Zoo fun 2015

I'd been wanting to visit the Richmond Zoo.  I planned with my sister and dad a date that we could all go on.  My BFF couldn't go because she had a ton of work she was working on and had a deadline.

We got to the zoo, put on the sunscreen and got our tickets.

Here's my little nephew standing in front of some plants.

Here's my dad.

Lots of flamingos.

Prairie dogs (my dad likes these).

Checking out an orangutan.

A monkey.....This guy was so weird.  It was in the grassy area of it's cage and when my niece came up to him, he swung over and started making some sort of call to her.  It sounded like opera.  It was a little scary and my niece didn't like it.  Every time she moved away he would follow her and continue making the noise.  My niece realized he couldn't get to her and she was fine.  When we walked away she said "goodbye monkey".  haha

Making opera noises.

Emu's....E said "Ostrich".  ahaahahaha

More monkeys.  They were all napping.

Lots of turtles.

E watching some animals with pop pop.

Walking hand in hand.  :)

Tortoise

Black Bears.  One was napping while the other was pacing.

Ducks

Zebras

Pig eating

Penguins

Rhinos

Birds

My niece outside the bird cage with pop pop.

My sister feeding a little bird.

Giraffes

Adam feeding a giraffe.

My sister took my niece to the playground while the rest of us took to the sky ride.  I love this ride.  It goes over the Zoo and it's peaceful.

My dad and Adam

Me

Some animals while on sky ride.

My nephew Joseph and his girlfriend.

Peacock

Adam feeding some animals in the petting zoo area.

Camels (some were shedding their winter coats)

Adam jumping to see how far he can get.

When we were done my sister took my niece on a carousel ride. 

We then got in our cars and drove up the street to Johnny Rockets to have lunch.

We ordered our food and then waited.  My dad drawing with Adam and Ellie.

The music was annoying because it was messed up.  The tracks kept skipping and repeating the same verse over and over.  It sounded like a broken record.  No one fixed it.  It was like that the entire time.  We even mentioned it to our waiter who just happened to be named 'Johnny' and he just laughed and said they knew.  So.....let's keep playing it?  WEIRD and annoying,

Anyways, I got the original burger (plain), fries, and a chocolate shake.  MMMMMMM.

After lunch my dad took my nephews home.  I went home with my sister and niece.  We hung out while my niece took a nap.  My BFF and her husband showed up and we were able to chat about nothing.  haha  It's what we do.  We had dinner at Zoe's kitchen.  Later on when we all left Ellie told each of us that she loved us.  Her little voice saying "I love you" is the cutest and sweetest thing.  :)  It was a fun but exhausting day.

2015 Garden Update- #27

Garden is happy in the sunshine.  :)

I picked several cherry and husky tomatoes.

I noticed my first broccoli.  YAY!!  This guy is from seed.  I'm so happy.  Now I just hope it gets really big.  :)

My sunflowers that I started in my greenhouse are doing good.

I should have sunflowers soon.

I picked some toms and a purple bean.  When I laid them out to take a picture it made me smile because it's a veggie smiley face.  :)

I still have bees every morning in the garden working hard.

Farmers Market 7/15

I went to the Wednesday Farmers Market that's in a hospital parking lot.  I was still on staycation and I didn't have anything going on so I figured it would be fun to walk around.

I picked up:

-1 big red tomato

-sweet corn (dozen)

-cantaloupe

-2 peaches

-2 potatoes

-2 cucumbers

-1 squash

-1 zucchini

-2 sprelly almond butters

I love Sprelly nut butters.  I got plain almond butter and white chocolate almond butter.  It's so tasty and yeah it's gone.  haha  I still have the other tub but that probably won't last long.

Flower bed clean-up 2015

My mother-in-law came over to help me clean up my front flower beds.  The whole time we were working on the yard there was this little dog that had been at the neighbors.  Animals control and the neighborhood kids couldn't catch the little guy.  Nate got off early from work this day and he started mowing the grass.  We told him about the dog.  He thought it was funny that no one could catch him.

