First Harvest & Beaches

Joe planted a garden a few months back. He has faithfully watched over and watered his plants. His excitement as each seed burst through the soil was a delight to see. His enthusiasm never dimmed. The end result of his hard work: a thriving artichoke plant, several sunflowers, and a gorgeous pumpkin vine. Joe harvested a couple artichokes. Steamed and dipped in a light hollandaise sauce, they were delicious! Joe decided to experiment with the rest of the artichokes. He wanted to see what they would look like when they bloomed. They look gorgeous! The choke turned an electric purple and softened considerably.

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Joe and Hubby harvested two pumpkins from the vine, which they used to make pumpkin pie. I have no pictures of the pie. Hubby served it up for breakfast and not a slice was left. The only picture I have is of the pumpkin pieces prepped for baking.

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The sunflowers are still growing. We have about ten in all. Their seeds should be ready for harvest in a few more weeks. Hubby has been looking online for the best way to harvest and toast the seeds. We are all looking forward to that harvest.

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While Hubby and Joe tend the garden, I take care of the trees. My fruit and citrus are doing extremely well. No fruit this year, but only because I plucked off all the blossoms and tiny buds before they could grow. My trees are too young to be having babies. Their trunks and branches can't support the weight properly. I also didn't want any of the trees' energy used up on producing fruit when that energy could be used to strengthen roots.

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My Indian Laurel has been in dire need of trimming, but with my pregnant belly, I couldn't climb up the tree to get the job done. Last weekend I was finally able to complete that task. I deftly climbed the tree, cut away dead branches, and thinned out live branches. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but after two hours in the tree, my out-of-shape legs were getting a bit shaky. I thought it best to end while I was still capable of climbing out of the tree.

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My children were quite concerned with the number of branches I removed. After a quick lesson in thinning and future growth, they thought I should remove a few more branches from the top. Haha! Maybe next week.
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This the pile of branches left after filling our garbage to the brim. It took two more garbage days to get rid of them all.

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After all that hard work, we needed some fun! My sister and her kids along with my Mom came for a visit. It was nice seeing my family. The first night they were here, we headed to the riverside beach. My kids love that beach. We've gone down many times before. My dear sister held my baby so that I could take the bigger kids down the river. Hubby had his hands full watching Mr. J. I gave the big kids a good lecture about hanging on to floaty noodles and sticking together because the river was deep and had a strong current. Then I took them out to the middle, all the while reminding them to hang on and stick together. I don't know what happened since the last time we came, but the river was only two feet deep! A bunch of sand had washed in and settled on the bottom. We thought it would get deeper eventually, but no. It got shallower in some parts. Haha! My kids and I just laughed and laughed about it. The cousins didn't know any different and had a grand time being pulled down river..

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FYI: Friday morning Mr. J left our home. He is now living with his great-aunt. It was a smooth transition, for which we are very grateful. His Auntie is a lovely woman and we are thrilled that he will be with family.

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Here's the kids before they hit the water. Notice Cakes and his cousin already at the river front.
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The next day we drove to San Diego and played in an Ocean Beach. FUN! My kids love going to the ocean. It's nice that the three oldest are strong swimmers and have proven themselves trustworthy on our outdoor adventures. We went over the ocean rules, then they were free to run wild.

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The high in my home town was 116 degrees. San Diego was an overcast 65 degrees. That made for a chilliy day at the beach. Despite the cold, my girls stayed mostly in the water. The boys preferred to play in the sand.

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Baby Jim and I hung out on the beach. I brought along our camp chairs. I took one, my sister and mom took the other two. Of course, we didn't stay in the chairs for long. My one little nephew quickly claimed Grammy as his wave-hopping buddy, while my sister clambered after her other children, and I had my toes buried over and over by Cakes.

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Despite the cold, we had a blast! We only ended up staying two hours. I know my kids, after getting some food in their tummies, would have been happy to stay for another two or three. Cakes was the funniest. As we were leaving, he tried to hide himself in the sand so I wouldn't see him. Goofy kid! He thoroughly enjoyed the sand. It was wonderful sand, so soft and smooth. It felt wonderful on my feet. I think our next adventure will be to the Sand Dunes. I mentioned that to my kids. Rose and Anne agree that we can't go to the dunes until we have quads. Hmmm... I'm not willing to buy any, but I know a few places in town that rent them. ;)