Buggies and Kangaroo Paws

buggies...

What do you do when you find a buggy (shopping cart as some refer to it) in the middle of the street?  You go porch shopping (Jesse came up with this term and I liked it)!  So that's exactly what we did!

We started down at Sevier Park, where we found the buggy and pushed it up 10th.  We didn't really find anything we wanted until we got to Cortney and Ryan's house.  They had some very nice plants and a lovely porch glider.  Sadly, we had to leave the buggy full of goodies on the porch and make a run for it.  I think they will enjoy having Buggy and make good use of it.  Maybe in the future we can all 4 go "porch shopping"

kangaroo paws...

I had never seen this flower until last night, and they are beautiful!  Jesse surprised me with them after Monday School, along with some chocolates.

                    

He was even sweet enough to taste test each and every one of the chocolates for me, so I wouldn't be poisoned.

Chocolate!  YAY!

To celebrate one year together, we went to eat at Cityhouse...definitely one of our favorite places.  On our first visit, the server talked us into trying the pork heart.  I don't think Jesse needed much convincing, but it sounded horrible to me.  It ended up being really good and a great conversation starter.  "So have you ever eaten a pig's heart?"  Once again, it was on the menu.  We had the pig's heart along with the hushpuppies, a specialty pizza, and carolina trout.  All was amazing!  We had a great time!  I'm definitely looking forward to our next year together.

swimsuits??

So on Friday I babysat 3 kids ages 2, 4, and 6. (she has a 4th on the way!)   They have had a little fish pond behind their house for as long as I've been keeping them.  I didn't ask why, but on Friday they had people coming to remove the pond.   These were the stereotypical laborers (I know, I shouldn't say that), and it was a very hot day.  After about 30 minutes of moving rocks to the side yard, the big guy needed to take his shirt off.   And when this happens, I can't help but wonder why they never have pants/shorts that fit (stay up).  Well, the big guy needed lots of water.  He kept knocking on the door asking for more.  The 6 year old girl is very into her artwork, so she spends most of the day sitting at the kitchen table drawing.  Of course, the fish pond and the back door open right up to the kitchen.  I did my best every time to shield her from seeing him.  In my mind I thought, if I don't want to see this and think its nasty, I know she will.  The more I thought about, though, I realized that kids don't really pay attention to the same things adults do, so maybe she wouldn't notice that most of his backside was hanging out of his sweat soaked shorts.  I got a little more lax in my shielding, and about the 5th water break I hear "Why are the pond men working in their swimsuits?"

Who Doesn't LOVE these?

You might say that LOVE is a strong word...well, you're right, it is.  And it's exactly how I feel about French Fries.  It was destined from the beginning.  My family has an addiction and I inherited it.  My mother refers to these as FFs.  And at the very mention of the word, we all filled with excitement!  It meant a family trip to the local Sonic which included a drink of choice with the pellet ice.  But that's another post for another day.

One Step at a time

Seems like it would take forever to get anywhere with feet like this and no trees to hang on to.

Yosemite Sam!

Jesse and I took a little trip to Yosemite at the end of June and into July. We ended the trip with a visit to San Francisco for the 4th of July. The trip was amazing. I haven't seen so many beautiful things all in one place in a long time, if ever. We spent our first night in a tent in Inyo National Forest and then headed back into Yosemite the following morning for our wilderness permit. The next 5 nights were spent on the ground in a tent. And boy was I ready for a real bed after that. We spent the last day in the park in Mariposa Grove and Wawona before heading west to San Francisco for one day.

I'm going to pick just a few of my favorite things/moments to share.

1. Eating tortilla shells, beef sticks, and cheese sticks for lunch.

2. "The best plum in the world" Jesse's video explains this a little better, but it must have been the best piece of fruit I've ever eaten. Jesse just watched yearningly. I did let him taste a little sliver of the skin. I just kept waiting for a bear to come up and snatch it out of my hand.

3. The waterfalls. I don't know how else to explain these things. There was so much water rushing out of the mountains, gushing over rocks and sliding down the huge granite faces. It looked like something I wanted to play in, but my brain told me I shouldn't. :)

4: The flowers. Some like I had never seen before.

5. The green meadows, winding streams, and hidden lakes nestled among the expansive faces of granite.

6. Hiking/Climbing to the top of Halfdome

7. The Stellar Jay

8. Hanging out with Smelly Stinky...by far the best part. This trip was awesome!

Hilarious Blog

http://catalogliving.tumblr.com/

My friend, Jill, sent this to me this morning and I have laughed so hard at it all day. I think I'm going to set up a life preserver by my front door...or maybe an abacus or a picture plant. :)

Knock and Run

So a couple of my good friends, Cortney & Ryan, just moved into a new house down the street from Stinky. We had the brilliant idea to knock and run. Stink and I were both on bikes, and me, not being all that fast of a peddler, apparently needed a head start. Stink instructed me to stay waiting on my bike with my foot on the peddle. He gently placed his bike on the ground, tiptoed to the door, and began banging on every surface he could reach...windows, doors, walls, stomping the ground. :) Then ran back and we peddled off into the sunset.

The best part was, my friends were inside painting and were sure they were about to be invaded by Zombies, and we got to play an old time joke...just like the kids we are.

In hindsight, we should have hidden so we could have watched them come to the door with baseball bats and mace.