Sunken beauty

 Perfect way to end a pretty September Saturday?  Catch the last train at the zoo & head down to the gardens.

Beautiful.

Garden treasures

 Though it's been crazy hot & dry, our garden has actually done okay this year. 

 We have thick & tasty cucumbers,

 short but sweet carrots,

 & an abundance of grape tomatoes which almost match the size of our romas!

But I have to admit, that my favorite find in the garden thus far has been this caterpillar.  We actually found two crawling on the carrot tops munching away.  We decided to leave one in the garden & bring this guy in for "growing".  After a few ugly attempts & only one success last year, we had learned a few tricks this time.  We used a glass jar that was easy to clean out.  Since we knew for sure what he liked to eat, we gave him a fresh couple of carrot tops every day.  He has a crazy tongue!  After about a week of tender care, our little "CaterP" turned into...

this crazy chrysallis!  Since he was just quietly hanging out on a branch for over a day & not eating, though doing plenty of the other thing, I decided to clean out the jar except for the sticks.  The next morning, we woke to this amazing suspended chrysallis that looks just like a stick!  I don't think I would have known what it was otherwise.  Very cool.  We think it's an anise swallowtail.  Hope we find out soon!



One BIG day

When cousins come to town, we can hardly resist zooming immediately to their location.  So, when my sister Melissa & her family were here last weekend to go to the zoo, we also joined them for pre-zoo & post-zoo fun at my sister Cara's house.

"Let's play pretty princesses in the castle with white dresses & orange shoes, Veronica."

Then we ventured to the zoo.  The mole rats were both intriguing & hilarious to the girls!

We clued our cousins in on our cheap trick to feeding the goats... scavenge for all the feed that other kids dropped before us.  Andrew found a whole cup full!  Veronica was very frustrated, however. 

"Why won't he eat this food from me?"

Well, she hadn't quite mastered the techique of discerning the pellet food from the other kind of pellets.  I don't blame him for not eating it!

And that's as close as we could get to a posed picture with this motley crew!

My little monkey inspired by

the real monkeys.

The boys were all rather hesitant, but the girls dove right in to hold this huge grasshopper in the bug house.

Ah!

"It tickles, Mom!"

Yuck.  There were no mommies holding this huge millipede, either.  Andrew finally caved to peer pressure... GIRL peer pressure that is... & decided to hold this one.  He required a photo as well. 

Cute chicks

Since we hadn't tired out of fun yet, afterwards we walked down through the rose garden, past the fountains, & over to this gorgeous garden.  The boys were enjoying the fish in this pond... & grandpa's spitting trick.  Still lovely.

Back to auntie's afterwards to play, play, play & grill out, too.  Thanks for hosting us, Cara & Taylor.

What a BIG, fun, happy day! 

Love you, cousins!

First Fruits

We've had 4 red ripe Roma tomatoes from our garden already! They were small but tasty. Now we are just waiting on green beans, cucumbers, zucchini, & pear tomatoes. I think two of our plants have already gone caput, though. Crazy bunnies. Suggestions for what I can plant now in their place?

Is asparagus an option? The kids have been NUTS for it lately. We find ourselves making them wait to have thirds until they finish the other less-loved foods on their plates... like french fries & hot dogs. :P