Eric's Birthday

On Tuesday it was Eric's birthday. It was his big 37th birthday. So of course we celebrated the way we usually do and had a backyard dinner with family and friends. Eric's parents came over and Jennifer and Nathan and the kids. Neil and Emma came with there kids and so did Leif and Casey and Dawn and Dawn Dee.

Max and I got the backyard ready while Krista stayed after school and worked on the play she is going to be in. Eric got home from work around 6:30, just about the time everyone started coming over.
We made mexican food and had a fire. Emma brought s'mores for the kids...
and tequila for the adults. She's a bad influence like that...
I think that everybody had a good time!

My Garden is Growing!

Remember this picture of Eric watering our new garden? The plants were little and freshly planted.

Well here is my garden today. It's growing! Look how good it is doing! I'm so proud of my little garden and it makes me really happy. This is plot one and it has three rows. In the back row it is eggplant (yuck but Krista and Eric like it), yellow crookneck squash, zucchini and tomatoes. The middle row has brussel sprouts, green beans, broccoli, sugar snap peas and cauliflower. The front row is tomatoes, leeks, chili peppers, japanese cucumbers, poblano peppers and slicing cucumbers. There are also red and yellow onions here and there. It's going to be crowded once it's fully grown but this is my first real garden so give me a break.
This is plot 2. It's got tomatoes (Mr. Stripey), butternut squash (not sure if this guy is going to make it), straight neck squash and lemon cucumber in the back row and in the front row there is red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli and/or cauliflower and scalloped squash.
Here is our artichoke plant (yumm!)
Below is plot 3. Most of the watermelon that was originally in this little garden had to be pulled because they died during the extreme heat a few weeks ago. Now in the back row there is yellow watermelon (iffy at best), red watermelon, scalloped squash, swiss chard and mint. In the second row is scalloped squash, green beans, tomatoes, cantaloupe (probably will die), and pumpkin. The front row is all strawberries (some burnt from the heat).
Here is a little strawberry plant that is doing okay.
Hey! Get out of my garden! He is always following me around.
See the cute little yellow crookneck squash growing?
And the tomatoes are growing on one plant and the rest have flowers.
Look at the baby broccoli. Isn't it cute?
The first sugar snap pea has arrived!
And the cucumber plant has lots of little babies on it.
Look how big the bell peppers are getting! And who is the laying there in the background? 

Let's Plant a Veggie Garden

So we are going to plant our veggie garden so we went to Home Depot to get some more stuff that we needed. Eric came with us. Really he is going to do most of the work so he knows what he needs. I know that I needed cages for my tomatoes, sugar snap peas and green bean. Below is Max in his new retro polo shirt.

Eric deciding what he needs. It could be awhile. 

Let's take it home and plant it before we go to Nana and Popies for Saint Patrick's Day Dinner.

Our Bounty...

Eric's is getting his workout.

The final product of our labor. We planted tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, sugar snap peas, green beans, cucumbers and chilis. We also have in pots, bell peppers, lots of herbs and strawberries. Eric is going to plant an artichoke plant on his day off but we did not have room in the new garden.

It's Our Backyard!

Here are some pictures of our backyard. Right now it looks alright because it's green, at least as green as it's likely to get before summer. Once summer arrives it will be hard to keep green. San Diego summers are too hot for lawn. Here is T-Rex. She found the brown spot and sat right in the middle. She is a killer cat (get it?).

Popcorn's popping on the apricot tree.

Our orange tree and lemon tree really don't do that well. Nothing like my moms' trees

Eric loves picking up the dog doo doo. Can't you tell?