Watching Our Garden Grow

The girls and I planted a vegetable garden again this year. This year we started earlier and it's doing wonderfully! We planted Corn, Sunflowers (with seeds), Japanese Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, regular Tomatoes, Green Bell Pepper, Yellow Onion, Pumpkin, Watermellon, Basil, Italian Parsley, and Chamomile. I always have Thyme, Rosemary, and Sage. We had also planted a whole Pumpkin, from last Halloween, and IT GREW. We have so many baby Pumpkins. It's so much fun. I've done Pumpkins once before, but I don't remember it doing this well. I can't wait to see how many we get. I'm hoping enough for a pumpkin picking party.

We're having a blast picking and eating all the wonderful things from our garden. There is nothing like a fresh Cucumber and Tomato salad straight from the garden!

2nd Annual Camping Trip

O's year long wish finally came true. We took our annual camping trip.

We had a wonderful time. We really need this time together as a family....away from cell phones, TV, and the computer. It was our second in a row, but third camping trip. We went camping in 2004 with several friends (6 other adults and 4 other kids). We really want to go camping, at least, once a year. It would be fun to go more.

This year we went to Big Basin Redwood State Park. My second time in Big Basin. What a beautiful place. All the redwoods. Pefect weather - not too hot during the day. It got cold at night, but we planned for that. It was beautiful.

I have become quite the camper. The best part is setting up camp. I just love setting everything up. Washing dishes in a bucket after every meal becomes a family affair. The girls loved "helping" me.

My favorite part about camping is when C comes into the tent in the morning with a warm wash cloth to wash my face (now me and the girls). This trip I was able to surprise him one morning. He was so tired from work, he couldn't get up early to heat up the water. The girls and I got up, while C slept. I heated up the water on our camp stove, washed the girls faces and then woke up C for his turn. He loved it.

We took a day hike (3.5 miles total) to Sempervirens Falls. Nothing like the hike in Tahoe - much easier. It was wonderful hiking through the redwoods. The water fall wasn't very big....still beautiful, but small. We saw lots of butterflies, Steller Jays, squirrels, even a Rattle Snake. Now that was a treat! The girls were a little nervous, but wanted to see it go into its den.

Right after breakfast we were able to see a Banana Slug. Another treat. I havent' seen one of those since 6th Grade Science Camp. The girls loved seeing that as well.

BESTS: O-squirrel, CK-Rattlesnake, C-Watching O fall asleep in her chair after hiking, T-All of the above and spending time with my family....camping. Oh...CK has a P.S. - loved roasting marshmallows.

Camping with my husband is always the best! We are a great team. Now with our girls it's even better.

(don't forget - you can click on an image to see it larger)

Daddy's New Scar

Here is a pic of C's burn mark from an ejected shell casing that landed on him during recent rifle training. He couldn't brush it off since he was under time pressure to make his own hits. He thinks it has a CDI (Chicks Dig It) factor of 8. It looks better now than it did the day he got it.

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. I know we did. We had a small BBQ at our home and then went to the park to watch fireworks with friends and neighbors. I brought dessert and coffee to the park. The kids played on the playground. A fun time was had by all. Now this is great way to celebrate America's birthday!

I've always wanted to take photographs of fireworks and for one reason or another (CK and O) I haven't been able to. I finally got my chance! Here are a few images from our evening at the park.