Labor Day Weekend Fun and New Blooms!

This weekend we went to the coast with our neighbors who are also really good friends of ours.  They have a travel trailer and a boat down at the coast, and once or twice a year we take the girls down with us for a fun filled weekend.  This trip was no exception.  Once we got the dog to the vet and the guinea girls loaded with enough dry food and hay for the extended time away, Amy and I were off with the girls to meet our guys. 

Saturday, we took the girls across the ferry to play in the water and sand for the day.  I don't really care for the beach, but I have to admit, this time was great!  It wasn't super hot and there was a breeze...Mandy was happy!

Ms. Amy actually got Daughter #1 to go out farther than she's ever gone before.  That might not sound like much, but this is my big chicken that we're talking about. She usually squeals if she thinks she sees a fish near her in the water!

They went further out, but I was in with them holding on to Daughter #2.  She had to get pretty good at jumping with the waves since she's a little shorter! She had a good time too, especially when she willingly let her sister bury her.

My favorite picture...I just love little feet!

Then came the fishing...the girls had a great time!  Daughter #1 teamed up with Mr. Kevin and Daughter #2 with her daddy.  Amy got stuck with me and did all the work, but let me bring them in.  My job is really to just get good pictures; it's self assigned, but something I'm good at.  I'm not too much for touching live bait or live fish for that matter!  I'd much prefer to take pictures and then cook whatever is caught.  Daughter #1 wasn't too happy when her daddy and Daughter #2 kept pulling them in, but she only tried to bail out on her partner a few times!  After all was said and done, we brought in 6 Black Drums!  This was a first for I think Bob and Kevin both, so that was kind of cool as well!

The Big Fishermen/Fishergirls...Daddy/Daughter #2 and Daughter #1/Mr. Kevin

We had wonder, relaxing weekend filled with fun, laughter and of course great food!  Amy and I are much alike in respect...food's never far from our thoughts! And that, is how the weekend ended...

We came home stuffed and sunburned, but happy. You know my husband was tired...he let me drive the whole way home and kept the griping to a minimum! 

Now to the blooms!!  I was checking the succulents and noticed that my Adromischus cristatus 'Key Lime Pie' was blooming!  Nothing too spectacular, but I was pleasanty pleased! 

Adromischus cristatus 'Key Lime Pie'

Looking forward to a great week!  
Mandy

Getting Back to Normal

We officially survived the first week of school!  Normally I'd say, what's the big deal, but this year we set ourselves up for a bit more chaos.  We went on vacation the week before school started.  I did have the good sense to fly us back in on Saturday so we could at least have Sunday, but looking back that was not enough!  Volleyball tryouts started the second day, and the 8th Graders get the privilege of the 6:30 a.m. practices for the week!  Thank God for my husband who doesn't mind leaving the house at 6:15 in the morning; I'd never make it! The great news is that she ended the week knowing that she was for sure on either the A or B team, and that is AWESOME!!!!

Next week her practices are after school since they rotate weekly with 7th Grade and I get the pick up duty...much more to my liking! 

I've never grown vegetables before, but we're trying cucumbers and orange bell peppers for the guinea girls.  I went out yesterday and noticed the cucumber plant had the prettiest little yellow blooms.  Does this mean I'm closer to seeing cucumbers?  This is all new to me, so I'm a little excited that they're even growing. 

One of the other things I noticed when we came back from our trip was that it gets the same little curly-q things that my Passiflora has, and that added to it's whimsy.  I had to move it though, because it was trying to wrap around a succulent...not very nice!

Daughter #2 also put some red bell pepper seeds in a little pot in a window sill right before we left.  They've sprouted as well, so we might have a plentiful bell pepper season...yikes!  I'll share a photo of that one later as I haven't gotten to getting that one yet, but I need to...they're really growing quickly. 

Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!

Mandy

Going Through Withdrawls!

Oh my...never again!  Almost two weeks without my beloved laptop was almost too much for me! She's been running slow and the week before we left on vaction it would infuriate me to navigate from blog to blog to anything else for that matter.  Since we were leaving for vacation, I took all four computers...yes, you read right...all four computers went to the computer doctor.  My parent's have spoiled our girls with laptops over the years, so between the three of us we have three laptops and then the main computer for whoever's laptop happens to be dead!  Bob says he's on the computer enough during the day and has no desire to be on it at night.  All of them had viruses on them, needless to say I've switched to a different protector...this was ridiculous!  A week in Ohio with only my husband's iPhone was a test for all of us...wahoo for 3G service though!!  So, that would be why I haven't been on for a while...just in case you were wondering!

While I was gone, my Plumeria bloomed...I was so happy that the bloom held on until I got home.

She smelled WONDERFUL too!

Everything else held up really nice, of course it didn't hurt that my neighbor friend took excellent care of them in the 100 + temps that graced our city while we were gone.  My Bougainvilleas finally decided to bloom too...maybe I should leave them more often!

