SBL #1 & 10 - Gardening

1.  Build upcycled planter boxes

When we first moved into our house, there were 4 houses under construction across the street. I was able to collect a few pallets from them to build some upcycled planter boxes. I have only built this one so far but I will get a couple more built eventually...

 

10. Grow our own vegetables

I decided to start small this year with just a few veggies we eat a lot of, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, spaghetti squash. Unfortunately the tomatoes never took off. I started everything from seed & think next year we may buy plants instead. I had one squash vine that really took off, it grew longer & longer & had blooms galore but has yet to produce anything. My cucumber was slow to start, it finally took off & has also bloomed like crazy. It's only given us 2 cucumbers though. The lettuce was my saving grace, the only thing that flourished & supplied us with lots of salad.

Lettuce

The boys tried their hands at planting sunflowers along our fence, they did pretty well :)

Early squash bloom

Cucumber

When we got back from Charleston, my cucumber & spaghetti squash vines were withering. I went out to find lots of squash bugs, mostly on our sunflowers but they had obviously had their way with the vines. I cut back the sunflowers that had already bloomed, trimmed up the dead part of the vines & spread diatomaceous earth liberally. That seemed to do the trick & the vines are putting on some new growth. I don't know that we will get anything this late in the game but I'm holding out hope for some squash.

I'm checking build upcycled planter box & grow our own veggies off of our Summer Bucket List :)

Project 52; Weeks 28 & 29

Rare quiet moments of togetherness 

Fun times playing in the backyard

SBL #6, 8, & 15 - 4th of July in Charleston, SC

Our original 4th of July (my dads birthday) plans were quashed by Donna's job (once again) My younger bonus sister was hosting the 4th this year & I was really excited for our gathering & making of a 4th of July tradition.

4th of July 2014, all the grandchildren,
Clark, Tucker, Aliyah, Nadia, Kellan, Caden, Chandler & Garren

Donna was asked to go to Charleston to help out the station there for a week. Traveling to my bonus sister's place, then home  & to Charleston the next day was going to be too much. Since we couldn't make it to our original plans, the boys & I decided to tag along with Donna to Charleston for a few days. None of us had been to Charleston before, so I was pretty excited to check it out.

Although Donna wasn't scheduled to be there until Sunday, we headed up friday night so we could take in some of the attractions on the 4th.

The boys LOVED the hotel & would have been perfectly content playing there 

all weekend long but we were cruel & took them out into the city.

There was a fancy outlet mall close to the hotel so we started out there on Saturday. Caden & Garren picked out some new tennis shoes for school but Kellan was still pouting about having to leave the hotel. Kellan did try on one pair but they were too small & they didn't have the next size up, so he went back to pouting. After a little shopping & lunch we headed back to the hotel for a nap in preparation of a late night out watching fireworks. 

When everyone woke up we decided to go to Patriots Point to see fireworks over the USS Yorktown. (idenote: the New York Tim.es said that Patriot Point was one the best 4th of July parties in the nation, I think the New York Tim.es needs to visit umm, maybe Bradenton, FL. Maybe I'm a little bias but I don't think I have been to or seen better fireworks than my hometowns since I left there 18 years ago)Patriots Point was awesome, I loved seeing the USS Yorktown but as far as a party, it was not. There was a bounce house & an inflatable slide for the kids. Two restaurants had booths set up for food&there was a beer tent & another cocktail booth.There were some small name bands playing on a stage that no one paid any mind to. A couple news stations also had booths but that was pretty much it. The boys bounced & slid to their little hearts content, we got some drinks & walked the whole place before deciding to get a blanket & claim our plot to watch fireworks from. 

Garren

Kellan & Caden

Kellan

Caden

Kellan

Garren & of course a little girl

The boys & surrounding kids had fun blowing bubbles & playing chase while we waited for fireworks but about 8:15 the sky turned dark & everyone's phones started beeping with weather alerts. People were waiting it out & people were still arriving too. We waited it out a bit & when the boys announced those were "nasty clouds!" we headed to the car. We made it just in time too, as soon as we got in the car the rain started to pour. We decided to head back to the hotel, order room service & watch fireworks on tv.

