You get in all my toys
It make me punch and yell
I like to wrestle you around
And knock you to the ground
But then late at night when you start to weep
I offer “I’m here, don’t cry”
It calms you down, mom doesn’t come
And we both drift off to sleep
I love Gaura “Whirling Butterflies.” I need a permanent garden to put it in. Pictures from Ogden Botanical Gardens
We went on a short bike ride down the Ogden River Parkway first (the trail starts right by the dino park). The weather was beautiful.
We met my parents and went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. There are lots of statues of dinosaurs outside, including photo ops like these:
PB was scared to get close, but I think he did finally understand that T-rex couldn’t eat him. He had another panic attack when we went inside and saw robotic dinosaurs. Those ones did move.
There was a sand pit to dig up dinosaur fossils: Mr. C wore the right shirt.
We also enjoyed the learning center, outside playground, and indoor museum. Great place to go visit.
The last week has been hot. So here’s some ways to beat the summer heat.
First reaction: freak out. Glad I didn’t act on that one and instead went and joined the impromptu party the kids created. I was planning on vacuuming that day anyway.
Joe finally replaced his hand-me-down bike with a good commuter bike. (He bikes to work daily.) This one has a luggage rack, fenders, and best of all a bell. We promptly took a bike ride to the pool.
We were testing the ability of toys to sink or float.
Playing with ice cubes on a hot summer day.
Enjoying the fireworks. Even the one-year-old stayed up and enjoyed them.
I don’t always garden like I should. I’m too economical with both time and money.
and a winged weeder
. Than weeding takes on a new amount of funness, although I’m not even close to a weed free garden. In my defense, I’m pretty sure there are weed seeds in the irrigation water, and the space hasn’t been properly gardened for years: there is a good seed bank to battle against.I want a garden I can go out and enjoy, and if I don’t feel like working I don’t. My garden is never perfect: it is simply good enough. And good enough right now at least means zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, and snap peas.
It takes a while after moving to figure out a new house and new rhythm, find friends, and connect to the community. I feel like I’m finally settling in here: letting go of the things that don’t work, making new paths, new friends. It does take time, but I’ve found with a lot of effort anyplace I’ve lived has turned into a home, and we have grow to love the place and the people around us.
Angry eyes. C has figured out how to scowl, and he uses his scowl all the time to express disapproval or joke around.
This project cost $1.50 and about 10 minutes. PB loved it. It is very multi-functional: make shapes on the geobaord, snap the band to make sounds, and makes mazes for the balls.
Painting with chalk paint. Simple mix of cornstarch, food coloring and water. PB made a playground. C made some colorful spills.
Kids playing in the mini-sandbox with Grandma.
I hadn’t enjoyed a homegrown tomato for around 20 months. Two tomatoes from the ‘Fourth of July’ plants ripened, and I gobbled them up for lunch. I sliced them to put on a sandwich, but ended up eating them plain and savoring the flavor.
This news story was extremely interesting to me. I grew up in Lehi, and my parents still reside there. To summarize the situation: the city is running out of drinking water. To counteract the shortage they are telling residents to not use culinary water on their lawns.
Shouldn’t people already be doing this? Lehi has a pressurized secondary system in place, and I am at a lose as to why someone would use culinary water when secondary is available. One issue might be water pressure: my parent have always had less than desirable water pressure, both in and out. But I see many residents watering their lawn daily and it’s a no brainier why. I would guess the majority of people over irrigate, in order to maintain a nice, lush, artificial green lawn.
So here is some simple irrigation advice:
I currently reside in an apartment. The grass is lush, green, attractive. It even has mushrooms growing in it. It is pampered with plenty of irrigation water (from the culinary system) every other day. It has been irrigated the same way since the system was turned on. Although the lawn does look nice, is it worth it? For me the answer is no. I believe the lawn could be nice and green (minus the mushrooms) with far less irrigation water. The lawn has a shallow root system, and does not react well to stress. Because of this, I do not consider it healthy. It is certainly not sustainable: as seen in Lehi, culinary water is not inexhaustible. We should not run out of drinking water in order to keep our lawns green.
For more information see:
I saw something out in the garden that has me very excited:
It has been far too long since I have had a homegrown tomato. I thought this plant was ‘Cherokee Purple’, but I’m thinking it is actually ‘Fourth of July’. I wasn’t too diligent with my plant labels. Actually, all my vining crops I grew from seed are still unknown due to the fact that I didn’t label properly and then the toddler ripped out the labels I did have. I’ve had a few die, including a pack that was both attacked by the toddler and then was deprived of water for a week, and have little idea what they were to replace them. So I think I planted french melons, hubbard squash, striped armenians, and zucchini, but I know that at least one of those crops doesn’t actually exist.
All my tomatoes are doing amazing. Most are in bloom, and many already have fruit set.
The peas are a good five feet tall, and outgrowing the support. I planted snap peas, because I love them, and I’ve been eating them as my primary vegetable lately. Still more blooms and young peas, so more snacking to come.
The spinach has bolted. I haven’t touched it lately, and will probably pull it up soon. But I loved having enough for salads and sandwiches why it lasted. I have no idea why I have never planted spinach before. It did quite well, even if the harvest was pretty short. Once the peas are done as well, I’ll rip out the section and plant beans.
I probably keep our family a bit too busy, but I love to go do things. My day is better if I get out of the house. Lately, we have mostly visited parks. Plus we have lots of family around to invite along or visit, which I love.
So he’s an inch away from being too tall to ride this. But he’s the perfect (or only?) age to enjoy it. He is a tall kid. Sometimes even I have to remember he is only three, even if he looks like he could pass for much older.
Here are some activities we’ve done. C did enjoy this one. He yanked out the pipe cleaners. PB turned it into a castle, junkyard, and a snake infested home. I love his creativity.
I pulled out my old drafting supplies. I prefer the computer. But these guys had fun with it.
This might be an interesting picture. But this is one of C’s favorite things. He will sit there forever, listening and watching to the wash go around and around.
Other mildly interesting events:
C won our family home evening game, fair and square. We played chutes and ladders, and even C could spin. PB cheated, I took second, and Joe gave up after another trip down the big slide.
PB recently wrote this small, yet awesome song: “You don’t have to get into trouble, trouble, trouble,” or the short version “your don’t get into trouble, trouble.” It’s pretty awesome, and as far as I can tell, completely original. He loves music, mostly listening, but then he will start singing along to some pretty complex songs.
Liz Braithwaite 