Garden Week 2

Garden Week 2

Can you see the deer?

On Mother's Day, we planted our garden, a new tradition that we started last year. Except this year's garden is a much better attempt than ever before! We've come a long way from the small container garden we had on our Chicago condo balcony! Aaron built a raised bed and we filled it with rich top soil earlier in the month. We grew many plants from seed and then last weekend picked up some starter plants too. Last weekend, we put the seedlings and starters in the new bed. I have big plans for our garden yields including salsa, pepper sauces, homemade stocks with amazing herbs, and lots of salads!

What's Growing in the Berkey Garden? 

From seed: a variety of 12 kitchen herbs, spinach, zucchini, cucumber, carrots, and romaine lettuce. Our cucumber plants was damaged by the recent storms so I started another two more to be safe. The romaine lettuce was obliterated from the heavy rain storms too. I started more seeds today, but we may need to get some starter plants. Our beets haven't even sprouted. The carrots are tiny, but are doing really well in the garden. Aaron shielded them with a bit of straw. My basil sprouted, but it's not looking good so we'll see what happens. The sage looks great.

From starter plants: strawberries, mint, rosemary, several varieties of peppers (Jalapeno, Poblano, and Bell), 2 varieties of tomatoes (early girl and roma), butternut squash, green beans, and cauliflower. The green beans are already climbing on the trellis.

We have deer that live in our woods. They walk right up to our front porch or anywhere that we have succulent plants. Here's a picture of one that I scared off from the front porch when it was getting close to the lilies. Aaron put netting around the entire raised bed so it's about 5 feet high. The deer are supposed to be held off because they don't like the netting on their face. I hope it works! Last year, they ate our garden like a big salad bowl! On top of last year's drought, we had barely any yield. But this year, I'm excited for food we'll be able to grow.

Compost is piling up!

We're composting now too. We have a large compost bin with yard clippings, coffee grounds, used tea leaves, droopy fresh cut flowers, rinsed and crushed egg shells, and all the cuttings leftover from cooking. The bugs are going to town! We have a compost container under the kitchen sink and I take it out to the compost bin about every 4-5 days. It's covered so it doesn't smell. We're using biodegradable compost bags for our container under the sink, but they are for commercial composting so I'm not throwing those in our bin.

This weekend, I'm going to do some weeding. I'll keep you all updated!

Family Vacation in the Mountains

Last weekend, we took our first family vacation to the Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We had a great time! We took a long weekend from Thursday to Sunday evening.

From Indy, the drive is around 7 hours, but we had to stop several times for Ava to stretch her legs. I've shared before about our challenges on long car rides with Ava because she doesn't sleep much in the car. Both directions, she slept about an hour of the 7! I'm thankful that I was prepared with toys, activities, snacks, books, and DVDs for our car ride. A couple weeks ago, I pinned this blog post about activities while traveling with young kids in the car. There are some great ideas. We have a book with felt pieces that you can create your own scene, which really entertained Ava. I brought her portable chalkboard with magnetic alphabet and numbers, which did wonders. But it was Dora that saved us most of the time. Just to tell you how much Dora the Explorer we watched, Aaron and I had the songs stuck in our heads when we got back. I packed lots of her favorite snacks. Ava is starting to love peanut butter sandwiches now, which is a good for car rides.

Ava wanted to swim in the fountain.

A break during our stroll.

When we first arrived, we settled in to our rental cabin in the mountains. We had to drive about 15-20 minutes outside of downtown Gatlinburg. It was secluded and very peaceful. We picked that cabin because it was dog friendly. The only downside is that since it wasn't easy to head back to town, we decided to go out once a day instead of back and forth. We decided to grab dinner out at the Smoky Mountain Brewery where Ava devoured spaghetti with meat sauce. We were pleased since she's so picky these days. She had fun watching the other kids who dined with their families near us. On the way back to the cabin, we stopped by the grocery store to stock up on food for the weekend.

