Weekend Garden Journal #8- Birthday Edition

Nothing makes a garden grow like leaving on vacation.  Thanks to the Handleys senior for watering our garden for us!  This is a summary of the past few weeks.

First peas!!  The pea season is over now- it was short but sweet.  We are thinking of pulling down these plants now and planting a second crop for the year.  

The nasturtiums are going crazy!  So beautiful, and a nice, spicy taste.

A lot of chard...enough said.

As of June 29th we have a TON of green tomatoes, lots of blossoms on our zucchini and cukes, a wonderful blend of lettuce types and jalapenos and banana peppers ready to eat.  The broccoli is all gone to seed...guess we should have started new plants.  The spinach is also going to seed...not sure what we did wrong or how to prune it to get big leaves.

Happy birthday Daddy!  Violet made Matt a birthday salad- the first of the season.

Peanutbutter Cup Birthday Bars

Beer can chicken on the grill

Some assistance blowing out the candles

Looking pretty good on his 29th birthday!

Matt on a roof.  What should you do the night before you leave on a week long camping trip?  Why, pick and pit a bazillion cherries, of course.  We thought the frost had killed them all, so we were excited to get any.

It takes a LONG time to pit 12 cups of cherries...but so worth it!

Nothing much more beautiful

KY and TN Trip #3

6/20-Went to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville.  It was great!  The kids loved the rockets, bridge building and human body puzzle the most of all.  We followed this with a "naptime air-conditioned car tour" of Nashville for Matt and me while the kiddos slept.  My cousin, Carson, came by to say hello and we all cooked pie iron dinners (and dessert)!

A little math in the morning

On the cusp of crawling...oh so close

Love the Miss Frizzle face

Walking on a piano

Matt playing with the Google Earth display- he found our house by spinning and tipping the screen.  This is the future, my friends!

Pop bottle rockets

How many engineers does it take....

Building a house while the parents constructed a bridge...for like, an hour

Matias mastered the human body puzzle...favorite new word is "duodenum"

Violet destroyed Matias at mindball

I love me some napping kids!

And some cool treats!

Downtown Nashville

The Parthenon.  Matias enjoyed this because the real one is on his Amazing Places Map.

Janet packed that car like a Tetris game.  It was humbling to behold.

Giggling children in the trailer

The nice site setup we had

6/21-The Freybergs packed up the car and we all ended our time together at the Wave Country wave pool.  The kids loved the wave pool, "mushroom" pool and the great kid's tube slide.  They must have gone down 30 times each.  We said goodbye, and then we headed back to the campground for a perfect last night- we ate spaghetti, watched the sunset on the beach (the kids swam in their clothes...can't keep those kids out of the water), roasted S'mores, played with the fire and glow sticks in the dark.  What a great vacation! (We will conveniently forget the realllllly long drive home the next day and end here)

The water is magnetic

Happy baby...sunburned Mommy

So beautiful

She is always running somewhere...

How tall is everyone?  

Nice view

Our little mermaid

Instruction on the perfect technique...you can't start too young

yum!

We bought this wood from 98 year old Mr Smith who had lived here all his life.  We spent three nights trying to burn through the big log...it finally split in two about 9:30 on the last night.

Glow sticks!

Ooooohhhh....pretty!

KY and TN Trip #2

6/17- Today we visited Churchill Downs Racetrack, home of the Kentucky Derby, on Father's Day.  We returned to camp to grill delicious chicken and vegetables, and topped it off with S'Mores.

Watching the horses make their way to the gate

Ironically, a horse called "Storm Clouds Coming" won the race right on this stormy day

The only rain came between races though, and didn't stop the action

Janet and Gavin...shortly after this we decided to find dry, shady seats!

Family photo op- the kids were not as enthused about the idea as I was

Matt's first Mint Julep (and Violet's missed naptime)

Matias LOVES the race program and betting on the ponies

Brandishing his $2 bet slip and screaming "Go Number 8" for the ENTIRE race

I believe Number 8 is in the light blue...

Watching in style from our box

Gotta love the things you see driving almost 2,000 miles

6/19- Took down camp and drove through Ft. Knox to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.  We took the awesome 2 hour Historic Tour of the cave.  I carried a mostly-sleeping Beatrice and Matt carried a sleeping (read: dead weight) Violet through the Fat Man's Misery and Tall Man's Agony passages.  Matias LOVED the hike through the cave.  Then we moved on to Nashville, TN and set up camp at Seven Points Campground, site 38, on Percy Priest Lake.  It is another lovely site, right across from the lakeshore.

Fat Man's Misery

It was only 50 degrees in the cave, but Matt and I were both sweaty by the end!

I think Beatrice got a lot out of the experience

We made it!!

Time for water and milkshakes

6/19-Today we visited the Cheekwood Botanic Garden's exhibit of treehouses- wonderful and hot!  We had lunch at Shoney's (so we could say we'd been South).  Hit the beach in the afternoon- the kids loved it. Steak for dinner!

Each treehouse was book-inspired.  This was Lord of the Flies

Walden

A Pirate Book of some sort

The Hobbit

Rainbow Fish

Can't remember the book...big ball of yarn!

Violet's face reflects how our poor waitress probably felt facing this table!

Baby Bath in a Bucket