Roughin' It

Every year we take a day trip to the beach with friends and every year I think, "Maybe next year we'll camp out the night before." Well, we finally did it this year! We had a few hiccups along the way, like realizing when we got there that wood fires weren't allowed. Whoops. And the weather was hot, hot, hot! I was starting to think, "Why are we doing this?" But after the dads returned from a Wal-Mart run with some disposable charcoal grills and the weather was cooling off, thanks to a gorgeous sunset, we really started enjoying ourselves. I made foil dinners with tilapia and mushrooms and a side of potatoes and carrots. We also had bannock, which is basically a biscuit dough that you wrap around a stick and cook over the fire. For dessert we had banana boats.


After playing some musical tents, Carolyn and Molly ended up sleeping in our 2-man tent and Audrey and Emma slept in our 4-man with Greg and me.

The next morning, after eating breakfast and packing up, we headed for the beach. It was so nice to be there so early and not have a long drive. We got a great parking spot, right by the bath house and beach entrance, plus a prime spot on the beach, right on the water's edge. We even saw lots of dolphins jumping out of the water. The kids had so much fun playing in the sand and in the waves. I love, love, love being at the beach. I don't think there's anything that relaxes me more than sitting on the beach. It was so nice.

After the beach, we cleaned up and headed for the boardwalk. We let the kids ride the rides at Fun Land, which they loved. We also were sure to get a big bucket of Fischer's caramel popcorn. Mmmmm... All in all it was a super fun mini-vacation. I'll admit that I'm not the camping type of girl (I only have a one-night camping tolerance) but I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to do it again.

Vegetable Philanthropy

Since now's about the time that backyard gardens really start producing, I thought I'd let you know about something that I got really excited about when I heard about it. There is a Grow It Give It website, which is a part of Maryland's Grow It Eat It campaign. On it are several links to find local soup kitchens and food pantries that will accept your homegrown donations. If you don't live in Maryland (or even if you do), there's a website, AmpleHarvest.org. It is a national website where you can enter your zip code and a mile radius and it will search for food pantries near you. I love the idea of donating fresh vegetables instead of the less nutritious canned and dry food that we usually donate. Thanks to the deer invasion I had a little while ago, I don't think I'll have any excess to give this year, but I'm already thinking about where I can add a second garden bed next year so that I'll have plenty to share.

Summer Adventures #5 & 6

Alright, this is going to be a boring post because there are no pictures but I felt the need to document these as part of our summer adventure series.

5. Hammerman Beach. Our friends invited us to go with them to a small, man made beach on the bay. While it wasn't the ocean, it was still a lot of fun and the kids had a great time swimming and playing in the sand. It's near where Greg works so he left work early that day and joined us, which gave me a chance to actually sit on the beach and relax. Woohoo!

6. Free Movies at Regal. While Carolyn was at soccer camp, I took the rest of the girls to see Planet 51. It wasn't crowded like I thought it would be and the girls enjoyed it. Emma did get pretty restless, though, and she sat on my lap the whole time instead of in her seat. But I think we'll do it again since we pretty much never go to the theater to watch movies and the kids get such a thrill out of it.

Audrey's First Glasses

We had suspicions about Audrey's eyesight. She'd turn her head when she watched t.v., that was our biggest clue. So our pediatrician gave me the name of a pediatric opthamologist and I took her in for an eye exam. It turns out that she's near sighted and has a lot of astigmatism. We've been pumping her up for them, saying things like, "Aren't you excited that that you get to wear glasses!" so she hasn't been worried or scared about them at all. We picked them up today and she's kept them on all day and hasn't complained at all. And she looks super cute in them!

Before & After: Molly and Audrey's Room

I finally completed my vision for Molly and Audrey's room. Well, it could still use headboards, throw pillows, wall art, etc. Those will come when I find good deals on them. We inherited green faux-finished walls with lots of holes in them. I painted the blue section and made the window treatments during one of the blizzards. Over the Fourth of July weekend we finally did the wainscoating. We created it by nailing up a wide strip of casing around the perimeter of the room. Then we cut 1/4 inch thick plywood into 1.5 inch wide strips, spaced them out on the wall, and painted it in a white semi-gloss. It was so much cheaper doing it this way instead of buying panels of beadboard. We would have needed about 9 sheets of it, but we only used 2 sheets of plywood. I am so happy with the way it turned out. Up next is Carolyn's room...stay tuned, I have some BIG plans!

My Pride and Joy

Once when I went to a master gardener's clinic, one of them said that you can plant a cherry tomato in a pot and then bring it inside at the end of the summer. Then "you'll have cherry tomatoes until you're sick of eating cherry tomatoes."


I can see my potted cherry tomato from my kitchen and I have loved watching it grow. It's so pretty and delicate, unlike my Better Boys that are down in the garden. Do you see those little red beauties near the bottom?

My square foot garden was recently attacked by deer. They ate all of my tomatoes, lettuce, the bottom half of my pole beans, and left only stems on my pepper plants. They also trampled everything else. It was interesting, though. They didn't touch the eggplant or broccoli. I had to chuckle to myself because I'm not an eggplant fan either. I was hoping I'd learn to love it by growing it. Anyway, I put up some fencing and it seems to be working. I still have hope that I'll get some tomatoes and peppers this summer.