DOG DAYS OF SUMMER!

This is the time of year that Minnesota looks good to me. Above is our rain gage. So far this week we have had a little over 6 inches of rain ...since Monday. And would you believe there is not ONE puddle in our yard. We don't get standing water at least not for very long. It is making everything grow and our yard is starting to have a "jungle" look. It is about a twice a week job to keep it mowed. It is the time of year with Floridians say, survive if you can. If not, Oh Well! I love it to rain though. Every day I don't have to get out and water all this is like a extra few hours a day for me. I do love to watch the rain come down. Sometimes it is hard to believe it can come down so hard and fast and in an hour you can get 2 inches of rain.

These are the little 4 inch plants I planted a couple months ago. They are on their way to being big. This is also the time of year that you realize the things you planted really can get bigger than you thought. Never fear, soon winter will take care of that little problem.
This is a variegated wigela (whatever that is) and it will soon be covered with all these cute little pink flowers. These can get as big as they want and take up this whole space and I will be happy with that. No weeding necessary then.
This is my plumosa. I have cut it back several times and it just keeps growing. It will soon cover the walkway and be dipping in the pool, but this time of year you cut it back carefully. Who knows what may be lurking under it? So goes summertime in Florida. But... even with the heat and humidity Florida is a good place to live. It is a perfect place to enjoy a pool. We have certainly used ours this summer and it feels so good to get in that nice warm water, some days it is cool especially after a big rain, but it still feels good. By cool I mean the water temp drops to 88-90 degrees. I prefer water temps of about 95, but 90 is ok. So, come on down and enjoy the heat with us. In a couple months it will be gone and we will be wishing for summer to come back.

Our grand-son the organizer!

Tanek loves to organize his cars. He has 14 cars from the movie "cars" and we keep the pkg it comes in with the picture of the car. Here he is linning them up with their cards.
Checking them carefully to make sure they are all on the right picture. He also will just leave them linned up in a row when he isn't playing with them.
It's a little hard to see, but he has all the cars on their cards that match.
Playing with his new "sheriff" car. He knows everyone of them by name.

Update on Papa's Garden!

Papa's okra is still putting out okra. He has had a lot of the nasty ol stuff. I don't do okra. But he loves it.
About 3 weeks ago when the grand-children were all here they planted more peas in Papa's garden. Here they are growing up good. If all these come up we will have peas galore.
This is one of our pumpkins that is growing. We aren't exactly going to have a pumpkin patch, but we may get a few from it. It didn't do as good as we had hoped.
Tanek is checking out the peas that all the grand-children planted. I sure wish they were going to be here to help us eat them all.
I did learn something about plants that I didn't know. We planted California bell peppers. We have had a lot of them come up and they are very very good. Now, for some reason I don't know if it is the heat or what but they are turning into the beautiful red peppers that you pay twice as much for in the store. They taste the same to me but they sure are pretty and red. Not all of them are red but we are getting a lot of red ones. I don't know if you let them grow longer they turn red or what but we are getting some red ones . The peppers were a very good thing to plant and easy to grow. I think they were one of my favorite things to grow along with the watermelons. They were so good and we got so many of them. Having a garden has been really nice, lots of work for one old man, but he has enjoyed it. We also got more corn on the cob than I thought because it was so dry for so long and it seemed we could not keep it watered enough, but now with the rain we are getting corn and it is really good.

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY TO KIRSTEN!!!

Today is my first grand-childs 13th Birthday. It is hard to believe that 13 years ago today I became a Nana. As most grand parents know, when you become a grand-parent it is far more exciting than you could ever imagine. I always heard how wonderful it was, but always thought what is all the hype about. How much better can it be than just being a mom. WELL.......... It is!
I am not sure why, maybe because you just get the good stuff when you are a grand-parent. But I do know it is just the best place in life to be. I wouldn't trade being Nana for anything. And Kirsten, you were the one that first made me a Nana.

Kirsten loves horses. It is such a big part of her life and she does it all. She rides, and takes care of them. She loves being in the barn and stables. She even loves the smell of horses. She just can't get enough of horses. She reads about them, she writes about them. One day she may run her own horse back riding stable. She would be very good at it.