After a while, Nate thought he'd give it a shot.  He got him.  The little guy did nip his fingers a few times.  :(

Here's Nate with the little guy.

Nate made a sign and put it at the end of our driveway in case the owner came looking for the little guy.

We gave the owner until noon the next day to claim the dog and then I had animal control come pick it up.  The dog was taken to a no kill shelter.  I hope the owner finds the little dog.  He was so shaken and scared.

Brunch and Planner date 2015

My sister and BFF came up.  We had a brunch date and a planner date.  

I surprised my niece with a cute little monkey on a swing.  She loved it.  Best dollar spent.  I picked it up at the dollar tree.  The monkey is solar powered and swings.  It's really cute.  

Ellie has a monkey obsession so I knew she would like it.

We went to Mason Dixon Cafe for brunch.  They have good food and it's cheap.  I've been plenty of times but my sister and BFF have not.

Here's my niece eating her lunch that my sister packed for her.

I ordered the 'Big Breakfast Burger' with a side of fries.  The bun is actually french toast.

There's an egg, bacon, cheese and of course the burger.

It was so good.  I even dipped it in some syrup and that made it even better.  YUM!

My BFF ordered the 'Breakfast club'.  I was going to order that until I saw the burger and got that instead.  :)  The breakfast club was 2 waffles, egg, bacon, cheese and sausage.  So yummy!

My sister ordered the 'Jersey Cheesesteak'.  She liked it but she did mention that she wished there had been lettuce and onions though.

After brunch we went to AC Moore, and Target.  Then we finally came back to my house to make stickers for our planners.  Yes, we are planner nerds.  :)  For dinner we had pizza and boneless chicken wings.  

Later on, I was on the couch resting from sticker making and Ellie got up in my lap and fell asleep.  :)

Love her!  :)

Ellie in my Garden 2015

I had Ellie look at my garden when she was here visiting one day.  She had the biggest smile looking around at everything that I had growing.

She wasn't afraid to get in there and look at the veggies/fruits/flowers growing.  We walked around and I pointed everything out to her.  She seemed to understand.  She nodded and said "yep" a lot.  :)

I told her she could pick her very first garden red tomato and she did.  She was very gentle.

She giggled the whole time as she picked her very first cherry tomato.

She was so happy and proud to show it off.

I told her "say cheese" and this is her "cheese face".  hahahaha

I told her she could eat the tomato and she put it in her mouth.  I asked her if it tasted good and she said "yep".  :)  She's so smart and cute.  I hope that she has her own veggie/fruit garden one day.

Extracts 2015

My husband and I decided to make a bunch of different pure extracts.  My pure vanilla extract is very popular and we figured it was time to re-brand and add a variety of different extracts.

We ran some errands to pick up supplies we needed.  

The list:

-lemons

-oranges

coconuts

-grapes (I wanted to eat)  :)

Here's the baskets full of fruits.

lemons, oranges and coconuts.

My husband worked on the coconuts while I worked on zesting lemons.  

I cleaned them all first.

Then got right to zesting.

Look at all the lemon zest.  :)

Success!  I made 2 batches of my vanilla extracts the night before.  Here's a picture of the vanilla, lemon, orange, and coconut extracts.

The next day, Nate and I had a lunch date at Ruby Tuesday.  Nate wanted to take me to lunch to celebrate my ribbons I got at the fair.  :)

My plate.  We both got the salad bar.  :)  So yummy.  I love the croutons.  :)

After lunch we picked up a few groceries we needed for the week.  We also got some almonds and spearmint to make small batches of some more extracts.

I have everything stored in my extract cabinet.  It's just a cabinet in my basement bathroom that stays dark and cool.  :)

We wanted peppermint but it's hard to find.  I went to Lowes to look at plants the other day and there were plenty of peppermint plants.  I picked up 4 plants.  I plan on growing them.  I'll pick off some of the leaves and make a batch of peppermint extract with them.

Nate redesigned the labels asking me what I liked and didn't like along the way.  They turned out great and they look so cute.

I can't wait till all the extracts are done brewing so I can get them all bottled and labeled etc.  :)