Wild Garden

The garden is a serious mess! Things are growing everywhere, including the weeds. It is hard to believe that Fall is just around the corner, and soon the garden will be empty, and the sky will be grey.



Today I finally harvested a few of our beets. They didn't get that big, but we have quite a few of them.



I am able to pick a container full of tomatoes every other day or so. Nothing beats the taste of home grown tomatoes, ripened on the vine. I sure will miss these during the winter.



Jaime picking Italian plums from our tree. He picked an entire bag full, and there are still plenty on the tree!! I hope to make a dessert from my childhood with these.

HELLO!!!

I cannot believe how quickly Bella is growing!

She can crawl, but prefers to scoot around town on her bottom. She pulls herself to a standing position to cruise the furniture, but has trouble getting back to a sitting position once her legs tire. Eating just may be her favorite past time. She eats anything and everything.

Today

Today was an awesome day!

Noah and I got along quite nicely, and worked together to clean up our basement! Then Noah scraped moss off of our back steps, and attempted to mow the lawn. He was so cute! Our push mower is tough to push through thick grass, and he insisted it would be easy if I would only spray WD-40... like Dad always does.

Thank you for your hard work Noah!

I can't believe how big and strong you have become in 5 short years.

Cabbage

We harvested our first Red Cabbage yesterday!! I really didn't think any of them would be eatable. They were/are terribly infested with aphids; but after peeling away the outer leaves, not a bug in site! I quartered it, just to be sure, and again... NO BUGS! Soooo, for dinner we enjoyed one of my favorite dishes... German style cooked Red Cabbage.

Vacation from a Vacation

Have you ever noticed how exhausting a vacation is? After all of the traveling, hiking, playing, swimming, eating...YES, I think I need a vacation from our vacation!

We had such a wonderful trip to Hawaii to visit my in-laws and attend a family reunion.

It's amazing how much change is all around us, yet how much things stay the same. The island of Oahu feels more and more cramped every time we visit. Many of our 'old' favorite eatery's have closed down to make way for a 'new' store. In the last 15yrs, Kmart, Walmart, Sam's Club, Costco, Home Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy and others have made their way to the islands. With this last trip, I learned that Whole Foods, Target, and Walgreens will also show up soon. The smaller 'Mom and Pop' shops are closing down...they just can't compete. It's scary to watch these gigantic retailers emerging on every corner, every spare piece of land. Yes, they have given the people of Hawaii more choices and competitive pricing... but come on, how much 'stuff' do we really need??

On a lighter note, there is still plenty of beauty all around. We enjoyed the beach almost daily, and did a little hiking. Noah loved being out in nature and exploring. Bella loved sitting on the beach, digging in the sand and occasionally sneaking a rock into her mouth.

We arrived home to cooler weather, a little rain, and a garden that somehow survived my absence. Yippeee!! Our first day home was spent doing laundry, grocery shopping, checking email, sorting snail mail, and unpacking. It's good to be home!