The First Day of Summer

I LOVE the first day of summer. Even if it's been warm for several weeks before, theres just something neat about realizing that THIS is the longest day of the year; the sun rises its earliest and sets its latest. Which is perfect for me because it gives me at least two good hours of daylight to play in my garden after the girls have gone down for bed. Speaking of gardening, I have a confession.....

I like big beets and I cannot lie.

Its true. Well actually, I don't especially care about the beet roots themselves, but the beet GREENS are my faaavorite. Steamed and topped with a bit of red wine vinegar and salt. OH my my.



And even though I don't love them, I save the beet roots in a container in the fridge and use them to shred or slice on top of my salads cause they're healthy and its a shame to waste them. I planted a big row of beets in April or May, and I'm just starting to harvest the first bunches now. The first batch is always the best since it spent most of its growing time in cooler weather. And now a bit of beet-nerdiness: If you want big roots, fertilize with more potassium (a bigger MIDDLE number like 10-24-16). If you don't care about the size of the beet root and just enjoy the greens like me, fertilize with more nitrogen (a bigger FIRST number like 16-10-10).  

As far as the rest of the garden grows, its doing very well on the sunny half. The tomatoes are as tall as me and heavy laden, the sunflowers taller, the corn about 5', and the beans, cucumbers and summer squash are all blossoming and setting. The zucchini is already ridiculous (who wants zucchini?) Here's the sunny half.

The shady half of the garden (onions, spinach, beets, asparagus, radishes, lettuce, watermelon, eggplant, peppers, butternut and acorn) is.......alive. The watermelon and peppers are still 3 inches high and haven't grown any more in several weeks. The beets, spinach, and lettuce are pretty much the only happy ones there.We're still trying to decide what to do with the shady half next year and we're leaning toward making it the bunny/chicken area. The trees that shade it are in the neighbors yard so I can't really cut them down (*gasp* Would I anyway?!) Here's the shady half:







Beautiful asparagus fronds

 



The eggplant that just won't grow because:

A: small amount of sunlight

B: my stupid rabbit Brody keeps eating the tops off




Theres the meat-head himself trying to hide. He's forever squeezing inbetween the 2 1/2 inch spaces between pickets to get at the fresh veggies. I chase him around and around the garden until I get so flippin' mad I turn the hose on and blast him until he squeezes back out. One of these days I'm going to turn Mr. McGregor on him and get the shovel out.

  

Of all the things there are to grow, though, I think that herbs have to be my favorite. Definately not the easiest, but my favorite. There is nothing like fresh parsley and oregano in the spaghetti sauce, lemongrass in the stir fry, chives in the potatoes, peppermint leaves in our smoothies and water bottles, and basil on everything else. I love love basil. If I could grow only one herb it'd be basil. My favorite way to eat it is in pesto or broiled with cheese and tomatoes on a bagel. I need to get a better setup for my herb garden though because right now its on the balcony and I'm gathering too many pots for the space.



Yummy dill-io

 





My other beauties are growing well too. Especially this one:

She's getting so smart so fast. In the past she's been a pretty non-expressive girl but has really started to come out of her shell the last couple of months. She dances (I mean SHAKES her booty) to music, looks at books during most of her free time, laughs manically and flops around when you put her on a soft surface such as a couch or bed, and loves to be kissed and tickled (as long as you don't restrain her). I really don't want them to get any older than this. They're full of smiles and personality, everything is new and amazing to them, they dance to music, and they love playing in the water. Jocelyn says "dee go?" for "Where'd he go?", "ah-ah" for dog (barking sound), and "beeeebe" for baby. Ivy says "gokey" for cookie, and "uh oh" for everything else. They have learned to sign very well from THESE DVD's. A few of the things they sign are more, diaper, fish, flower, hat, go, cat, butterfly, airplane, book. But they recognize oodles more. Some things they've been doing lately are:



Playing duets on the piano (beautiful let me tell you)



Figuring the dials on the radio out



Helping Dad fresh-squeeze some orange juice from the box of oranges we brought back from Cali.




Watching their signing DVD




Playing horses together. Anyone that says infants under 18 months don't play together but rather "parallel-ly" never had twins. These two play together.




Drawing on the magna doodle and walking.



Enjoy your summer!

