In The Garden

Summer squash


Cooper working the worm bin

A lovely mess of herbs

Grapes growing in our beautiful grape arbor


Rainbow Chard

Cherry tomato's that I picked in one evening. There are this many more already ready to pick. I am planning on making tomato sauce and salsa to freeze so that none of these go to waste.

We were lucky to have purchased our home from a passionate gardener. We have always loved to garden and have really been enjoying the garden that she started this year. There is something very satisfying about eating food that you grew and harvested. Cooper loves to garden already. He even loved it last year as a small toddler in our garden in Albuquerque. He waters and has taken it upon himself to tend the worm bin (with our help). If you haven't heard of a worm bin, it is a way of composting in which worms eat your veggie waste from the kitchen. Google it.
Gardening is peaceful and fun. We all enjoy it.

Camping

Mommy and Dado

On the log chair

"A crab!"

Beautiful sea star!

The beach

Waking up in the tent (or tunnel)






One of the lovely perks of being a nurse is that your schedule is random and once in a while you can have many days off without using vacation. This happened to me this past week and I had 6 days off! We took advantage of the time and headed out to Orcas Island. Doug's family has property there overlooking the sound. There is no structure there so we camp. It is absolutly beautiful. Doug and I have been there many times together and we were very excited to introduce Cooper to it. Doug spent many days camping on this property as a kid so it was neat to see Cooper playing in the exact camping area that Doug did at his age.
Cooper loved sleeping in a tent, or as he called it, a tunnel. The tide was out super far so we were able to hike down to the beach and see lots of marine life. We also saw 2 whales go by while we were at the beach. Oh and I can't forget to mention the sea lion that popped his head up while we were there. Cooper loved lifting rocks to find little crabs under them. He also loved touching the sea stars that he uncovered. It was quite beautiful. We were face to face with lots of animals and sea creatures.
One evening we let Cooper lead the way on a walk and he was very proud. I think he is going to be a fantastic hiker at a young age. Once on the walk Doug said "Stop, be quiet, listen to the silence." From then on, about every 50 feet Cooper would make us stop and he would say "Stop! Quiet! Listen to silence!!" Very cute.
On our second night camping, we were all sitting by the camp fire telling stories when Coop said "I want to take a bath and watch a movie." Apparently he was over rouging it!
Enjoy the photos. I included a movie of Cooper telling you about what he saw on the beach. I recorded it while we were waiting for the ferry to come home.

A Summer Hike

This summer has been hectic, but we have made time to enjoy the outdoors. It has been wonderful introducing Cooper to hiking and exploring. Here are some pics from a recent hike we took to Wallace Falls. After the hike, we stopped at the river and let Cooper wonder around and throw rocks in the water.
Gotta love sweet summer adventures.

Happy Birthday Cooper

Happy Birthday to You...
Wednesday was Coopers second birthday. The past 2 years have gone by so quickly that I can hardly believe it. We have been so lucky to have Cooper in our lives and look forward to many many birthdays to come.
We had a lovely party on Monday to celebrate. It was all about Cooper. We served his favorite foods, home made Mac and Cheese and home made Chicken Nuggets. Amazing how much all the adults loved the kid food menu. We got a bunch of balloons for the party which was a highlight for Coop. Lots of friends and family came over, overall it was a great party.
Happy Birthday my love!!