The next day, we decided to relax at the cabin to decompress for most of the day. Since we had a full kitchen we were able to make our breakfast and lunches there. After Ava's afternoon nap, we made our way downtown and walked through the shops. We stopped for donuts and sat on a bench by the water fountain in a shopping area. The three of us had fun walking together. Then when Ava got tired, we decided to call it a day and head back. On the way back we scoped out a local barbecue joint on the part of town by where the locals shop.  She stalked birds and wanted to hug them. Ava was sad when the birds flew away when she got too close.

From our driving tour

We went back to the cabin and Ava crashed out very early after dinner. She enjoyed our vacation so much that she barely took naps during the day. Instead of her usual 2+ hour nap, she slept less than an hour because she didn't want to miss anything. Then she crashed out very early at night. Having a house with a kitchen was nice traveling with a toddler so didn't have to leave the house much.

The next day, we took a driving tour of the Smoky Mountain Park in a path that is well known for the amazing water falls along the way. The water runs briskly and the sound is so calming. In fact, Ava fell asleep in the car and napped most of the time. She finally woke up towards the end so she got to see the last bit.

Relaxed by the soothing waterfalls. 

Aaron found a hiking trail for us that led to a beautiful waterfall. He told me that the Ramsey Cascade Trail is 4-miles, then we realized when we arrived at the park that it's 4 miles each way! I tried very hard not to be a nay-sayer when I saw on the park's website that the trail is estimated to take 5-7 hours to hike. I was worried since I only packed enough food/diapers for a 2-3 hour hike. Aaron told me that he was going to carry Ava and I would carry the back pack with our gear. Since we started out after 2pm, I thought it would be after dark before we got back if we went on the entire hike. We have a Boba soft structured carrier that goes on the front or back and has foot holds for Ava. It's such a great carrier to share between moms and dads because it adjusts easily. She loved riding on Daddy's back. She asked to get down a bit and we helped her walk, but the tree roots were a bit tricky. Ava started to get fussy and Aaron realized that we should head back. We ended up walking about 5 of the 8-miles. The trail was challenging and steep, but at least it wasn't too hot.

Taking a break with Mommy out of the Boba.

At the trail head.

Bena loved the woods.

On our last night in Gatlinburg after the hike, we stopped to pick up a pizza for dinner to take back to the cabin. It was relaxing. We enjoyed the hot tub a couple nights. The moon was full and bright both nights! I got a little freaked the last night because Aaron thought he saw something in the woods below us. A bear left a paw print on our garbage container the first night so I was worried it was a bear. We enjoyed dessert and good beer together, relaxing. It was amazing to be there last weekend. The only sad part was that we felt it was one day too short with the long drive. 

On Sunday morning, Aaron let me sleep in and he took Ava downstairs and started cooking breakfast. I got downstairs and it was such a treat to be served breakfast! We left the cabin after packing up. The drive home wasn't too bad. We're not the sure where we'll go on our next vacation, but this Summer we have a couple family reunion weekends so it probably won't be until next year sometime.

The moss-covered rocks were gorgeous!

Easter Fun!

Ava was excited to see the duck on the top of the box.

She was shaking with excitement when she saw her presents.

 Easter weekend was so fun! On Friday afternoon, Ava got a package from my mom with Easter goodies. She was so excited when she saw her hot pink box in the kitchen when we got home from daycare that afternoon! Grandma Anna sent her a bunny and an adorable bunny themed plate and cup. She immediately put the plate and cup on the table and said "comin" because she wanted to bring that to "Pa-ga's house."

This is what happens in Daddy's car when we're waiting for him to get our dinner.

Ava knows where to put the key in the ignition to start the car. She said "Pa-Ga's house" as if she was driving there herself!

