Oh, Hello! - and A Farmer's Market ;)

Oh, look!  I still have a blog!

I'd apologize for not having updated in...forever...but, well, we've been living our lives. ;)

And I've got a few pictures to prove it.

Last week, we headed out to the big farmer's market.  As much as I talked about markets last year and the year before, it's actually the first time we've headed out this season.  There's just been too  much other stuff going on!

Bug is four now, and decided that HE was going to push Boo (almost two!) in her stroller.  She doesn't ride in it often, so she was pretty tickled by the whole thing.  He even pushed her around - with some minimal steering assistance - for  about ten minutes before he gave up on it.

We saw some really great stuff.  Flowers and veggies and some super yummy prepared foods.

The kids loved the veggies.

Boo watching the live band while we ordered lunch.

We got the BEST hot dogs ever from these guys...

Seriously.  SO good.

All of the hot dogs are named after actual dogs, which was cool.  I got the Igby - blue cheese, cole slaw and bbq sauce.  Sounds maybe a little strange, but I've craved another ever since.

After lunch, we picked up some super yummy, all natural popsicles.

Bug got chocolate raspberry.

I got prickly pear and passionfruit, but Boo snagged it immediately.  She did allow me a small taste.  Quite yummy.

And, yes, she finished the WHOLE thing.

Market and McDonalds

Perhaps not two things I'd normally put in the same sentence, but that's how our day worked out. :)

This morning was not-a-million-degrees, so we decided to head out to the farmer's market.  I called Mom to see if she wanted to come along and she said my nephew had a school holiday, so they both joined us.  We loaded the boys into the wagon (maybe not necessary, but they loved it), and Boo into the stroller (which we hardly ever use, so she was thrilled) and headed out.



It was awesome.  I've really missed going to the farmer's market regularly.

And I brought home some pretty, pretty veggies.



(In addition to what's pictured, we also brought home corn, sweet potatoes and a bunch of pretty little apples.  And Mom picked up something called a lemon cucumber...which is a cucumber that looks surprisingly like a lemon.  Go figure.)

We hung out at the park for a bit.  The boys exploring and finding treasures in the dirt.



(Bug with an eraser shaped like a cat.)

Boo ran around trying to keep up, and beelining towards the mud.



So I ended up holding her a lot.  She was not pleased.



(This is the first picture of Boo where I think she looks like me at all.)

Then it started getting hot and we were hungry, so Mom suggested we move the party to McDonald's - a rare treat!  This is the first time we've been since Boo has been even kind of mobile and she jumped out there like an old pro.

(I was right there ready to catch her the whole time.  Honest.)







She ended up making it up to the fourth step before it got too steep.  My nephew was so amazing with her.  He cheered her on the whole time she was trying to climb, and helped her down when she thought she was stuck.  Very sweet.

Bug didn't stop moving once. ;)



(Haha.  While tagging this post, I realized that ALL of the veggies were already listed.  Guess we have some solid favorites.)

Farmer's Market Win, Farmer's Market Fail

I’ve misplaced my camera, so no pictures with this post.  Sorry.  You’ll just have to deal with exposition today.

As per usual, we headed out to the farmer’s market today.  Just me and the kids, and we planned to hit two of them.

The first was a weekly market that we’ve made it to once before.  Not huge, but a nice combination of farm fresh produce and artisan items.  Everyone’s really nice.  Bug got to pet baby goats and the honey guy recognized us.  He  even remembered that Bug doesn’t get to eat colors and talked him out of buying the green honey stick.

When we got there, we passed by a little girl eating a carrot and Bug decided that he had to have one.  I was all for that but, I kid you not, I couldn’t find a single carrot in the market.  I’m sure I just overlooked them.  We got some pictures with the 180 pound pumpkin, bought some cheese curds, and decided to go check out the second market.

I don’t think the second market happens regularly, but it was listed as a farmer’s market so we decided to go.  Turned out to be in a kind of ritzy part of town and not far from the awesome railroad park.  I loaded Boo into her stroller and Bug into his mei tai and headed in.  There were two other kids there, both older then ten.  I kept getting sideways glances.  The first table we passed was a woman selling knitted kids caps.  Cute stuff.  We stopped to look and she asked Bug something about what animals he liked.  He said he wanted a carrot and everyone within earshot laughed.  Because there were no carrots there.  There were $30 kids t-shirts BeDazzled with licensed characters, but no veggies.

We passed by a really neat looking little shop that Bug and I both wanted to go check out, so we did.  It was bright and colorful and fun, and pretty packed with stuff.  Given that I had Boo in the stroller we didn’t go to deep into the store and we moved really slowly so as to not get anywhere close to the displays.  We were finally acknowledged five or ten minutes later, when a woman who worked there finally stepped into the room, breezed past us and told me to be careful because the stroller was a tight fit.

We ended up walking over to the Trader Joe’s in the next parking lot to pick up carrots (Bug said he wanted the “biggest carrot I’ve ever seen!”), some tomato candy (because we’ve all but finished yesterdays) and some more French bread.  The people there (customers and employees) were awesome.  I’d drive across town for that, but we’ll be skipping the “farmer’s market” there from now on.

Yummy Foods

(I really will get back to posting on other topics soon.  Honest.)

We hit up the farmer's market this afternoon as a family.  It was nice to have Richard with us, and he seemed to have a good time.  We indulged Bug's honey obsession, though it was difficult to pick which flavor to buy.  He got a few honey sticks as usual, including an acid green sour apple flavored one.  I don't even want to *think* about what's in it to turn it that shade of green.  It was a one time thing though, and he didn't eat that much of it, so I'm just going to let it slide.

For the bigger jar, after a taste test we decided to bring home the desert wildflower honey.  I want to say it's from prickly pear, palo verde and chrysanthemum, but I might be making that up.  Richard was really, really fond of the mesquite, but Bug and I kind of liked the desert wildflower a little bit more, so...  We'll get mesquite next time.

We also picked up a really beautiful honey dipper.  Walnut, I think.  (I'm not looking at the tag and the screaming baby in my lap is keeping me from looking for it.)



Ooo.  We also bought a super yummy chimichurri.  No idea what we're doing with it yet - though I'm thinking that it might involve the french bread and goat cheese from the last few markets.

Teeny Tiny Food

Mom and I took Bug and Boo out to the farmer's market today.  (Town and Country this time.  Liked it.)  It ended up being Teeny Tiny Food Day.

Tomato candy.  (Organic heirlooms this time.)



And crabapples!  Partially because I've never had one before, but mostly because Bug thought they were cute.  They're crispy and tart - apple win!



We also bought some yummy kalamata olive hummus, but ate almost all of it in the car on the way home.  It was that good.

Then we stopped by Trader Joe's because I've never been.  Picked up some veggie/flax chips (eaten with the hummus in the car) and two mini loaves of french bread.

I don't think I've ever thought my groceries were so cute.