Eat Your Veggies

2 Years, 51 Weeks.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

How does your garden grow?

With Silver bells and Cockleshells

And pretty maids all in a row.

~ Old English Nursery Rhyme, Mother Goose

This week we watched with amazement as our backyard garden started to show lots and lots of plant activity, namely, the germination of all the seeds we had planted last week.

I don't think I've ever mentioned this before so let me start from the beginning:

Ever since I drew up the plans for the backyard I had always envisioned us to have a nice, elevated garden to plant, grow, and harvest our own vegetables.  But it wasn't on the top of the list, with the pergola, playground, and putting green.  

And then there was the logistics of it all:  location, size, design, watering system, etc, etc.  And then the twins came along, so that was pushed out of the way, all the way to the back burner.   But finally, last Fall, I decided to pull the trigger, and set out determined to design and build a garden that would be ready for planting this Spring.

Here's how that all went down:

Staking out the area.

Let the cutting begin!

Making sure they're all the same length.

Kohl helps set up the framework.

Starting to take shape!

Ready for a sprinkler system!

The children assisting = free manual labor!

Digging a connection from an existing line.

The twins enjoyed jumping over the trench.

Braelyn loved digging holes for the pipes to go through.  But overall, she just loved to dig.

Sprinkler lines up and ready!

The kids chose what veggies they wanted to plant, with my approval, of course!

Getting the layers organized.

Putting down large logs and sticks as filler on the bottom.

Braelyn mapping out the vegetable assignments.

Hopefully we can stick with the planned diagram!

Ready for seeding.

The waiting game begins.

4 days later, first signs of life!

2nd tier, day 8.

Testing out the garden sprinklers.

Enjoying the new garden!

Hopefully this will help us to eat more vegetables in the future! 

Here was our week:

• Over the weekend we took a trip out to the west coast to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, the home of "Winter" the dolphin, of whom the movie Dolphin Tale was made.  She is famous for not having a tail due to her getting caught by a crab trap and badly injuring it, having to get it amputated after she was found beached by a passing fisherman.  Anyway, she became famous after they had a doctor invent a silicone fluke to replace her missing one.  It was a gorgeous day and the kids enjoyed seeing the different marine animals and sea creatures, most of whom were there for rehabilitation from accidents out at sea.

Chomping on some corn for lunch.

Much smaller than Sea World, but now world renown for their work in rehabbing 

Definitely utilizing her for marketing!

Our first glimpse of Winter.  Note her missing tail fluke.

Braelyn poses under a giant sea turtle.  The twins were apprehensive at first...

But then curiosity got the better of them.

Maddy poses while waiting for the trolley.

Kohl enjoys a snack while Mommy enjoys the sunshine.

Hanging out inside a TED (Turtle Extractor Device) net, designed for commercial fisherman to use,
preventing turtles from getting trapped with whatever types of fish they are catching.

Catching a ride from Winter.

Mommy taking a breather on top of a loggerhead.

Swung by to check out the Grodack's new screening room, which Duncan installed while the rest
of the family were out of town over the weekend.  He even baked cookies, what a guy!

• On Sunday we attended the birthday party of our friends Zachary and Kaleb Zbaraschuk, as well as Luke Deininger, out at the Central Florida Zoo in Sanford.  We hadn't been there in quite some time, ever since our family membership expired early last year, so it was nice to get back over there and see the new additions and new exhibits displaying new animals.  We had a great time visiting with all our friends who were also at the party, and we watched all the kids play games and celebrate together.  The kids were exhausted enough when we got home to fall asleep for naps, while Tangie continued getting things together for our consignment and while I worked on moving the lawn.

Starting off with a train ride.

Checking out Jennifer's animal cake creations.

The entire party room at the zoo.

The enjoyed the animal print theme and hats!

Playing games with the camp counselor, they were moving about hence the distorted figures!

Group photo.

The three celebrants ready to blow out their candles.

Obviously enjoying his ice cream!

Touching the python during a demonstration.

Our little Vanna White!

• The rest of our week in pictures:

Making sure Nana's card arrives on time for her birthday on Wednesday!

Great weather to eat lunch outside.

That continued on to suppertime as well!

Some additional landscaping projects out back.

He wanted to eat his snack lying on his belly.

Saying goodnight to the vegetables in their pajamas.

We have a couple of posers!

Braelyn showing some anguish over Mommy working late that evening...

Kohlden trying on my glasses.  Kinda looks a lot like Daddy in the morning!

During a Lowe's run, Braelyn and I picked up a couple of kids.

Kohlden uses the Leapfrog Reader to read a story to Madelyn.

• We also completed preparing and tagging the items to sell at next week's consignment.  Feels good to get it all done a week early!

Toys, shoes, and miscellaneous items.

Both Pack 'n plays.

And a closet full of clothes, all tagged and ready to be sold!

Randoms:

Drove on our sister - in - law's Causeway in Tampa.

This lawyer picked a very pretty font for his business sign...

Remind me to bring some Lysol and a table cover the next time we go on a picnic...

Duncan's colleague wanted to build an elevated garden so Duncan sent him a picture of mine.
This was the end result! He liked it so much he had someone build him an exact replica!

Hot and muggy already!  Summer is officially here.

She even packed her bags, she thought she was going to fly out to California all by herself!

Quotes:

• Braelyn was whining about how hot and tired she was when we were walking back to our car from the zoo.  Then she saw the snow cone vendor before the exit and said, "I need something cold to warm me up!"

• We were at Lowe's when Kohlden spotted a man with a brand new boxed toilet in his cart.  Kohl pointed at the drawing of the toilet and exclaimed, "Look!  He's going to build a potty!"

• Maddy had just successfully relieved herself #1 and #2 in the potty:

          Together:  "Yay!"

          Maddy:  "I went pee-pee and poo-poo!"

          Me:  "Yay!"

          Maddy:  [looks at me all serious] "The poo-poo was heavy."

          Me:  [agreeing] "Yes, the poo-poo was heavy."

          Maddy:  [shaking her head]  "I don't want to carry it."

Have a great week!