year. I never noticed so many candidates in one parade before. Our favorite candidate is running for his 3rd term as County Commissioner. And he'd be my father. I have a photo, but as I try and respect everyone's privacy on here, I won't post it due to last names displayed. Good luck Dad! Here are a few pictures of the high lights. Matthew, Angela, and I danced the blanket dance at the powwow.

Matthew and I braved the Tilt a Whirl. Boy, those are some unsure faces.

I was afraid he'd be scared and cry, but he laughed the whole way.

Next we rode the carousel.

Then we convinced Phil to take him down the slide.

Phil felt silly, but they both had huge grins going down. If you are a faithful blog reader, you might remember another ride down the big slide. Reread it here. I guar-row-tee (as a Cajun television cook says) you'll laugh alot!

Dog wrangling should be an olympic sport

You start with one big dog and one small boy.

The one small boy launches himself at the dog and tries to hang on.

Sometimes it doesn't work.

Sometimes it does.

At the end of the day, both large dog and small boys are happy. (Disclaimer: No large dogs or small boys were harmed in the making of this photo presentation.)

kinderGARDEN Thursday: week 10

As with many of you across the country, we've been getting alot of rain lately. I don't remember the last time Matthew and I had to water. I feel like my tomato plants aren't growing at all, but I know they are. We at least have the heat to go with the rain, unlike alot of you. I am getting a little tired of showing the poor plants slowly grow, so I'll only show you one of the Iran pumpkin plants. Both are looking good and actually growing, though slowly too. (Maybe I'm impatient.)

The beans have been blooming this week. I think the blooms are beautiful. I've been thinking about planting another pot.

I can't stand when blogger loads my pictures wrong. Sigh. Anyway, one of the best gardening things that happened this week is that Matthew REALLY IS excited about the garden. For his party Saturday, one of my very best friends drove 100 miles with her little boy to come play. Alex and Matthew have so much fun. Before Alex could leave Matthew had to show him the "plants."

And Matthew had Alex sniff each and every pot! And Alex did! It was so cute!

The other thing that really tickled my heart was that Kirsten over at Sippin' Lemonade (or maybe it's Thanks for the Lemonade) mentioned that she was jealous of my purple green beans since all she had was plain green ones. I offered to share the wealth with her and she agreed to let me! It really tickled me pink and made my week! So thanks for the fun Kirsten! Matthew and I mailed them off Wed. You should get them by next week I'd think. As for my coworkers that I gave the beans to also, I haven't gotten any updates lately. Maybe I'll see for next week how it's going for them.

I hope the rest of you are having as many fun moments as Matthew and I are. Thanks for inspiring us to overcome the hurdle of moving, in the middle of planting season, Kim. It's really blessing us. As usual, if you'd like to read The Inadvertent Farmer's post, here is week 10. If you love great children's books, you better get over there soon and leave a comment in order to try and win one!

Changing times

May I first start by proclaiming my love for my Mother's Day gift. I think it is stunning by my front door.

The other night Matthew and I took pictures of each other taking pictures. We had so much fun.

As in many areas of the country it has been raining alot. I was so surprised to look outside and see the 2 dogs sharing Simba's dog house.

Scamp has really enjoyed his vacation hanging out with Simba.

Aren't they cute!!!


It was such a busy day today. Although I didn't get anything done here, it was still productive. Changes have had to be made to the blog, due to "julia f Baca," (who supposedly has a blog called Salut.) "Julia" for 2 days running has made a point to post a comment that is 3 links to online viagra. I don't consider my blog a storefront, so I don't take kindly to someone I don't know posting links to drugs on it. I have no idea why birthday parties inspired it, but there it is. (Do children need viagra to have birthdays now a days? It's a joke, everybody laugh.) So in order to limit the viagra in our lives, I decided to make all comments go through me before they post on the blog. This won't in any way shape or form effect you, the reader, but now I have the job to check for comments so that the normal ones make it on the blog. I guess I've moved up in the world to have my first annoying comments after blogging for 2 years and 3 months!