Summer Visitings

BD's dad came to visit in June, and we put him right to work.

They did find time for a few rounds of golf...



and some time to relax.

I made a trip to the surface of the sun Louisiana so I could spend time with my nephews while they were visiting at my parents' house.

At 6.5 and 2.5, there's not much sitting still for these two, so I didn't get many pictures.

Tales of the Tail: The One with the First Tomato

Kip always gets to eat the first tomato of the season. (And we wonder why he thinks he's in charge around here!)

He has to wait patiently.



And ask nicely.

Then the games begin... first he flings it under the couch and attempts to dive head first in after it.

Eventually he discovers that he's just not going to fit under there, so we dig it back out for him. We repeat this process a few times.

Then it gets thoroughly examined on the coffee table.

And finally it goes down the hatch.

Snacks on a Plane

Several weeks ago BD bought some homemade trail mix from the clubhouse of a local golf course. He came home telling me about the trail mix and how it was the Best Trail Mix Ever. I've probably heard about it 10 times since then.

Later this week we are headed out for some beach vacation time, so I decided to try and recreate the Best Trail Mix Ever to bring on the plane. I gathered up the ingredients that he remembered and added a few more that he thought would be tasty.

Here's what I started with - pretzel sticks, m&m's, mixed nuts, yogurt covered raisins, granola, and rice chex.



I threw it all together in a bowl and voila! Best Trail Mix Ever.



It is getting rave reviews so far.



I am a gummi bear girl myself.

No Time to Blog...Having Too Much Summer Fun

We've harvested the first of our cherry tomatoes.

The sunflowers are still growing strong.

Scenes from the last two weeks

The official blogger in our household has been a little busy lately trying to squeeze a semester's worth of schooling into 5 short weeks (I'm not sure what she was thinking with that one!). So this post brought to you by BD. LA will be back to her old self in no time -- meanwhile, no critiquing, please.

We had a first time visitor the other night -- a luna moth. These guys are nocturnal and have a life span of one week once they emerge from their cocoons. So I guess seeing them is somewhat rare.

The first tomatoes of the season have arrived! And the sunflowers are doing great too. The biggest ones are about 24" tall and are starting to present with their first buds.

Managed to sneak away to Boshamer Stadium the last two weekends for the NCAA Regional and Super Regional baseball action. The Tar Heels have advanced to their fourth consecutive College World Series in Omaha, NE. In case you glossed over that 'cause you saw the words 'baseball' and 'NCAA', read that again - their fourth consecutive trip. For lack of a more eloquent phrase, that's freakin' awesome!!! Go Heels! We'll be cheering for you when things get started this coming weekend.

The No. 2 pick in Tuesday night's MLB draft - Dustin Ackley. He's the baseball team's version of Tyler Hansbrough.



Students watching from the dorm behind left field. They have a great cheering section up there.

The team celebrating a victory on their way to Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.

Also, the summer flowers are starting to hit their stride.

And LA enjoying one of her rare moments of down time (kudos to Kip for being so supportive!).

Blooms: A Photo Essay

Well, That was Embarrassing

Last night we went to see the Carolina Hurricanes (hockey) in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Carolina lost the game 4-1 which means they got swept in the series by the Pittsburgh Penguins. You can't really say they suck since they got this far in the playoffs, but to not win even one game in this series?? Pittsburgh clearly had Carolina's number from game 1.

We had never been to a playoff hockey game before, so it was still pretty fun.

You know you're watching ice hockey in the south when the zamboni is a John Deere.

Thanks to the binoculars I got for my birthday, I saw all the fights in lip-busting detail.