See How the Garden Grows..&.. Grows!

In the last post (yes, I know- quite a long time ago) I showed a picture of our very bare raised garden beds. It certainly did not look like much at the time-- but now take a look!

It truly amazes me that from a tiny seed, you can grow such huge wonderful plants, that you can eat. It is such a miracle of nature. Well, needless to say, we have loads of lettuce & spinach - it just keeps growing and growing... We are definitely getting our fill of salads. We also have alot of tomatoes that are getting bigger and riper by the day & I think that we are going to have a stockpile of zuccini and cucumbers as well. It is exciting to see how everything progresses day by day. We are also getting lots of beans and carrots and will soon see cantaloupe, watermelon and eventually pumpkins (hopefully just in time for Halloween).

Siena loves to go out and help me water the garden - which to her means - "play in the hose & get as wet as possible before mom stops me." She likes to go around and tell you what each plant is, and pull off the beans and peas- it is pretty funny.

I also took some photos of the many beautiful flowers in our yard. I love to see all the different varieties and colors - they are all so unique. We have lots of beautiful roses here in the Northwest - after all Portland is known as the Rose City Capital of the USA (if not the world). They just seem to thrive here and no matter how much you prune them, they just grow back even bigger and stronger. It makes it alot easier on those of us who like to do a little gardening now & then.

Fun Times Outside!

We have been enjoying the nice warm days of summer (finally). We have made many trips to the park and to the river to feed the ducks, and swimming in the baby pool in the back yard, and to the parks with the water fountains etc etc. You get the idea.

I have a feeling that this routine is just going to continue for the next few months until the end of summer. Siena just loves to be outside- period! She does not mind getting dirty or wet etc. She has such and outgoing personality that she just goes for it - I think this is a blessing and a curse. Heres a few pics of her in the great outdoors!

Time Flies... Finally another post.

I know, I know, it has been awhile since the last post.  The time just seems to go by so fast.  So, I thought I would put a few pictures of Easter a few weeks ago.  Siena looked so 

cute in her dress and was a little more excited this year, especially about all the 'chocolate' - her new favorite food. 

  We went to church and then spent the afternoon at my sisters house and had dinner with the family. It was a fun day- except we did not have very nice weather to go along with it. 

We have been busy finishing our projects around the yard.  Mitch has been installing slate walkways and we also put in two large raised garden boxes so we could have a big garden this summer. I am so excited, because I love to garden.  I know it doesn't look like much in the pictures,

but I wanted to show the 

progression from the beginning, don't worry I am sure you will get many more pictures as the garden fills in. I was a little ambitious (maybe a bit too much) and I started everything from seed (about 6-8 weeks ago).  Needless to say, we have way more plants than we have space in our garden.  So, we are going to fit as much as possible in there and hope it all comes to fruition.  We already have peas, lettuce, carrots, spinach and beans that are steadily growing. Yay!!

The weather is finally beginning to act like spring and Siena is obsessed with wanting to be outside.  She loves to go to the park and swing and feed the ducks.  She just likes to run, run, run in the big open space.  I have a feeling we are going to be spending alot of time outside in the months ahead.  That's OK with me, I am ready for the nice sunny days of summer to come. 

I just had to had this (sort of) funny story.  One day I was fixing Siena lunch, and she left the kitchen for just a minute- literally.  I told her to come over and get her lunch and I glanced over at the couch, and she was just sitting ever so quietly. 

So, I went over to get her and I see that she had gotten a ballpoint pen (from where, I don't know) and decided to do some 'artwork' on the couch.  

She said -- 'mommy -- drawing!'.   I was quite mad at first, but it was also kind of funny. I thought I should take a picture, to show Mitch when he came home. Luckily, the sectional is microfiber and is very easy to clean, it came right out.  (she looks so innocent -- right??)

Our First Cruise

A week ago we took our first cruise.  We left Siena behind at grandma & grandpa's and flew to Miami, Florida. We cruised out of the port in the late afternoon and out to sea we went.

Our first stop was Nassau, Bahamas.  We spent the day going to the Ardastra Gardens and Wildlife Park, eating lunch at 'Arawack Cay' aka The Fish Fry, where the fishermen bring up the conch shells and harvest the meat. We also spent some time walking along the beach and caught a ferry over to Paradise Island - home of the Atlantis Resort. Wow, what a place. It is huge! We wandered around for a while and saw the huge aquarium and other sections of the hotel/casino.  Then caught the last ferry back to make it in time to get back on the ship-- we barely made it - not much time to spare. 

The next morning we arrived at CocoCay - a private island owned by Royal Carribean. It was very remote and was just beautiful. The weather was very windy and the water was a bit colder than we anticipated, so we didn't get to snorkel like we had hoped, but still had a great time.TII It was still a perfect 75 degrees. The water was crystal clear and the sand was white and soft. We walked and walked clear to the other side of the Island, and very few people were around. It was gorgeous. Saw lots of seashells, starfish, conch shells etc.  We were tempted to bring the conch shells home, but they were definitely still alive in there. The day went by too quickly and once again, we caught the last ferry boat back to the cruiseship.

Next stop was Key West. We walked down historic Duval Street with it many shops (and tourists). We also went to the Hemingway House where the author lived for many years, the Southernmost tip in the United States, and finally to the Butterfly Museum (which was the highlight of the day, it was amazing).  Then we realized what time it was and had to walk very fast back to the ship in order to make the time deadline, and catch a beautiful sunset on the ocean horizon.  The next morning, we were back in sunny Miami and had to head home -- back to the pine trees and rainy weather.

I think we both decided that we have mixed feelings about 'cruising'.  For the cost, you can't beat it.  They treat you like royalty and provide your food, lodging, entertainment, and your transportation for an amazing price.  But, heres the downside-- you really don't get alot of time at the ports to really see the place or do anything that takes alot of time because of their time constraints.  But overall, we were definitely glad we went and had a great time together. 

 

The Many Faces of Siena

As many of you know, who have met Siena and interacted with her, she is a very expressive child and quite the comedian. She loves to make people laugh and smile.  She has so many funny and unique facial expressions that usually show exactly how she feels. (I think this could be a blessing and a curse - haha).  I had the camera out the other day and she happen to be showing me many of them.  Her big blue eyes are so unresistable.  In the one picture, I asked her to 'show me her teeth' (or lack thereof) and she just sat there with her mouth wide open. 

She was also very snuggly with her new 

obsession 'the Elmo burpcloth.' She loves anything that has to do with Elmo - except the big dancing singing Elmo doll, it scares her to death. She would rather stick to the small ones, and anything with a picture of Elmo on it, or of course the show 'Elmo's World'.

The Animal Sounds

Siena has also become a guru on the animal noises.  She can easily just look at a picture of something and do the sounds without even any prompting.  It is pretty funny.  She loves her animal books and DVD's.  Here she is showing off her skills, and her personality.  She also just figured out how to climb up onto the couch for the first time (as evidence in the video).  I'm sure a whole new set of adventures is about to begin.

Talking in the Tub

Siena is becoming quite the talker.  She is trying to say everything, and is such a fast learner (it is a bit scary).  It seems that everyday she is picking up a few new words to add to her vocabulary.  I caught her in the tub last week and she was so cute, saying everything right on cue.  Here's a video clip.  Hope you enjoy!