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.)

Miscellaneous June Gardening

Mom found a giant zucchini last week.  This sucker was tucked away beneath a tomato plant.



(And that's Bug's "Whoa.  This is heavy." face.)



This is a good example of what we're picking on a daily basis.  Less zucchini and squash.  Mom usually picks those (3-4 a day!) in the morning.  That bowl of yellow tomatoes is not small.  I think it's a 3 quart bowl?  I'll try to remember to look next time.

Still not coming up with many green beans, though the cucumbers are starting to come along nicely.

And, look!  Green bean teepee!



It's filled out quite a bit more this week, and the little sweet pea flowers that Mom planted in there are starting to bloom.  So there are some pretty little purple flowers tucked in there now.  Those are carrots in front, radishes on the side and cucumbers on the back.  And, behind the sunflowers, potatoes.  Awesome, isn't it?  My mom's green thumb just blows me away.

And look at how tall the sunflowers have gotten!



They're 11-12 feet tall, now.

I loved seeing this guy tucked in with the bright yellow ones.



And a better picture of the corn.



Puts my little dirt patch to shame.

First Harvests

In addition to the sunflowers, Mom's garden has already started producing a fairly nice bounty.  She's collecting a good number of tomatoes, zucchini and squash daily.  The radishes are ready too, though I'm really the only one who seems to be eating them - and I've learned to like them only because Bug enjoys picking them so much.

It's been a lot of fun to go over every day and help to pick the ripe veggies.  And even more fun to take them inside and immediately turn them into lunch.



We also picked and cooked a number of the radishes, though I forgot to take a picture of them.  I was pleased to discover that cooking radishes mellows them quite a bit.  First attempt was tasty, though a bit bland.  I'm looking forward to experimenting now.

And, even though they're not quite ready yet, Mom let Bug pick a couple of carrots.  We all agreed that they were quite tasty.