The week away was nice.  We didn't do anything terribly exciting, but we did get to spend time with Bob's mother and his brothers and their wives.  I have to admit though, it was pretty cool going for a jog at 11:30 in the morning and not breaking a sweat until the jog was almost to an end.  No way would I even consider doing that here, much less lace up and hit the road!  The most exciting part of the trip for the girls was the plane ride home, we paid the $6 for each of them to watch tv on the 2 1/2 hour plane ride from Cleveland to Houston.  We make this trip every other summer, and this wasn't an option the last time we flew.  They thought that was very cool...ok, their mother thought it was pretty awesome, but I opted for a nap instead!

Mandy

Friday Mixup

I took a vacation day today, so while the girls were at their last day of volleyball camp, my mother and I got to spend the day together...without extra voices!  Our first stop was Schultz nursery were we picked up a pot saucer, much needed Hibiscus food and a yellow bell pepper plant and a cucumber plant.  I'm going to try these from seeds for next year, but when I saw them already growing I wanted to see how well I'd do with them.  My intent is to grow the bell peppers and cucumbers for the guinea girls.  We'll see!  Then we hit Half Price Books!!  This is our favorite spot and the fact that she's been here since Friday afternoon last week and we'd yet to make it there was nothing short of a crime again book lovers! From there we went by Ross, just to look of course.  :) I got a pot for my Plumeria and another great pot for that "just in case" moment since I never know when I'll bring another plant home! From there we had to pick up the girls and took them to the mall for some school clothes shopping...not the best part of the day considering everyone and their extended families were there!  Okay, maybe not that bad, but close enough to cause my blood pressure to rise.

I'll post pictures as the vegies grow (keeping my fingers crossed), but I've got one of the Plumeria...can't wait to watch it grow and smell it's lovely blooms!  Never mind, I guess I just thought I'd downloaded them and my camera's been hijacked by Caitlin so she can download her volleyball pictures.  Priorities!  So, I'll just have to share a photo from their summer adventure.  I think I need my eyes checked...found them!

Plumeria...shared the little one with my mother.

I forgot to share this little surprise I got the other morning.  I went out to water and my Senecio Haworthii 'Cocoon Plant' had three little blooms! They are different that any other's I've gotten so far from my other succulents, they look like sheer paper umbrellas like you'd get on a fruity drink.  The only lasted a day, looked the next day and everything was gone, stems and all!

Senecio Haworthii 'Cocoon Plant' Blooms

Pitcher Plant...made two baskets out of this one; one for my mother, one for me.

Another carnivorous plant to add to my collection of one! This one has bigger "pitchers" and they look like they have fur on them. 

Now for summer fun. Excuse the crappy size, I haven't got a clean copy yet and took this one off the oldest's Facebook page.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mandy

Quiet Equals Boring

My girls have been gone for three days now, and this is going to be a long five weeks!  It's not that I don't enjoy the break; I do, but I like noise and they make lots of it! 

They're enjoying themselves though, although they both claim to be bored at the moment! They're so used to being on the go here, that even with everything available to them there they don't "go" as much.  This morning, they both helped my dad with the horses and the little one got a kick out of how big the horses were compared to her!

My husband went fishing this weekend because my sister, who just moved to town, was supposed to stay over, but she ended up not needing to come over.  He'd already made plans and so I was looking forward to a nice quiet weekend by myself...you think I'd know myself better than that by now!  I have enjoyed having full control of the thermostat, menu and remote control, but it's so darn quiet!  My neighbor friend (our husbands are off fishing together) and I spent the day returning things that didn't work out from last weekend's shopping adventure and discussing our plants.  I decided that the Chocolate Mint that I have hanging by my front door is not going to survive the heat/sun combo if they're wilting daily this early in the summer, so I've decided to make succulent hanging baskets.  We stopped by a nursery and I got the plants for the center of each basket and some other little clumping/spreading thing that I thought I had to have!  No pictures yet, but hopefully by the end of the long weekend coming up, I'll have two new creations hanging in my door way.  Looking forward to putting them togehter!  I also made a delicious cheesecake like dessert called Sopapilla Cheesecake and took some over to my friend. 

Had some more blooms on Friday as well...

This is one of my mother's that I'm "succulent sitting".

And one of my Echeveria's blooming...love it! The only thing that bugs me is that they don't open up big and showey...they tease you!

I suppose I should call it a night...haven't even read yet today and I have no one here keeping me from it...crazy!

Mandy

Where Did the Year Go?

The plants look a lot larger than what they are, I put 5 little ones in a 6 inch pot...I like the fuller look and I happen to know that the recipient has about as much patience as I do in waiting for things to fill in. 

I walked out without my camera this morning, but this is the succulent dish that I put together yesterday for my co-worker...minus the birthday girl!

Wow...another school year has come to an end!  It's hard to believe that we;re going to have an 8th Grader in the house and that our baby girl has one year left of elementary school! I know that time flies for the kids, but I think it moves at triple time for parents, at least it does for me.  I still have vivid memories of bringing them home as itty bitty babies, so it seems impossible that they're already so big.  They're looking forward to a summer spent by the pool at Papa and Nana's house, so they have little sentiment for another school year coming to an end.  This summer is dual grandparent year...they get to spend several weeks with my parents and then we all make a trip up to visit my husband's mom.  It makes for busy summer, but they look forward to it. 

I'm having reading withdrawls, so I'm off to soak up some bubbles and get lost in a book for a bit!