Summer Vacation 2011 - Part 1

We just got back from 9 days in Missouri and Illinois.  Josh had a Botany conference in St. Louis which gave us an excuse to goof off a little and also visit some of his family.  About a week before we left, my mom decided to join us!  We already had camping sites reserved for the whole trip, so she agreed to sleep in a tent for the first time in nearly 40 years.  What a trooper!  She was an excellent navigator in the car, and it was fun to have an extra person along.  Another benefit of having Mom along was that we actually have pictures of both of us together on this trip.  That rarely happens.  I'll break up our trip into a few posts since there are so many pictures.
Day 1:  Drive to Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park, set up camp, go to bed

Our campsite- very peaceful

Me and Josh at the campsite

Day 2:  Missouri Botanical Garden - $8 for all 3 of us since Josh got in free with the conference and we had a BOGO coupon!
St. Louis Cardinals game - free hotdog and drink with our seats saved us nearly $30
Pizza at Imo's - had to try St. Louis style pizza.  It was pretty good!
Trip up the Arch - Josh and I had been before, so I took Mom up while Josh went to the conference

Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden

Botanical Garden

Busch Stadium

Another picture of both of us- it was very hot this day, but our seats were in the shade.

Pujols came back early from being injured, so we got to see him play!

Pujols batting

Little kids got to run the bases after the game

Notice the arch is mowed into the field- I loved that!
By the way, Cardinals won 4 to 2!

The Gateway Arch

Mom and the arch- had to use panoramic to get it all in one shot, not perfect but ok.

The itty, bitty pod that you cram into to ride to the top of the arch

Looking west from the top- the sun was setting so there was a lot of glare on the windows

Looking east from the top

At the top!

Ok- that's enough for one day.  I plan on putting all of our pictures on our Flickr page, so check there if you want to see more as we go along.  This link should take you to the pictures for this trip- I'll update it as I post about each day.

Making room for...

more gear!  Josh and I bought this Focus wagon back in 2006 so that we could haul more stuff on camping trips and other vacations.  We have made several trips since then where stuff was stacked to the roof, blocking all windows, often with stuff falling into the backseat on to poor Titus.  Sometimes we just have too much stuff to bring if we're camping or canoeing with the dog and all our gear or if Josh is taking students on research trips.  So we decided to make things a little safer and more comfortable with a new cargo carrier.  Can't wait to try it out soon!

The car is taller than the truck and doesn't fit in the garage with our new cargo carrier in place!

2011 Garden, Part 5- First fruits

Somehow our garden is managing to produce a few things in spite of all this heat we've been having.  We got to pick our first fruits this weekend! 

Zucchini ready to pick

Okra ready to pick

Cantaloupe are getting closer!  We have at least 9 growing right now.

While Josh Was Away

While Josh was away for 3 weeks, I tried to get a few projects done that I had been putting off.  Here are some things that kept me busy.

I made cinnamon rolls- a 7-8 hour process well worth every second.

Cinnamon rolls rising in the laundry room

Baked and cooling

Vacuum packaged and ready to freeze

Almost ready to eat

Pre-gobbling!

I made some play crowns for my adopted niece.

My 2 favorites- I love the polka dot felt and "jewels"

I made one boy crown so that there can be a king during playtime.

The backs were just fabric covered elastic.  Super easy!

Close-ups.  I had way too much fun with my Grandma's sewing machine.  It has some great stitch patterns!

Princess Bailey and her favorite crown.  The girl has good taste- this was my favorite too!

I straightened up the garage a little.

Before

After

Before

After

I whipped up this drawstring bag made from bandanas and filled it with cinnamon rolls to give away.

I also weeded the garden (which took several days)

So that's what has been keeping me busy lately.  Have any projects you want to share?
PS- I'm on Pinterest now if you are interested in checking out my page.  You'll find the inspiration to most of my craft projects along with other stuff too.  http://pinterest.com/als88nm/pins/

2011 Garden, Part 4- The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I realize it has been quite a while since I gave a garden update.  Josh was out of town for 3 weeks, and I wanted him to see the garden before I posted pictures. 
In general, I would say this is a horrible garden year.  The few things that are surviving this terrible heat are growing so very, very slow.  A lot of things have died for various reasons, and we're still not sure if we'll actually get to eat anything from the plants that have survived.  So here are some pictures from last weekend:

Overlooking the garden- lots of "dead" space :(

The Good!!

Various squash plants are slowly growing and have many flowers

Cantaloupe!  If you look closely, there are 2 green fruits toward the bottom center of the picture.

Pumpkins- no fruit yet, but very healthy looking plants

Okra has decided to start growing and blooming!

Corn has its tassels out!

The Bad:

Bell peppers- these look great in the picture but have since died (we think I over fertilized)

Tomatoes- not dying, but not really growing either.  Covered in flowers, but no fruit

Green beans- hard to see, but they're dying. 

The Ugly:

Unfortunately, we have several plants that look like this

So there you have it- our first TX garden seems to be a flop, but that's ok.  We knew this year would be more of an experiment than anything else.  We have learned a lot and hope to make some significant improvements next year.  Hopefully your garden is growing better than ours!

"Dad's Stuff"

Growing up, Sunday evening dinners were pretty casual.  Dad often made bacon and egg sandwiches or his signature recipe, "Dad's Stuff".  In honor of Father's Day, I whipped up a batch of "Dad's Stuff" last weekend.  I have never made it before, and I can't even remember eating it in the last 10 years, but it's a taste I will never forget.  So here's what you need:

Light corn syrup, peanut butter, butter (imitation is just fine), maple syrup (imitation is just fine), and honey

Note- this is not a very healthy recipe!
So you pretty much just throw a little of everything in a bowl.  I don't have amounts, helpful huh?  I just put 2 spoonfuls of peanut butter, 1 spoon of butter, and a squirt of each syrup and the honey. 

You just mix it up and slap it on some bread or eat it straight out of the bowl.  I did both.  At first it didn't have the taste I remembered, so I ended up adding  more honey and maple syrup.  It was just right.
You'll probably never make it, but I just wanted to share one of the foods that reminds me of my Dad and takes me straight back to my childhood.  Mmm mmm- "Dad's Stuff"