A Growing Garden

So it's been I guess a little over a month since I posted about the garden. It's really ramping up now and soon will be producing fruits and vegetables.

The whole garden

Strawberries (back), Okra (left), Peppers (right). My new garden beds always seem to straggle behind, the dirt just isn't the best until the worms get in there and process it. Plants will probably do better next year, but we'll see how it goes anyway.

Cantaloupe, Sunflowers, and watermelon. All seem a bit stunted :-/ like the other new bed.

Corn. Growing and thriving. We must have had some pretty heavy wind while we were gone, much of the corn was blown over and I had to  mound up the dirt and re stabilize the plants. I wonder if I'm not planting them deep enough. They seem to do really well otherwise.

Lima beans (front), green beans (back). Green beans are full of flowers. One of the plants snapped in the wind and yet is still flowering and surviving along. Limas seem lanky and struggling, but maybe they are just that way, we'll see how they do in a few more weeks.

Cucumbers (left), and Tomatoes(right). Lots of male and female flowers on the cucumbers already. Tomatoes have a couple green ones already set. Those Jetsetters sure are early! I'm trying a different pruning method this year on the tomatoes to keep the growth in check and perhaps have larger but abundant tomatoes this year. I'll be glad if I can keep the cukes on their side of the trellis, they always end up all wrapped in the tomatoes.

Zucchini (front), eggplant (left), herbs (right). Zuchinni flowers just opened today, they produce fast and we'll probably be eating them by the weekend. Herbs have exploded, already made an awesome egg salad with the dill. I'm dying to make pesto, there's enough basil now. Eggplants are slow but steady, they'll get there.

Fig tree really flourished out with lots of leaves. I wonder if it drops the few fruits it had, I can't find them anymore.

Asparagus seems to be pretty happy here.

Blackberries are coming back strong, starting to flower too!

Pretty sure my orange tree is dying, all the little fruits it had all fell off, the leaves are yellow and curling. I think it's a root problem from too much rain. Maybe fungus or rot. Short of digging the thing up, I don't know what else I can do to help it bounce back :-/

Rosemary always so happy, Stevia happy and strong, gonna try extract this year. Onions are super happy and I think the asparagus like it in this spot too.

Our hiding little friend. The kids love spotting these all over the yard. Lowla too, they drive her mad that she can't ever catch them.

Can't wait to start eating fresh veggies from the garden. Soon soon but not soon enough.

More Maryland

In addition to Easter celebrations, we got to do lots more fun things while visiting MaMaw and PopPop Masten.

Trip to the Balimore National Aquarium: Take 1.

No admission but a flat tire and parking fees for hour 1.5 hour trip.

Uncle Lance entertains the kids while the tire is changed. 

Shopping:

My favorite store EVER: Ollies Bargain Outlet. Seriously, how could you not love that guy, look at him! We always find lots of books and other cheap good stuff here. It's a must visit on every trip to MD, even though it's actually in Delaware. I hope they build one here some day. We also went to some salvage shop in Preston, MD where we found a few little trinkets. I bought a Bake Pops pan and was amazed that it actually worked really well. I just need a good scratch recipe to use rather than a box mix.

Thermite: So hot it BURNS!

I think the discussion started something with making ferrite, a magnetic liquid, and then that turned to thermite, and before we knew it Brandon was ordering 16 lbs of the stuff to burn things. I guess when fireworks are illegal, you turn to something worse. Maybe they should just legalize fireworks.

Four tablespoons of Thermite (aluminum dust and iron oxide), ignited with a strip of magnesium.

Sorry for the shaky camera work, It was really cold out there!

The burning of the dancing robot. I wasn't there for this and the video wasn't all that interesting.

Baltimore National Aquarium: Take Two.

Lots of fish to see. Their "Wings in the Water" display was very cool and the whole building was a really neat set up.

It was suuuuuper crowded in some spots though. Here is Ian watching an eel swim around.

Zoey mesmerized by fish and picking a winner.

In the rainforest section they had other animals than just aquatic life.

The whole building is set up in a sort of one-way tour and this is the final descent back to the lobby. Lots of coral and sharks to see.

In the annex was the jellyfish invasion. Probably my favorite part.

Yeah, this was the best photo of the three I took, haha.

Uncle Sean Rides:

Horse back Sean was fun, but the favorite was definitely shoulder rides.

More Thermite:

Yes, just about the whole trip revolved around ways to burn the thermite, things to burn and the big project was how to shape the molten product of the reaction into a "MASTEN" plaque.

I was really hoping lighting thermite in this Coke bottle would have worked, but it didn't.

Masten plaque take three: FAIL. Oh well, it was lots of fun burninating everything.

We were sure sad to leave and Zoey couldn't decide for sure if she wanted to stay and live with MaMaw and PopPop or come home with Mommy and Daddy. She still occasionally asks where MaMaw and PopPop are. Can't wait to go back, and next time we'll make sure to consult the fish when they'll be in and ready to be caught cause I need a fishing fix!

Easter Happenings

This year we decided to fly out to Maryland to visit the in-laws for Easter. The kids had a great time.

Saturday we went to a community Easter egg hunt. The waiting around was killer.

Ian was pretty happy to finally get in and start picking up eggs.

MaMaw helps Zoey find eggs.

Many were found, and plenty of hard boiled, which we weren't sure how long they were sitting out in the sun so the kids just whacked em against this tree stump. It was a little consolation for not finding a special egg that won a basket of prizes.

In the evening, the traditional dyeing eggs.

So many pretty colors.

Easter morning, the bunny left a trail to the window where he left baskets of goodies. Zoey got lots of stickers and paper, right up her alley.

Ian got some Chuggington trains and stickers. That Easter bunny sure knows those kiddos.

After church, MaMaw's super egg hunt!

Zoey finds a special confetti egg.

The kids were most excited about this hunt, no real other competition or confusion.

So many eggs to find, I'm pretty sure there are still some out there.

3 guesses what happened here...

MaMaw demonstrates proper confetti egg demolition on Uncle Luke.

We got to participate in so many Easter activities this year, it was great fun for everyone. While bunnies and eggs are great Easter traditions, I'm so grateful for my Savior's sacrifice and suffering. Without him we would have no way to return to our Heavenly Father. What a glorious celebration we can remember his Resurrection and all the gifts that are a result of that.