Beachy Babes

Camping on the beach with one year olds was definately not what I thought it was going to be. In a good way. They were happier and entertained themselves better than they do at home. And we had family and friends to help for the times inbetween. Sigh of relief from me. We brought more people with us this year. Police Chief Stratton and his wife, retired Deputy Chief Peck and his family, the Farnsworths (who is the new Deputy Chief by the way), Grandma and Grandpa Parkinson, and ourselves made up the line of Fords-pulling-camping-trailers-with-Utah-plates on the way down. Grandma Talbot and Rachelle and Hayden came down mid-week and stayed with us to the end. The weather was cooler this year but it was still pleasant and we all went home with sunburns.There are a LOT of pictures here and all out of order but it took me long enough just to download them :)
.

We realized we've never taken a picture at the State Beach entrance sign. Got one this year.

Grandma P. pulling Ivy on the boogie board.



Ivy absolutely LOVED the waves washing in on her feet, cold water and all.



After an early breakfast one morning, we wandered down to the tidepools at low tide and let the girls explore by poking the sea anenomes and making them squirt, feeling the bumpy starfish, and letting the tiny hermit crabs crawl on their hands.

Uncle Kalin encourges Jocy to stand in the waves but she was not such a fan of cold water (jus like her Mom).

Ivy didn't want a thing to do with the sand. The waves made her happy.



On our way to the Farmers Market where we picked up some farm-fresh oranges, strawberries, peaches, quark, and honey.




One day for lunch we ate at the tamale shop downtown. I LOVE their tamales!



Tidepools as the tide is coming back up to cover them.



They don't like their stroller and will only tolerate it for short periods of time.








I wondered how the glob of sand got stuck to her forehead but since she wasn't crying, I didn't ask questions.





Playing with blocks in Grandma P's trailer.




Taste-testing the different flavors of honey. They have different flavors according to what plants the bees that made the honey were pollinating at the time. Avacado, sage, wildflower, clover, and orange blossom were several we tried. We ended up with a big tub of ORANGE blossom this time. Mmmmm. Last time it was wildflower.




Ivy getting squirted in the face by a sea anenome.




Tidepools




Ivy and me sitting 'round the campfire




I think Jocy gave a few of the anenomes new belly buttons.




Strolling around the campground.




Just after we got into town. Girls stretching their legs and seeing the ocean for the first time.



Lunch time with Uncle Kalin playing ref.



Eggs for breakfast



Ivy practicing walking. She did it on her own the day after we got home from the beach.



Ready ready ready - ready to run!




Our campsite. Grandma and Gpa's was right behind ours, the Farnsworths were just across the road, and the rest of the party was in the next campground.



The ocean was just so beautiful this evening. I prefer the clouds and shadowy look to colorful sunsets anyday.



Get. Me. Out. Of. The. Sun. Thanks.



Face planted the beach ball. So that explains the sand on the forehead. I get it now.

They'd rather be on one together than one on each I guess.

Me and the bebes.



She ate so much sand I was a bit worried but everything came out fine so...




Reading Mom's book





Lets see what the water does to it

 


Chasing seagulls




Kyle with all three babies (Hayden is the girls' cousin, they came with us).




Dad demonstrating sandcastle building to Ivy




All tuckered out and nappin' in the shade.




One of the days when we were all fried to a crisp, we cruised north to the Santa Barbara Zoo to check it out. It was a much smaller and prettier zoo than I'm used to but an excellant one. Here's Jocy melting Uncle Kalins heart by snuggling on his shoulder.




Dad and Ivy working on figuring the zoo layout.



Caution Kalin. We bite.

Dad and Ivy, Uncle Trent and Jocy watching the ducks and koi.






They had a neat, slick, faux-grass hill in the playground area that all the kids were sliding down on pieces of cardboard. The uncles helped the babies take a turn. 




Huge white crepe-paper like flowers. The girls wanted to take them home.



Lion Exhibit.



The last morning we were in town, me and the babies took a walk up to the railroad tracks while Dad was packing, and found a big field of dandelions (their favorite flower).  They were both in heaven.






 <><>

Grandma P and Jocy

<><>

Then it was time for the trip home. I'm not gonna lie. It was kinda miserable for them to be strapped in their carseats for 8.5 hours while I sat in the back with them and tried to come up with ways to entertain them. Ugh. We did buy a DVD player with dual screens the day before the trip. which, by the way, goes against every moral fiber in my body.  When their legs would get stiff and antsy they'd grab their feet and do kicks and stretches. It was pretty cute.

 



Double kick