The USS Yorktown just before we fled the storm

Sunday we headed out to The City Market downtown. It was great, such an eclectic collection of shops. We walked downtown just a little before the boys gave out on us & we needed to head back to the car. We would love to go again either with a babysitter in tow or alone. It is a lot for little kids & I'm sure not that interesting, at least for our 3. 

From Downtown we headed to Boone Hall Plantation...

The Avenue of Oaks

The house

Kellan

Caden

Garren

Cotton Gin, under construction

Caden, Garren, Kellan, finally cooperating for a picture

cute little building next to the butterfly aviary

Family photo taken by a complete but very nice stranger

Monday, I decided to take the boys to the South Carolina Aquarium while Donna worked. They had never been to an aquarium before but LOVE all things sea life so I was pretty sure it would be fun for them.

A fountain for 3 on our way in :)

We started at the stingray & shark pool where we were able to pet the stingrays & bonnet head sharks. Stingrays are Garrens new favorite!

Garren & Caden then dissected some owl pellets, Kellan was having no part of the grossness

There were play areas all over for the kids, this was suiting for Garren, lol

Playing amongst the Meerkats 

Pulling in a crab trap

Jelly fish have been a long standing favorite of the boys'

Checking out some fish & turtles

Checking out some birds...

Lion fish

Sea turtle

Making sure the cleaning is done right

Playful otter

Ready to go with their new toys

The boys enjoyed the aquarium, they loved all the touch tanks & actually listened & learned a little about sea life. They LOVED the giant tank with the sea turtles, sharks & really BIG fish!

Every night of our trip Caden asked to go home. He did this on our beach vacation too, I think our biggest boy gets home sick & misses his pup pups & kitty cats. In bed he would cry & say he needed his puppies. Donna worked quite late monday & felt horrible about it, so I decided to head home with the boys on tuesday. They had had enough fun & I didn't want Donna worrying about getting back to us while she was working.

The boys, ready to head home

A little comic relief from Caden on the drive home.

Charleston was awesome! I can see why people travel with a babysitter now though. There was a lot we would have enjoyed more if not for having to keep 3 littles entertained or maybe it was just that it was a holiday weekend? We will definitely go back again, maybe in a year or 2 & not on a holiday.

We're checking visit a new city, see fireworks (fail) & visit an aquarium of our Summer Bucket List :)

Project 52; Week 27

Oh, you want us to look at you so you can take our picture...

SBL #9 - Water Park!

The boys swim lessons happened to be at a water playground. I had a sneaking suspicion that after lessons we were not going to be able to leave without playing for a bit first & I was right. After checking out the admission prices, I went ahead & got a season pass, it paid for itself in just the week we were there for swim lessons.   

The boys were super excited to get in there, under all that water but when the giant bucket tipped over & dumped a bagillian gallons of water on their heads, they were done! Not much for surprises these boys & they were totally freaked out. We regrouped in the lazy river for a while & then had lunch but they weren't ready to head back into the splash zone that day.

With a little lying coaxing they tried it out again the next day & LOVED it! I may or may not have said I saw their favorite little girlfriend at the top of the slides? lol... The boys did stear clear of the giant bucket dumping side  of the playground though.

Caden

Garren

Kellan

The playground had controls all over it so the kids could control the sprayers, they loved turning them real low & then quickly turning them full blast again when someone would walk by.

Sliding bloopers are my favorite! The place was obviously pretty wet so I didn't get many great photos inside the play area, mostly just blurry lens & giant water drops. Surprisingly the boys favored the lazy river over the playground, not that they floated on a tube at all. They did practice their swimming moves though around & around the river.

We're checking Water Park off our Summer Bucket List! :)