We drove up to Lake Oliver to visit my in-laws as soon as Aaron got home from work on Friday night. The drive to Northern Indiana is usually stressful, especially on Friday nights the closer we get towards Ava's bedtime so we were thankful to leave earlier. She rarely sleeps in the car. We have a DVD player and I pack her snacks and toys to play with, but it doesn't always work. If she sees me or or hears my voice, she can get antsy to get out of her car seat. It's a 2 1/2 drive and sometimes we have to stop so Aaron will get gas and then Ava can nurse. We stopped to grab a quick dinner and gas up. Aaron went inside the restaurant to order our dinner while Ava and I stayed in the car because of course she wanted to nurse! She nursed for a bit then then I sat her in the drivers seat next to me. She grabbed the car key and started to put it in the ignition. I watched her closely and was surprised that she knew what to do. When we leave I always start the car with her in my arms and then put her in her car seat. This girl watches everything!

Watching a boat go by on the Lake. "Where go?"

We arrived at the Lake around bedtime, but she was too excited to go to bed. She finally was at Pa-Ga's house! In fact, Ava was so excited to be there that she had trouble falling asleep that night.

Saturday morning, we relaxed late into the morning in our PJs. We had breakfast burritos and Aaron got ready to play golf with his best friend, Zac. Ava had so much fun playing with Zac's 4-year old son, Colt! Michele and I ran into town to a Mexican grocery store to pick up my favorite childhood treat, pan dulce (sweet bread). I also found some hibiscus tea. We left Ava with Pa-Ga who walked with her to the channel and she helped him clean the outside of the house. According to Grandpa, Ava asked every couple minutes "Mama home?" He was a good sport!

Ava's Easter basket - lavender nail polish, sheep book, stamps, stickers, a toy chick, bunny, Dora Band-Aids, and purple matchbox cars.

 When Daddy got home after golfing, we started the Egg Hunt! Grandpa hid the eggs while Grandma took her on a walk to distract her so she wouldn't see what was happening.  It was a bit brisk, but beautiful. As soon as I called them over, Ava spotted her first egg! She opened it and was so excited. I filled the eggs with her favorite snacks, stickers, a couple matchbox cars because she loves her cousin's so much. She shoved the snacks in her mouth so fast so she could go onto the next egg. She had a blast! Then Ava got to see her Easter basket. I had so much fun picking it out and she enjoyed it!

Great Grandma Berkey and our family friends, Sue and her mom, Grandma Mary Jane, came over for Easter dinner. Great Grandma had an Easter bunny for Ava and some yellow Peeps. We sat inside and Aaron's mom pulled out her dulcimer. She watched Grandma play it and then grabbed the pick and started playing it! I realized that it was Ava after a few moments. She was great! Ava is really interested in music.

We took a pontoon boat ride on the Lake before dinner. It was relaxing! Ava got a little scared when we started to speed up and some water got in front where she was standing so she quickly hopped in my lap. Then she nursed and it was so peaceful that we almost fell asleep. Everyone enjoyed it, including Bena who sat by Grandpa as he drove the boat.

Ava didn't sleep much yesterday in the afternoon and she went to bed around 9pm. She was having too much fun playing with Colt who came back over with his parents. We had a lazy morning together at the house while Aaron's parents were at church. I washed Bena because she rolled in deer poop and smelled so foul. Ava watched in amazement as Bena got a shower! We had a quick lunch and then got on the road.

When we got home, we relaxed together outside in the yard, enjoying the sunshine. I made a snack to share: celery with peanut butter, raisins, and pretzels made into "butterflies." I planned ahead to use a freezer meal (Chicken Spaghetti, garlic bread, and maple-ginger carrots) so with the extra time, I prepped a split pea soup that I'll make in the slow cooker tomorrow while we're at work.

I had a nice late chat with my mother-in-law last night who reminded me that I should live in the moment to enjoy it all! With my crazy schedule, instead of doing something productive I thought I should just relax sometimes and go with the flow. I took her advice this afternoon when I sat outside relaxing with Ava and Aaron instead of doing something else inside. It was awesome! The weekend was so busy and fun, Ava crashed out after her bath quickly to catch up on all her lost sleep. And now it's my turn to head to bed!

We had beautiful weather for an Egg Hunt!

Excited to look for more eggs.

This big egg had 2 matchbox cars.

So excited to find the eggs!

She literally watched Ma-Ga for a couple minutes, grabbed the pick and started playing. Amazing!