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Bunnies, birds and hail

Posted on July 23, 2009 4:38 pm by TheAngelForever

Each year we seem to have our issues with plants and flowers that we try to grow. Two years ago we tried sunflowers and a bunny family attacked them. We bought some natural pepper spray to keep them away. Last year we planted some more sunflowers and lily plants in pots on our front patio. Although safe from bunnies, the neighborhood flock of birds seems to enjoy destroying them.

We have been discouraged, but have never given up trying new things each year. In April for Earth Day we planted some daffodils and then soon after more gorgeous lily plants. The daffodils did really well until the heat wave at the end of April and start of May. The flowers went away, but we knew that next year we would have more gorgeous flowers. Unfortunaltely, that pesky bunny family is back. They have destroyed the daffodil plants and even the bulbs were pulled up. Grrrrr!

After we were home from Disney World we decided to try planting some other items in big pots on our patio. At first we bought two tomato and one jalapeno plants. Then NHL and JL went out and bought a zucchini, cucumber and peppermint plant to add to the mix. Thanks to the constant rain, and even some hail (seen below), the plants have had a tough time.

JL has replanted a few of them several times because they were way too saturated and smelling like sulfur. To our amazement, the jalapeno plant has been quite hearty. It has grown nicely and we have already picked our first pepper. Check them out here:

1. Pepper and cucumber plants, 2. Ready to be picked, 3. Spicy find in our plant

The cucumber plant has been hit really hard, along with one of the tomato plants. The odd thing is the cucumber plant has gorgeous flowers each morning in recent days. The other tomato plant has a lot of flowers, but nothing visible in the fruit department just yet.

Two days ago I took a closer look at the zucchini plant and noted that there were the start of five or more little vegetables growing. They really are so cute!

1. Zucchnini plant, 2. Baby zucchnini

With any luck the weather will cooperate a little more, the animals will stay away and soon we will have some fruits and vegetables that are home grown to enjoy. For now I will continue to enjoy the gorgeous Tiger Lillies that are also spreading along the side of our house.

Who knew, I actually like something that is orange!

Categories:
flowers and plants house jl looking back photos summer weather

More magical May memories

Posted on July 22, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

All of the photos were part of our Disney PhotoPass CD collection. One other message:

Happy Birthday to my little brother. . . one more year to the big one!

Categories:
Disney jl jsl looking back nhl photos travel vacation Wordless Wednesday

No go for BlogHer ’09

Posted on July 21, 2009 10:54 pm by TheAngelForever

As we all know, plans often change and usually for a reason. This is the case for me and the BlogHer convention that is right around the corner. At first, we were going to take a family vacation to Chicago so I could attend BlogHer 2009. Then in December, our plans changed. I started to hear about the deals for Walt Disney World. We went into a travel agency on a whim and came out stunned. The price for a Disney vacation was just too good to pass up. By New Years Eve, we had finally opted to book the trip to Walt Disney World for May. At that instant, I knew that my chances of going to BlogHer were slim to none. I was accepting of that since I knew it meant going on a magical family vacation to Orlando.

Our May vacation to Disney World was fabulous. One of these days, I will finish blogging about the last few days of the trip, including JSL’s 2nd B-day at the Magic Kingdom. I often find myself thinking about those days and wishing I was back there. Life was good, we were carefree and the boys, my parents, JL and I were having the time of our lives together.

Now I sit here sad and jealous. Everyone on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere are a buzz about BlogHer in Chicago. Friends from the interenet that I had hoped to meet are packing, checking off get togethers to meet at and swag that they are hoping to get. Meanwhile, I am going to be gearing up to have my in-laws visit for the first ever weekend stay.

I keep reminding myself that although I can not be in Chicago, I was already in Orlando. Still, the memories of Disney World in May seem like distant memories at times. The boys have already grown so much, my kindergarten kid is going to first grade and the summer is already half over. I am sure that during these next few days I will often sit reading my blog posts about Disney, looking at the thousands of photos that we have from the trip, and dreaming of our next magical vacation.

To all of my bloggy friends, have a safe and wonderful trip. Take lots of photos, Tweet often and know that I wish you a wonderful time in Chicago.

Categories:
bloggy friends decisions Disney dreams family looking back me moments photos vacation

Walking with Dinosaurs

Posted on July 17, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As the Mommy of two little boys, I am quite familiar with dinosaurs. I’ll admit it, even as a little girl I was fascinated with these amazing creatures that roamed our planet. I still remember my clay model dinosaur that I had to made for a report in second grade.

NHL has been fascinated with dinosaurs since he was around two years old. For quite a while, we watched a lot of the cartoon Harry and the Bucket Full of Dinosaurs. We have read a ton of dinosaur books, done a dinosaur birthday theme where I made a volcano cake for the dinosaurs to parade around.

Recently, the Walking with Dinosaurs live show came to our area. We toyed with whether or not to take the boys to the show. Eventually, tickets came our way and the four of us went together. If you ever have the chance to go please do. It is worth the money to see this arena spectacular. Yes, the dinosaurs were loud, but the kids were too fixated on the gigantic creatures towering over the audience below. The information in the show is amazing. Our son loves the fact that dinosaurs are related to birds. As an adult, I loved the mix of the history, dinosaur facts and humor that was included in the show.

Before we saw the show, we happened to catch a making of Walking with Dinosaurs on PBS. We saw the long process that created these phenomenal life-like dinosaurs. Every detail was put into them and it showed. The night before the show I Tweeted to see if anyone knew about taking photographs during the show. The next morning I had a Tweet from DinoTalesByKari with the answer. Kari just happens to be a Voodoo Puppeteer on the Walking with Dinosaurs North American Tour (who also blogs from the road). She told me that photography is permitted so long as no flash was used. You have to love Twitter and Kari too!

I was a good girl. Before the show I played with our camera to get the setting the best I could. The arena was quite dark, but I still managed to get a few good shots. Here are some from the afternoon we went:

The larger versions of the photos can be seen here: 1. P1180458, 2. P1180473, 3. P1180482, 4. P1180511, 5. P1180547, 6. P1180561, 7. P1180565, 8. P1180598, 9. P1180588, 10. P1180624, 11. P1180627, 12. P1180646

Inspired by the dinosaurs, my question for this week is:

What is your favorite dinosaur and why?

For the record, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Stegosaurus. Not sure why, but I was always intrigued by the armor and beauty of this dinosaur that I never did a report on in second grade.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the Mr. Linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #57

Categories:
Aloha Friday fun jsl looking back nhl photos show

Character photo crusade at Six Flags

Posted on July 13, 2009 10:00 pm by TheAngelForever

Last year when we went to Six Flags NHL wanted nothing to do with the characters walking around the park. He would shut down and refuse to move if they were close. Eventually we proved to him that if he did not go to them, they were not going to approach him. When we booked our trip to Disney World in May we were a little nervous. We figured by the end of the trip NHL would either need therapy or would finally get over his fear of the big costumes.

Over the week at Disney World we slowly moved our way up to the characters. Things did not go well at our initial dinner the night we arrived. The screams at Chef Mickey coming from our table were quite loud from both of the boys. Soon after we managed to get the boys with Pocohontas and do a family photo with Lilo and Stitch. JL went into some photos (like Buzz Lightyear) with both JSL and NHL to continue the progress. By the end of the week NHL was running to Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy!

We were curious to see how NHL would do when we went back to Six Flags on Sunday. Would he gravitate to the Looney Tune characters and Wiggles favorites? He talked about seeing Henry, Dorothy, and Wags all the way up.

When we walked into the park several of the characters were waiting to meet and greet people. Daffy Duck was first. NHL was not too sure about this. As you will see JL jumped into the shot, after handing a screaming terrified JSL back to me.

Next up was Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. JL casually moved back of of the shot and NHL was fine with it.

When we went to Wiggles World he saw Captain Feathersword and Dorothy come out and RAN to them. Victory was ours!

After the Wiggles show he finished off getting some additional photos with the rest of the Wiggles gang including the Wiggly Dancer.

Later on we caught up with Sylvester, the Tazmanian Devil and Pepe Le Pew.

Then right when we were leaving we saw the Six Flags guy from the wacky commercials. Even JSL thought he was kind of funny and did not scream.

We will see if JSL will warm up to the characters. We figure seeing his big brother happy this year should help. Season passes and more opportunities should also keep things going in the right direction, but only time will tell.