We’re not really flipping the house–we neither have the time, money, nor inclination to.  We did, however, paint the ceiling to our living room and the entry way while my parents were here.  It didn’t take too long to do, especially with two people.  Our next project will probably be to paint the living room and finish putting up the trim in the coast closet and in the washer and dryer closet.  It seems like a home-owner’s job is never done. 

It’s been a whirlwind 10 days, and instead of posting how Sean’s birthday went, I’ll refer you to this post I made on Sean’s blog. Enjoy!

I’ll put up pictures as soon as I can, but most pictures were taken by the grandparents.

I noticed some white spots on one of my zucchini plants today. I read online it’s due to mildew. I think I’m just going to dig up both plants. One plant didn’t produce and zucchini at all, and the other one produced about 4 good zucchini. Most of the zucchini from the one that produced rotted while growing off the vine. I’m going to blame all the rain we got. Anyways, I just don’t want to battle the mildew that much for the gain of more zucchini. The zucchini are also huge, which is encroaching on a lot of the sun my herbs and other vegetables are getting.

Next year, if we can stay long enough, I’ll regrow the herbs, salad mix, one tomato plant, arugula, green beans, and maybe something else.

Alright, we have a lot of photo updates.  We’ve added an album from our trip to the East Coast, and some more pictures from July.

We also have pictures from our photo shoot that I had done for Mother’s Day.  Here’s the link to the website.  The password is ramona.

This weekend, my parents, Nat’s parents, my brother, and my brother’s girlfriend are coming into town to celebrate Sean’s birthday.  We’re celebrating it early since Nat’s parents can’t come out for his actual birthday.  It’ll be a jam packed weekend of food and fun. 

Everyone keeps asking me what to get Sean, and I tell them, “Nothing!  He won’t remember it anyway, and he’ll probably have more fun with boxes than anything else!”. :

We put up some new videos of Sean at the beach!   Enjoy!

Whew, we need a vacation from our vacation.    Despite all the busyness and craziness, we had a wonderful time with friends and family.  I particularly enjoyed the time I could spend with both of Nat’s grandparents.  They are such sweet and wonderful people; I wish we’d live closer so that we can spend more time with them.

Grandma and Grandpa H (Nat’s maternal grandparents) are particularly fond of Sean.  They loved seeing all the new “tricks” that he had up his sleeve since they saw him last (in November).  I was sad to leave this morning because Grandma and Grandpa H both commented how quiet it would be after we left.    I hope that we can make it out next year for Grandpa H’s 90th birthday.

I thought that I’d give you a brief summary of what we did.  I’m glad that the two grandparents lived so close, but it was still a lot of work to haul all of Sean’s stuff back and forth!  Sean was such a champ; he adapted SO WELL to all the changes and moves and different places to sleep throughout the trip.  He is such a good little boy and a great traveler!

Thursday
We arrive in Boston and we meet Nat’s parents at the rental car place.  We drive into Westborough where we visit Grandpa T.  We head over to Grandma and Grandpa H’s for a little while, then back to Grandpa T’s for dinner.

Friday
Breakfast at Grandpa T’s.  We spent all morning sitting around and chatting.  When Sean woke up from his morning nap, we headed off to Providence, RI to see Brown.  We walked around campus, had lunch, and headed back.  We had dinner at Grandma and Grandpa H’s.  By the end of the day, we were all worn out, especially Sean.

Saturday
Ethan arrived early in the morning from Seattle.  Nat’s parents, Grandpa T, and Ethan headed down to the Cape for lunch and to get some lobsters for dinner.  While most of the T family was out, we stayed at home with the H’s.  Dave, Nat’s old roommate from college, came up from Connecticut to visit for the day.  We had lunch together at the H’s and hung out.  Then we headed over to the T’s and had lobster for dinner.  After dinner, we took Sean back to the H’s for the night (we were staying at the H’s for the whole trip).

Sunday
As soon as Sean woke up and had his breakfast, we headed out to Matunuck, RI to a beach house owned by Nat’s aunt and uncle.  On the way, we stopped by Aly’s for doughnuts.  It’s a family tradition.    We got to the beach house where we got to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa H, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Bill, Cousin Mel and her fiance Jared and son Seamus, Cousin Kim and her husband Rory and son Roo, the rest of the T clan (minus Grandpa T).  It was a packed house!

While half of the family went out on the boat, the rest of us (the cousins, Ethan, Nat, and I with our significant others and children) headed out to the beach.  Sean had a great time playing on the sand and in the water.    He face planted into the sand and water early on and got a bit scared, but he recovered by the time we left.  He had a great time splashing in the ocean water and watching the waves.  We would have stayed longer, but Sean started shivering, so we headed home.

When we got back to the house, we had a large lunch–burgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, potato salad, and lobster salad.  After everyone had their fill, we relaxed–some talked, others napped, others played games.  A few hours later, we had some strawberry shortcake followed by some fresh seafood takeout from Captain Jack’s.  We headed back to the H’s after our long day.  Sean was so tired he fell asleep on the car ride home, which he never does!

Monday
We headed to Grandpa T’s.  We spent all day there and just lounged around.  Everyone needed time to recover from our long day at the beach.  We played some games, watched Sean climb up the stairs (and finally climb down the stairs).  We had a simple, but large, dinner of pizza and salad.  We woke up Sean to take him back to the H’s.

Tuesday
Another lazy day at the H’s.  We spent most of the day recovering from all the previous days activity.    We just lounged around, talked, and spent some quality time together.  One of the things I did was helping Grandma H in the garden.   The H’s have a beautiful flower and vegetable garden.  I think they both have green thumbs.

We all took part in preparing for dinner at the H’s.  Nat’s Uncle Ben and Ellen, who live in town, came for dinner.  It was a fabulous meal of turkey and lots of vegetables from the garden.  Ethan made a delicious orzo with sun dried tomato pesto.

That’s a “brief” summary of our trip.  I’m sad to leave, but I’m also glad to be home.  I think I gained 10 lbs from all that eating we did on the East Coast.  It’s back to working out starting tomorrow morning. 

I’m pleased to announce that our garden is thriving.  Every thing seems to be doing well.   My lettuce mix is doing much better than last time; the snow peas are almost done producing; the arugula is doing fabulous; my beets are surviving (I had to replant after something nipped off the tender leaves of the previous plants); my carrots are growing strong; I have a few zucchini growing; my tomatoes are finally fruiting!   All the herbs are doing well–I planted some green onions and I see a few of them coming out.

I hope that we’ll get to eat something from the garden when my family and Nat’s family come for Sean’s birthday!