The Fi and Vi Log: July

July is more than half over. Here is a recap of what we did when not in Portland.

For 4th of July, we went to a street fair in downtown, where Fi enjoyed some very big slides and we walked around and saw lots of arts and crafts and Fi’s dentist. Fi ate cherries and liked them. It’s not her first time, she just didn’t remember eating them last summer. In the evening we went to the local college to watch the fireworks. We brought all sorts of food and chairs and a blanket and enjoyed music and saw lots of people we know including our neighbors. Fi got to stay up late to watch the fireworks, but decided she does not want to see them again next year: too loud. She sat in my lap with her hands over her ears, occasionally commenting on how pretty they were or on the colors. John and I enjoyed them. This is his first 4th of July as a citizen, although I doubt it really held any more meaning for either of us than it did before, other than getting a week off work. I haven’t seen fireworks in ages and forgot how much smoke they make.

Climbing up a slide and coming down:

She did not go down the big blue slide because it was too high for her, but she had a blast on the multi-colored one.

I call these photos Zombi Fi, because the cherry juice around her mouth plus her facial expressions:

Waiting for nightfall and the fireworks to begin:

Fi decided she really wants to stay in shape, so she likes running. She says she has to get her exercise and these are her exercise clothes:

John took her for a run while I had a phone date with Krista who was calling from Germany. It was a great way to keep Fi distracted while I chatted and also to get John to exercise a little.

I am not sure where she is going here because she is wearing her PJ’s, but she looks ready to go:

We are enjoying harvesting from the garden. These are the last of the green beans and yellow squash, but just the beginning of the tomatoes:

We harvested pumpkins and I made a pumpkin couscous and also beef shank with pumpkin:

I plan to make some mini pumpkin pies soon. I gave away a couple of pumpkins, reserved one for a friend, and plan to somehow cook whatever it left.

The watermelon was a little disappointing this year:

It’s a different variety so no where near as large as last year’s watermelons, the plant was obviously dying, they just weren’t as sweet. Fi did not seem to mind at all:

We also harvested the butternut squashes (behind the watermelon and around the pumpkin):

The cucumbers and tomatoes are starting to produce:

This year, the garden produced really early (the sheer number of green beans we had in early June was ridiculous). A lot of the plants were obviously at the end of their lives as all the leaves died and they stopped producing fruit or simply did not produce well at all. For example, the zucchini gave a few squashes, but they seemed to die on the plant before growing very much. The cantaloupe only produced three small melons and those were mostly eaten by insects. The one we salvaged was very small and not very sweet. It was a little sad because last year we had so many melons and they were so sweet, and the beans and zucchini produced so much and well into the fall. I read in the paper that this is an odd year for gardens and I believe it.

In the front, John ripped out pretty much everything except one butternut and we planted a second wave or cantaloupes, watermelon, beans, and zucchini. And Fi planted strawberries all by herself:

She even remembered to place the tag so we know what we planted. Fi is turning into a regular little gardener! She described to me in detail what she was going to do. If you see her soon, ask her how to plant. She really knows her stuff!

We made a quick trip to beach because I told Fi we would go and we wanted to take advantage of the warmer water before it cools down again (boo):

I am the camera person, so it may look like I didn’t go in the water, but most of the time, I was right there with Fi and John. John recently read to me my New Year’s Resolutions from 2013. I think I am failing at “be in more photos with Fi”.

Planting the new beans: