Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Grandma G goes to Islandwood

We had so much fun at last year's Backyard Habitat Fair at Islandwood, that I wanted to bring Grandma G there this year.

Grandma helped Silas make bookmarks (above). Then, we took Grandma to see the hydrological water filtration system:We took a short break...
...before touring the beautiful gardens (mainly vegetable):

I love Islandwood, and I think Grandma does too!

PS. Click on the Islandwood label below to see last year's trip to the Habitat Fair.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Silas gets a new sandbox

There's nothing like playing in a sandbox on a sunny summer afternoon. Our cat claimed our old sandbox (aka: hole-in-the-ground) for his own purposes, but thanks to Grandma G, Silas now has a new one...with an attachable digger and most importantly, a lid.

Grandma got to watch Silas play in it:

The wobbly swing, which Silas can only ride on if a big person is holding him:
And this last picture was taken last Thursday at the the Monica's Waterfront Bakery & Cafe in Silverdale (the town I work in). This is my favorite lunch place in the area and it was great to have the family stop by my office and then take me out to lunch. Silas likes the books they keep upstairs.

We've got a few more activities planned for the remainder of Grandma's visit, so stay tuned.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Daddy's Day pics







It seems we are starting a tradition of spending Father's Day up in Port Townsend. Drew's Mom has been visiting since last Friday, and we had a lovely time with her in what is one of our favorite towns. It being Father's Day, I mainly took pictures of my two boys. It seems almost every picture I took of the three of them together had someone blinking or giving a sour look. I found them amusing and was tempted to post them anyways, but I knew I'd get grief. So, I'll have to take more pictures of Grandma G and Silas and post them later on...

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

Way back to the Medieval Faire

I'm still a bit behind in my posting... The weekend before last, my friend Beth and I took Silas to the Medieval Faire in Port Gamble, which is in north Kitsap and is a tiny but lovely little town. The Faire was small compared to the Bristol Renaissance Fair I often went to back in Wisconsin, but it was fun none-the less.

Silas enjoyed seeing the warp-weighted loom:
And he got to try out Japanese Kumihimo:
Silas also liked the wood and metal working and the fencing. One of my favorite moments came when we saw two people dressed in thier period costumes sitting on a bale of hay, facing away from us. They were wearing racoon tails (real, I think?) which were trailing down behind them. Silas, quite earnestly, pointed to the man and exclaimed "He's sitting on his puppy!" Priceless.

Beth took a few pictures, including some of Silas and me. Maybe she'll post them on her blog sometime (hint, hint).

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Be kind to stuffed animals


(Please ignore the mess of unfolded clothes on top of the dresser.)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Hot days in the garden





I took these pictures last week during our heat wave. Since then, the garden has continued to grow, so imagine everything just a bit bigger (especially the pole beans) and that's where we're at. I let Silas pick the pea he's holding and he promptly stuck it in his mouth and ate it whole. Tonight we harvested a few dozen peas and ate them as a side dish with our supper. The beans have attached themselves to their poles and are really taking off.

I promise something non-garden related will be in my next post :)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The rest...

Our yard, in its early summer glory.

Qwest came and fixed our phone line today so we are back online again. Woo-hoo! I've got a bit of catching up to do now, but not much time to do it. So, we'll start with a few more pictures my parents took while they were visiting.

Now that Silas is two, we expect him to earn his keep. A little tilling will earn him his bread and butter :)
Papa gives Silas some watering tips:
Helping water the new starts:
We planted pumpkins, squash, potatoes, onions, cucumber, etc. in this patch. I still have some eggplant and cayenne pepper seedlings to plant, but they are awfully tiny, so I've held off a bit. Anyways, thanks to my parents, we got a lot accomplished in the garden the day these photos were taken. Since then, I've also put in some pole beans and everything is doing pretty well so far.

I hate to bore you with more gardening pictures, but I do have some more to post. I for one love to see what other people are growing, so I hope you don't mind. Everything changes so fast and when you are a novice like me, it is very exciting to witness. Expect more pictures soon!

Monday, June 8, 2009

June 09 Book of the Month

Featuring Planet Silas' June Book of the Month: Growing Vegetable Soup by Lois Ehlert.

I mentioned back in January when I featured Snowballs as the BOTM that you could expect to see more Lois Ehlert books in the future. Well, June's BOTM brings you another wonderful Ehlert title, Growing Vegetable Soup.

From planting seeds, tubers, and starts, to harvest time and preparing a meal made with said harvest, this book gives young readers their first look at the basic "how-to's" and joys of vegetable gardening.

I thought it appropriate to feature this book now, since our vegetable garden is in full swing. I have made sure that Silas was with me for every step of the veggie growing process. He helped me plant seeds, helps water, and helps pick the greens and peas that have been ready to harvest for several weeks already (He's also very good at helping to eat them :) I have gone over the importance of respecting the plants and being "nice" to them, from making sure not to dig in or tip over pots with newly sewn seeds, to not yanking out young seedlings, to only picking harvestable items under guidance. Aside from a few minor incidences early on, he caught on and has been very good. A book like Growing Vegetable Soup really helps make tangible the concept of a seed sprouting and eventually producing something that can be eaten. Without this visual representation of what the future holds, a patch of bare dirt is just a patch of bare dirt to a two year-old, even if it has dozens of seeds buried just under the surface. With this book as a guide, even a toddler can grasp the importance of caring for something that seems at first to be devoid of life, but that with care and time will soon be teaming with it. While aimed at young children, this book was inspiring to me as well. When we received it this winter (thanks LeClairs!), and I read it to Silas for the first time, I told him, "You know what, Silas? We can do this too!"

And so, we have.

Sloooowwww

We are experiencing technical difficulties right now. Our connection speed is really slow and I won't be able to post much or upload pictures until we have it resolved. Hopefully, we'll have it fixed soon and we can get back to our regular scheduled blogging. Till then...