Summer Gardening

Gardening has always been a part of my life.  In Texas, we re-introduced it with a garden of our own.  We watered, weeded and had pretty good success with tomatoes, carrots and beans.  We moved to Pittsburgh with grand dream of making sure we bought a house with good garden space.  Well, we have good garden space, it also happens to be the only flat part of the lawn we have as well as the only part that gets really good sun.  Add the need for a tract of lawn for the kids to play on and the deer that wonder through the back yard together and we decided to try container gardening.  We have a high deck off the family room making it quite accessible for watering and it gets decent sun.  I do have to run woodchuck/ground hogs off every once in a while but the plants seem to be doing well.

Left to right: carrots, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, front center: peppers

I have three planters of carrots, two for corn, two for peppers, three for tomatoes, and three for cucumbers.  I also have a small planter wtih some herbs in it.  I've fallen in love with fresh Basil. Burpee had a special container variety of corn so I thought I'd try it just for fun.  We had a pretty intense storm the other night that blow my corn down so we'll see if it revives.  We also bought a short variety of carrots so they should do really well in our containers.  My cucumbers have blossoms and there are some tomatoes on the vines.  I'm excited to see what we get from this little garden and see how we can expand and improve on it next year.  I already know I'll do more carrots.  We love carrots.

Sage, Parsley, Basil

Oh Say, Can You See . . .

Our place settings for our 4th of July dinner.

The 4th of July, what a day!  I am so grateful for the opportunity we have to live in this country.  My sister-in-law said it best when she wrote about the great sacrifice of the people who fought and decided to seek independence.  I truly believe this country is blessed by God as we seek his will and work, by faith to maintain our freedoms.

That being said, I wanted to share a bit of our celebration.  We were going to have a party full of fireworks and tasty food, instead I think we did somethings that truly represents the idea of the American Dream.  We worked.  We ended up driving up to my parents to help them with some garden work they needed to get done.  We accomplished a lot between rain showers.

The men worked on the garden stockade to keep the deer out of the garden.  Over the course of two days, they dug 36 post holes and placed 40 posts in concrete.  My dad was putting up the fence today.  Mom and I weeded a bit and just tried to keep the munchkins happy.

We decorated stars and flags.

Yum!

My mom, Hannah and I have started a tradition of painting our toenails when we get together.  This time it was flags and red, white and blue.

A quick game of croquet after dinner, before we all fell over from exhaustion.

The rainbow after the downpour we had just as the guys were placing the last four posts on Friday.

Singing camp songs by the fire.  One of my favorite things to do. 

They had worked really hard.  They were good sports to hang out with us Friday night.

The kids enjoyed the glow sticks and s'mores.

I am so glad we could help my parents and spend time with them.  They are such hardworking people and never cease to teach me how to be a better person.  

Take Me Out to the Ball Game . . .

Last month we had the opportunity to attend a Pirates game.  Hyrum is a long time baseball fan.  He spent many nights falling asleep listening to Texas Rangers games on the radio, as a boy.  That love of baseball has been passed on to our children.  I even enjoy a good baseball game.  One of the plus sides of moving to Pittsburgh was that they had a pro-baseball team.  The Pirates haven't had a great team since the 80's but they are doing well this season.  We're in it for the game, not for the wins.

Trying to get a family picture with the cityscape in the background.  Pittsburgh has a lot of neat bridges.

Anyway, there was a late afternoon game making it perfect for getting kids in bed at a decent hour and also getting naps to those who needed one.  PNC Park has an extremely liberal food policy so we packed up the juice boxes, water, hot dogs, ketchup, peanut butter and jam sandwiches, bubble gum, Swedish fish, tootsie rolls, caramel corn, carrot sticks and apples and off we went.

The crew getting ready for the game--well, half of the crew.

It was a great experience.  I would definitely do it again.  The field and park complex is lovely.  These Pittsburghers take care of their teams, no matter what happens.   We got through the gate and were immediately greeted by a women who worked for Guest Services.  She told us about an office that was set up for families with small children.  We could take the kids there for a break, feeding, air conditioning, whatever.  It was so great.  We didn't use it but it was nice to just know it was available and that she had sought us out.  I was also really impressed with the fans.  I didn't hear any foul language or bad mouthing the other team.  Everyone just seemed to be there to have a good time.  They weren't even bugged by our kids.

The outfield with the city backdrop.

Our seat were high but they were great.  We could see everything and we were in the shade.  It was a warm day but not unbearable, being in the shade made it perfect.  The kids enjoyed their hot dogs and the seemingly endless flow of treats, a rare treat for them.  They even enjoyed the game a bit.  Spencer and Charlotte played musical chairs and took turns sitting with Hyrum or I.  Hannah and Jonathan were mostly into the game, though I think Jonathan just liked being able to chew bubble gum.  The game went into extra innings and eventually the Pirates lost in the 11th.

Our view of the field.

The kids were worn out and ready to go home and thankfully there was no traffic.  We stayed to the end and had no problem getting home, twenty minutes and we were at our door.  I love family adventures.  I hope we can do this again.  Go Bucs!

Into the Woods

This log was part of our campsite.  The kids had fun climbing on it.

This past week we had a family adventure of the camping sort.  Hyrum took a few days off work so we could miss the craze of weekend camping.  We woke up Wednesday morning to a lovely if not slightly cool morning.  It took us a bit to get on the road but we were off by 11 and after a quick stop to the store by noon we were picking our campsite.

