Double Roar

I involuntarily smile when I see these picture.  A big, cheesy, goofy-looking, full on mom smile.  

Outtakes

'Passport' photos for a project at church.  The outtakes remind me that:

1) these two are definitely related
2) they are growing (duh...but sometimes you ignore the signs, right?)
3) there is a big gap in compliance between 1.5 and 3.5
4) I have some pretty awesome kids

Garden, RIP

Our garden is almost gone.  Sure sign that a) fall is coming and b) I shouldn't make agriculture my day job yet.

Our pumpkins looked like this before we left for a roadtrip/vacation two weeks ago.

Big, beautiful flowers dotted the vine climbing up the old, rickety privacy fence.

With our first (only?) fall fruit happily hammocked at the top where I thought it'd be safe from pumpkin predators.  (Ha!)  

It was getting pretty big up there!  

But when we got back the vine was dead and the pumpkin had some kind of worm in it.  Vine borers perhaps?  Sigh.  Nature was not working with me on this one.  (no pictures...but it was ugly.)

We do have some honey dew melons growing...but I'm not holding my breath.  And the tomatoes are lost to caterpillars and deadish leaves.  

Don't let the apparent abundance of tomatoes fool you.  They've likely all been half eaten.  I'm in the process of cutting the plants back but can't quite commit.

On the bright side: I did do well with herbs this year - and got a ton of black cherry tomatoes early in the summer (and enough romas to make sauce for one calzone meal).  

And I'm grateful for the slight bit of experience this gave me.  And the activity for the kids since they helped me water and pick and weed the tomatoes.  

So take that bugs and plant diseases!  I'm counting this as a life lesson WIN.  

And next year I'm making pumpkin pie. (I'm coming for you, vine borer.)

Geocaching II

The kids were sick all of mid August with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease.  Poor things were miserable for half a week each and contagious for almost another full week so we spent plenty of time bonding over popsicles, applications of coconut oil, and playing blocks and trucks by ourselves.  

They, understandably, also caught a bit of cabin fever after the most painful part of the sickness passed but we were still stuck home, alone and banned from playgrounds (where they might spread their germs).

One weekend afternoon we decided to try alleviating boredom with another geocache hunt in the park across the way.  It was all dirt trails through the woods to our target...beautiful and quiet.  Jon muscled the double stroller (filled with invalids) up and down the dirt bike paths, almost carrying it at one point to get across a too-narrow wooden walkway.  

But it was worth it (says the lady who did none of the carrying...).  Owen was so excited to be on a 'treasure hunt' that he forgot about his sore feet and walked much of the trail back.  The hour or so on the trails sparked his little boy imagination and got his mind off of the tedium of quarantine.

And Everly, she just loves the outdoors and was happy to sit quietly watching nature.    

Chef

Spices

Adding a pinch

I'm doing my best to ensure that our children become gourmet chefs.  Preferably before they turn 15...but I'll accept basic fare through 18 if I must.

Owen and Ever are no exceptions to the 'children like to be where you are, doing what you are doing' rule.  We spend lot of time together cooking.  Mostly spreading peanut butter and jelly or stirring oatmeal but occasionally we actually cook and I love when they mimic those movements in their play.

Owen made me this delicious soup from pool water and grass herbs and seeds.  It was superb.  Slightly earthy with just a hint of a vinyl finish and notes of feet.  mmm.

Fireman

So cool it was maybe too cool.

Just a tad intimidating.

 Except for this one...who is still too little to care about the bigness of things.  She was trying to stay in the truck forever.

Sand

Most days we travel only as far as we can walk.  

Turns out...we can walk pretty far.  

Some days we walk to a little island of sand and playgrounds near where Jon plays hockey.  

Our beach for this summer.

Spectacular concrete fossils are hidden underneath the dunes of the sand pit.  Paleontologist was on my list of top ten occupations when I was little (along with about 50 other things...there were a lot of ties) but I'm not sure Owen grasps the amazingness of this opportunity...though he's definitely taken with using the backhoe to move unlimited sand.

 

We get to this summer oasis via a winding set of trails that cut through the park.  We have to go early - before the pavement bakes and while the deeper forest is still cool and quiet rather than steaming and buzzing -so typically we are the first playground inhabitants.  It's a bit of a sanctuary for an hour or so before other kids come, rough and tumbling...and Owen slows and quiets around them.  But the kids bring toys - and sometimes this is incentive enough to push him past shyness into the realm of socialization...sometimes for long enough to be polite and friendly and actually speaks real words to them.  At least to ask for permission to use their toys or trade for a bit.

Eventually we head back - eating our packed picnic on the trail home.  By the time we return cheeks are flushed, hair is damp and eyes are just slightly vacant in that happy, tired, sandy way that I love so much.