Blissful Days in the Backyard

When I look back on this trip to Indianapolis, I think one of the things I'll picture most is the time we spent in the back yard. It was such a quintessential summertime-visiting-grandma feeling - the kids running through sprinklers, watering the plants, playing with bubbles, being chased by Papaw Fred.

I sat on the patio, with either a coffee or glass of wine in my hand, and enjoyed watching them play.

The Indianapolis Zoo

We just got back from a week-long vacation to Indianapolis! I haven't even unpacked my bag yet, but I was so excited to upload my pictures from this trip and relive such a nice, fun, summer-y trip to visit our family.

We did a lot of fun things - one being heading to the Indianapolis Zoo. I had some serious zoo envy going on...their zoo is much bigger and more impressive that Sacramento's little zoo!

We went to the dolphin show and it was A HIT with the kids. I couldn't get over how nicely Bennett sat in his little spot, waiting for the action to begin. They loved seeing the dolphins waving and splashing and jumping and flipping.

Speaking of animals, on one afternoon while we were in Danville, Judy heard some scratching at her front door. After peeking out her front window, she went through a different door and around the house to find this guy stuck on the front porch just like this:

A monster turtle!

A neighbor had a big trap/cage and wrangled this guy into it, which is where we found him when we returned home.

It turns out their next door neighbor thinks they found this same turtle in their garage last week, but dumped him in the lake across the neighborhood. What is he doing, and why is he targeting the houses in this corner of the 'hood? And how did he get up the 3 steps to get stranded on the front porch? And why is his face so cute?

The kids were sad to hear that he had been taken and released in a nearby golf course's lake, but Bennett kept agreeing that "Turtle go live in the water!"

Around Here Lately

1. Finishing spring semester of class. This semester it was Anatomy & Physiology and it might have been the most challenging and time consuming courses I've ever taken. Each unit was just jam-packed with items needing to be memorized. All 206 bones. All the muscles. Nerves. Layers and accessories of the skin. I am VERY relieved for it to be over....and hoping to enjoy summer before taking A&P part 2 in the fall!

(A real human brain!) 

(The layers of the retina of the eye under a microscope)

2. Buying June a bigger bike and the kids getting distracted by the power wheels.

3. Food trucks in the park

4. Visiting the Fish Hatchery with friends

5. A date night watching the Scottish Fiddlers (Michael knows me so well!)

6. Bennett using everything as an air guitar or air trumpet

7. June and Bennett being best friends

8. Bennett's first dentist appointment. It was actually just going to be him watching me get my teeth cleaned get him comfortable with the idea. He sat on my chest and practically had his head in my mouth, watching everything while the wonderful technician cleaned. When I was done, he hopped on the chair and said "MY TURN!" So she looked around!

9. Nothing going on on a Saturday morning, so breaking out the face painting kit!

Last Night in the Arena

We got a chance to go to the last King's game in Sleep Train arena a few weeks ago. The whole city's pretty excited about the new arena, and wanted to send out the old one in style. 

It was fun - and pretty hectic - with two small children. Lots of snacks were consumed in a small window of time, and we ended up bailing at halftime, but I'm glad we did it!

The 2016 Garden

I debated whether or not to put some plants into the raised bed this year since there's so much else going on. But I really do get joy out of seeing edibles grow out from the ground, so I headed to Home Depot one day and bought some seedlings.

This year we have sugar snap peas, spinach, broccoli, green beans, two kinds of tomato and some kind of plant that June got when we visited a local farm earlier this year.

We've already eaten broccoli, sugar snap peas and spinach, and the green beans are just about ready!

June can pick the sugar snaps off the vine, so she helps herself and her brother. (He tried getting one himself and he ended up ripping off half a plant!)

Another time, I saw Bennett chewing on something and asked him what he was eating. "Bro-kee," he said, with a little green sprout on his lips.

I looked over at the little plant and this is what I saw:

Ha!

Unfortunately, it turns out broccoli only has one big crop a year, but it does have little off-shoots. So sometimes June will go outside with a bowl and come back in with it filled with little broccoli florets. Maybe when it's truly done I'll pull it out and plant something else? 

It hasn't been too much upkeep this season, and we're loving it so far!