The forest around us.  I love it, so lush and green.

Our campsite and the roasted corn we were eating for dinner!

We had wanted to camp in the Allegheny National Forest but due to some weather a couple weeks ago the swimming hole was closed.  Since swimming was high on the priority list, we decided to head to Raccoon Creek State Park.  We found a great camp site and pitched our tent and ate lunch.  I put Spencer down for a nap and the other kids and I headed down to the beach.

Hiking down to the beach.

It was only supposed to be a "wade then go back to camp" kind of trip, just to get the lay of the land so we could go swimming the next day.  Well Charlotte plopped herself down into the water necessitating a quick return to camp.  The kids were so excited to go swimming though.  Jonathan kept saying there was a party at the beach and he wanted to be a part of it. 

Our first trip to the beach.

Thursday morning we decided we'd go for a little hike and then hit the beach for swimming.  We set off on our hike and it became a little more of an adventure than we had planned on.  Hyrum carried Spencer in the kid backpack and the rest of us were on foot.  We started on a very wide path, maybe a single lane road kind of path.  It was mowed and followed the trail of a creek that drains into the lake.  We had a pair of binoculars so we had fun trying to see wild life through them.  We also had to convince Jonathan that walking with them up to his eyes probably wasn't a good idea.  We saw a heron, tons of frogs and I even spied a snake in the water. 

Tinfoil dinners, though we decided that from now on I make meals we can see cooking.  They were a little burnt.

Shortly after we saw those critters the path shrunk to barely wide enough for one person with lots of growth around it.  I thought it was just a passing thing and the trail would quickly become wider and more tame.  Boy, was I wrong.  Hannah and Jonathan did pretty good but Charlotte ended up on my shoulders and Spencer was a bit fussy after He and Hyrum slid down the bank.  The overgrowth just got bigger and then thorn bushes joined the throng.  To add to the fun, the day had warmed so we were wet from the dew--I was wet up to my waist.  The kids lost their sense of adventure after bushing through the thorns for a while.

One of the racoons that invaded our camp site.  They showed up at about 7:30 every night.  The first night a couple of them started fighting over Cheetos someone had dropped.  I was really hoping they wouldn't kill each other right there as our children were watching and listening. 

The trail finally climbed out of the bushes along the creek and joined up with a road signaling our return trip.  It was a really interesting experiencing and one that we're not really anxious to repeat.  We head back via a different path.  Charlotte was pretty worn out and asked me to carry her so up to my shoulders she went.  After a few minutes she was on my back and finally as I sensed her falling asleep I pulled her around to the front of me and I carried her for about a mile.  I do enjoy occasionally holding my sleeping children but that was a bit ridiculous.  I am glad she got a nap though.

They are just cute.

We enjoyed looking at the various plants and thinking about the animals we could and couldn't see.  We saw some raccoon tracks and other signs of animals in the area.  It was nice to be together as a family. 

Spencer enjoying the beach and relative freedom.

After our hike we headed to the beach for a picnic and a dip in the lake.  There was quite the gathering at the lake.  It felt good to get a little wet and relax for a bit.  The kids loved the water though I think Charlotte preferred "the sandbox", as she called the beach.

Charlotte loved the sand.

Building sand castle while the warden watched.

After a little swim it was time for naps and some rest time while Spencer took a nap.  We got everyone cleaned up and then played Uno. 

Hyrum at the highpoint.  The highpoint is the top of that rock he is touching.

Friday, we ate breakfast, broke camp and drove a couple hours to Mt. Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania.  It wasn't really part of the plan but the kids were patient.  Next time I'll bring more snack for random drives and crazy hikes that take longer than we'd planned. 

Family picture at the highpoint.

It was so nice to just hang out together.  There were no computers or phones, no distractions just our family.  We enjoyed the typical camping activities, s'mores, burnt food, and a camp fire.  Hyrum and I enjoyed watching the fireflies after the kids had gone to bed.  The kids thought the racoons were "so cute."  They raided our camp every night picking up scraps dropped by the little ones.  I learned a few things about the art of camping but most of all I learned that in life, simple is good and so is family.

Hanging out at the high point.  There were a lot of mosquitoes.

Kids waiting and trying to keep Spencer out of the fire pit.

Yum, fire roasted corn.

Wrights, to the Rescue!

I mentioned napkins and painting beds but I've added a few other projects to my recent completions list.  Today I finished painting a desk for the girls' room.  I acquired it at a garage sale a few weeks ago and just painted it white.

Apparently Superheroes like to move, a lot, so I had a hard time getting them to stand still for a picture.

The other thing I finished were some capes.  The kids often tie their baby blankets around their necks in efforts to be superheroes.  Well, their knots don't stay tied very well and tying knots while making dinner gets a bit tedious so I decided I would make them capes they could put on themselves.  Several months ago I bought some fabric and in about a total of an hour and a half I had four capes made.  They were going to be Christmas presents but one day into summer I knew they needed something new and fun so I handed them out.  Hannah and Jonathan have been wearing theirs pretty regularly.  Jonathan occasionally sleeps with his on.  They were a hit and even Charlotte can put hers on by herself.  Now I have four superheroes running around my house--yes, Spencer has one too.

Spencer-man!