Kirsten is eating a piece of watermelon from Papa's garden with Emily. When we planted the watermelons, I wanted to be sure they would be ready for the 4th of July. They were and all the grand-children got to enjoy them. I now have 4 grand-children (as most of you have heard.,..over and over again). But it just keeps getting better. Whether they are 2 or 13, there is Nothing more wonderful on earth than having grand-children. I just wanted to take time out to wish a VERY special grand-daughter a very HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

We love you Kirsten, and we are very proud of you. You are my favorite 13 year old in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!

The two smallest Grand-children!

I love these pictures that Heather took while she was here. I think we may have a born gymnast on our hands. The more his Daddy sent him flying in the air the more he liked it.

He is having the time of his life. He seems so natural at it. He has strength, balance and no fear.
Time for a little love from Daddy.
Here is Richard and his youngest having some "girl" play. Normally she is in her dance or princess mode, but right now she is just being a regular girl. Gotta love these grand-children. As you can see she does have on her tutu.

A luncheon and a Haircut!

On Wednesday I had a luncheon for several ladies that were all in our Sunday Morning Bible Study. Because of some unfortunate situations we are all now at 5 different churches. But we are all sisters in Christ and love each other. Our bond is Jesus and that keeps us together. We started a monthly luncheon to get together with each other. Not everyone can make it every month, this was actually my first one, but we do try to get together. This month we had a Taco lunch with watermelon and chocolate brownies for dessert. It was actually all very good. Next month we are off to the Ivy House.
On Wednesday morning Stephanie took Tanek for a haircut. I usually go with, but since I was busy fixing lunch Papa went instead. Tanek isn't much on getting his hair cut and it usually takes 2 to hold and occupy him while Dimples cuts his hair. This time it wasn't nearly so tramatic for him and he looks quite cute with his new hair cut.

Play Date!

Today 2 grand-ma's got our 2 grand-sons together for a play date. Mason and Tanek are just a month apart in age. They had a good time playing together and we hope to get them together more often.
They had a slip and slide and a wading pool to play in. Anything to do with water is what little boys love most.

Mason has this cool moon walk and they loved jumping on it.

Vacation time is over!

Hannah is helping pack up to get ready to go home. We had a great 3 weeks. I left on June 18 to spend a few days with the family in Maryland. On Sunday June 22, we drove back down here. The girls and Heather spent Monday with us and then headed to Tampa for several days with her sister. We had several more days that they spent here with us and then Richard came down on July 2nd. We had a great 4th of July. Karen (Heathers sister from Minn.) and her two children came down and we had a large family cook-out and swimming. Heathers mom, step dad, and grandma also came. Plus Steph, Ricky and Tanek. Can't believe I didn't get any pictures that day. I was busy in the kitchen and didn't even think about it. Ricky grilled some delicious ribs, chicken, burgers and hotdogs. We had salads and all the trimmings and watermelon from Papa's garden. It was a great day. The weather was good all day except extremely hot. That evening they went to Heather and Karens dads house to see fireworks.
Kirsten with Brody and Bailey. The Boys. They did extremely well on this whole trip. Sometimes they gave Daisey fits. She didn't much like the 2 kids chasing after her. But they all survived without any dog fights. They are very cute and soft doggies.
This is Bailey sleeping in Emily's car seat. They loved to just snuggle up anywhere and go to sleep.

Saying the good-byes. Tanek enjoyed time with his cousins and aunt and uncle.
Giving Uncle Richard a good-bye kiss.
Waiting for Aunt Heather to come in for her good-bye kiss.
Emily giving Tanek a great big farewell hug.
Emily is dressed in her Princess gown for the long trip home. Bye girls. Lets make this a yearly trip.

Papa's helpers in phase 2 of Papa's Garden!

Papa planted more pink eyed purple hull peas today. With the help of 4 grand-children. This should be the best garden ever. Hannah and Tanek are putting the seeds in the ground.
Aunt Heather is helping Tanek plant the seeds.
Emily is having no trouble getting her seeds planted.
Papa is supervising the planting.
It all had to be captured on film. It was too good to pass up.

Papa is showing them how to do it. It was very hot out, but none of the grand-children seem to mind.
Kirsten and Emily working together. Get those seeds planted.
Hannah our little green thumb gardener is working the row by herself. She can make anything grow.
Papa's garden got lots of help today and 4 children had lots of fun and good memories were made.