First Day of Pre-K!

Here she is! Raring to go! I only had to ask her once to put on her shoes, get dressed, brush her teeth and everything else! She was chomping at the bit! She wanted to ride her 2-wheel bike to school, so we let her. She was so proud, riding her bike to school just like all the other kids she sees walking, riding, scootering to school by our house. What a day. I can't wait to hear how it went!

Photos to Accompany the Long Previous Post...

Late Summer

Well, this summer has blown past, and although it has crashed to a halt in the hot and humidity, we have accomplished much this summer!



In the garden, we managed to plant kale (3 kinds), lettuce (4 kinds), cucumbers (3 kinds), cherry tomatoes (2 kinds), heirloom tomatoes (2 kinds), pole beans (2 kinds) and scallions. In our herb bed, we planted cilantro, dill and basil. We lost both heirloom tomato plants early on (blight? neglect?) and the squirrels destroyed our pickling cukes. The lettuce and cilantro bolted while we were away. We were able to enjoy tons of lettuce before it bolted, though, so it wasn't a tragedy...the cilantro on the other hand...

We had a beautiful hydrangea bloom this year (after I hacked it to the ground in nievete last year), some columbine, 5 beautiful peonies, more than 15 day lilly stalks, anise, lavender (that I rescued from a neighbor), martha washington geraniums, purple morning glories from my mother and a ton of unnamed annuals. The mums came early this year because I forgot to prune them before they developed buds and Montana's sunflower patch is just starting to bloom with several short little sunflowers, just her size.



The basil is lovely and ready to be made into homemade pesto, and we've been picking kale for over a month now. I trellised up the cukes after letting them have run of the bed after the lettuce went to make room for spinach, which we planted today! We also planted carrots and snap peas today as well. The beans have been producing here and there, but they're crowded where they are and I don't have the will to move them.



We went to the Renaissance festival in Stirling on July 4th, their opening day and it was wonderful!! It was actually a bit chilly and not crowded at all for the timing. It was a busy day as we drove straight to my father's for a 4th picnic and didn't make it home until after bedtime. We went to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival with minimal success between the immense mud and crazy toddler....we probably won't return until both children are a little more manageable. It's hard to enjoy music and friends whilst trying to keep rocks, weeds, garbage and all matter of other things out of wee one's hands. I'd like to spend more time in the dance tent (which makes sweating all that more enjoyable!) and at the main stage.

We've been wandering about this month: to Chimney Bluffs, spent a day in Clyde, my hometown to see the unveiling of a mural depicting Lincoln's stop in Clyde on the Whistle-Stop Tour he took of upstate New York, a day in Aurora at Long Point State park, lunch at the Fargo and dessert at Dories. We went swimming at the public pool yesterday. Many trips to Taughannock Falls State Park, Buttermilk Falls State Park and others for relief from the heat.

We're planning a trip to the State Fair next week sometime and will be heading out to do some apple-picking (already!) this afternoon. Montana starts pre-k at the local public school this fall too. We're planning on getting Gillian into music class and swimming lessons, and Montana has showed interest in getting back into swimming as well.

I can't wait until Fall when the cooler temps come and school starts. Until then, we'll try to fit in as much as we can of the summer!

A Photo Array...

Julie's dad, Roger, came to visit during Ithaca Festival weekend. We had a great time going to the festival, eating, listening to music, and hiking!


Julie and Montana at the Renaissance Festival


Julie looking wonderful...

Montana riding a horse for the first time @ the Renaissance Festival!

Adoption Day for Gillian!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!!

"Maycation" was just what our family needed. A week. On the beach. No plans. Needless to say, it was the stress-free, leisurely break we needed and hadn't been able to take in more than 5 years. Now, can we afford to do it every year? Who knows, but the memories and photos are good to last for a while...

Spring!

Blog? What Blog?

So, in the thrashes of illness, the blog has been neglected. And, now it's spring, so I can't imagine that entries will be coming any faster. That said, here we go!

Gillian has been on the verge of crawling for 6 weeks now. She refuses to be on her belly for more than a couple of minutes, kicking and thrashing and screaming from frustration. She *much* prefers to be standing and practicing her balance skills. I have a feeling this one will walk before crawling as well. Her first tooth came through on her 8-month birthday (march 16) and had another sneak through last week. No more toothless grins, the true vision of babyhood! She's growing like a weed and mastering many skills at once. I've even heard ma-ma-ma-ma often lately and it's music to my ears!

Montana started back at her hobby farm preschool mid-march. She loves it! Her first week they were out in the gardens planting fruit trees and some veggies. It gives her couple of days of mama-free fun each week and I get a couple of chances to tidy around the house during Gillian's nap times.

The plans have been set and materials are slowly coming in for our outdoors projects. We've planned 84 square feet of raised beds and 5 new trellises for our "earthhold" this year, planning on growing 11 veggies and fruit (13 varieties), 4 herbs and many new spots for perennial wildflowers and other beautiful things. The birds need a couple of more feeders and we're planning on putting up a bathouse! Trying to save more money, we put up a second clothesline too. Projects on hold for next year include cold frames (or "hot houses" as my great-grandfather would call them), a root cellar and maybe some more beds if we can actually grow something edible this year :) Non-garden projects include putting up a permanent place for the baby swing, filling in all the gaps in the fence and installing a new gate. Who knows if we'll get to painting the porch this year or not...it's nice to think about, but finding time amidst all the other projects is tricky...

Hope everyone is enjoying this early spring too (second year in a row!)!

It's great to see the sunshine and the mercury crawling up the glass slowly each day!