Dive Team

At the beginning of the summer, Bryce and I decided that we were going to require that Harris do dive team at our community pool.  He was not signed up to do any camps or activities and we felt like he needed some structure in an otherwise wide open day.  Also, we just felt like it was a great crossover from his trampolining.  Harris was not fully on board and spent the first two weeks of practice talking about how he didn't like it at all.  However, over the course of the next couple of weeks, we noticed that Harris was up and ready for practice, that he didn't ask to skip any days and he would talk about a jump he was mastering.

He was also doing well at the meets (which always helps, right?) earning a ribbon every time.  Yesterday, Harris participated in the PASDA dive championship and he did incredibly well for his first time.  He earned a silver in the 14U* category and a bronze in the 18U*!  I"m so proud of him for following through and trying something new even if it wasn't something he wanted to do.  

*the boy who won the gold has been competitively diving for 6 years!

On Broadway

This weekend Jeni and Trish came to Frog's Hollow for a quick visit.  The main driver of their visit was to see a Broadway show that one of Trish's dear friends, Alex, was a star in!  The show, The Play That Goes Wrong, was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, we were crying we were laughing so hard!

Alex, who was wonderful, took us on a backstage tour afterwards.  He was incredibly nice and generous and it was very special to see the inner workings of a broadway play.  Now we can all say we've made it to a Broadway stage!

In The Garden

Looking back at my posts, I'm so surprised that I haven't done a garden update.  We are now in the time of year where the garden is "easy."  Everything has been planted/seeded and now we just wait for harvesting time!

After such an amazing amount of rain this spring, we now are finding ourselves wishing for a bit more as it's now hot and dry here.

Can you spot Bryce who was just a wee bit tired?

Our first dahlia in the garden!  We are lucky to have even this one as most of our dahlias did not survive the winter storage (another learning moment).

 The blackberries are getting closer!

This garden rose has lived up to her name, always outpacing the others!  Her name?  Hermione of course :).

The color of this new rose is breathtaking!

Such beautiful things are coming out of the garden.  When choosing seed, I do a lot of research to find the tastiest, and the prettiest, things to grow.

Appropriately, I pulled these little carrots up on our 22nd anniversary!

Hydrangeas

My dear friend, Kristin, runs a consulting business with her sister where they have spearheaded several events for Martha Stewart Weddings (I know!).  Recently, they were part of a booth at Renegade Craft Fair where they had the most amazing flower wall!  In order to make the flower wall, they put gorgeous hydrangeas on their side and stacked on shelves- it was a dreamy backdrop for pictures!  The theme, naturally, was Endless Summer!

The problem?  No one wanted the hydrangeas back after the fair, nor do most people have enough room (especially those in the city!) to plant that many shrubs in their yard.  However, Kristin and I just couldn't see letting that many shrubs go to a landfill, so I took the truck (and Gretchen and Grace), drove it through lower Manhattan, and over the bridge, to Brooklyn to pick up as many hydrangeas as I could fit.

You guys, I even parallel parked on the street.  We were so proud we had to take a picture.

Somehow, as I ferried the hydrangea out to the truck, Grace and Gretchen managed to squeeze 64 plants in the back of the truck!  It was no easy task and involved getting fairly dirty.

When we got home with the hydrangea, it dawned on me that we now had to plant all of them!  We started out hand digging the holes but soon moved to using the auger on the back of the tractor.  I had originally thought that I would plant the shrubs in the field, but realized that it would be too much heat and sun for the hydrangea, which benefits from some shade.  We ended up lining the walkway that leads to the garden and barn with them.  I think when they fill out and up they will be stunning!

A Rooster

A week or two ago, while working in the garden, I heard a trumpeting sound and couldn't figure out what it was.  I looked all around and finally traced it back to to the coop where Chewbacca was  regally crowing his little heart out.  This could not come as more of a surprise as we intended, and were told, that we had all ladies!  Turns out that sexing chicks who are hours/days old is no easy task and it's somewhat common for these mix ups to happen.

It's funny to all of us that it's the one that Harris named a rather boyish name, and of whom we've all joked that he seemed to be in charge of all the other chickens.  Of course, Harris has declared that nothing's to be done and Chewbacca is to be allowed to keep on keeping on.  I'm not sure what this means for our girls except now we will be down to only four layers!

Fourth of July Arrangement

I hope you had a great 4th of July!  We went over to a friends house for lobster rolls and an outdoor movie.  As it got dark, we sat around the pool and watched Jaws!  It's been years and years since I've seen it and hopefully it will be years and years more :).

Every time I'm in the garden and see these dried alliums I think of fireworks, so I cut a few of them and threw an arrangement together for the 4th.  It got mixed reviews in our family as some (Grace) thought it was too odd and others (Harris) thought it achieved its goal of looking like fireworks.  I say it's okay to be a bit different sometimes...

A Mudroom Cabinet

You may remember that we moved our kitchen in the renovation and that our old kitchen became the mudroom and a small office nook for Bryce.  While Al was here in the spring, he built us a cabinet to house all the odds and ends that four people wear on a daily basis around here.  We have different footwear for the odd farm tasks, hats to wear in the sun and cold, coats and rain jacks and mittens and work gloves.  In my opinion, we ended up with the perfect piece that works really, really hard and looks good while doing so.

After doing a lot of scrolling on pinterest and thinking about our needs, I sketched out for Al what I thought I wanted.  I wanted a large space underneath the bench for boots and shoes, drawers for gloves and scarves, hooks for coats and a cabinet to hide all the "extras."  It was a tall order but, of course, Al made it happen!  Once Bryce and Al installed the piece, Bryce finished it.

Al does such beautiful work and we so appreciate his willingness to build whatever we ask of him!  We feel so very fortunate!

Can you spot the kitty trying to sneak up the back staircase?