Backyard Tastiness

The garden is in full bloom and we are enjoying it quite a bit. We planted nine tomato plants (six varietals), three different types of lettuce, arugula, brussel sprouts, carrots, onions, zucchini, broccoli, potatoes, and 72 strawberry plants. Yes, 72. We have about five ripe strawberries every day. Part of the fun this year is Wyatt's interest in the process. Last year he mostly dug up the plants and tore off unripened veggies but this year he helps us water and weed and, most importantly, eat. We're still working on a love of lettuce but twice daily salads are our summer treat. Here's Wyatt "helping" with the garden early on in his boots and undies.

Our first carrots.

Red potatoes that we thought we finished but actually weren't.

And our treasured babysitter, Rachel, who graduated from Cal Poly in June. She has been spending time with Wyatt since he was about a month old. She used to come over for about two hours so that I could take a long, uninterrupted nap when I was so tired I could hardly remember my name. Wyatt fell in love with her immediately and they've had adventures since. Across two towns, three houses, countless meals and rests and bedtimes and puzzles and forts and songs, she's faithfully cared for Wyatt and our lives are better because of her. Plus she taught him some serious booty shaking and body rolling dance skills.

A Few More

These are pictures from our time with family in Genova. It was meaningful being together in spite of the language barrier. Wyatt made a friend named Simone and discovered they share a mutual love of construction equipment.

This first picture is in honor of Father's Day. I am honored to have a partner like Garett and can't imagine life without him. A few of my favorite things about him today include:

- His green thumb

- The way he plays hard with Wyatt

- His abounding creativity

- The way he laughs in the movie theatre like he's the only one there

- His kind words

- His tough questions

- The way he serves without hesitation

Ciao

We spent almost two weeks on the Italian Riviera, first in Levanto, then Genova and Borghetto Santo Spirito and finally Cassigheno. The first half of the trip we were on our own and the second half we were with Garett's warm family.

Highlights:

Renting a car and by a happy accident getting a sporty, speedy Alfa Romeo

Renting bikes for a day

Spending most of our time at the beach

Eating gelato at least once and sometime twice a day

Daily happy hour with tasty beverages watching the sun drop into the sea

Eating tasty pizza and focaccia

Our teeny two bedroom attic apartment just one house from the beach

Garett meeting a fellow man-of-the-sea, Tore, who took us fishing

Renting a boat, anchoring off Bonassola and swimming in the crisp Mediterranean Sea with my boys

Gobs and gobs of sea glass

These are photos from Levanto.

More Preschool

Wyatt's teacher shared more pictures from the semester and these are my favorites. Most of these need no explanation but I will point out that he does have a lamb on a leash below and my boy likes to dress up almost as much as Lady Gaga.

Herding Cats

Wyatt went to his first "soccer practice" today and I loved being a spectator as Garett was the participating parent. There was a lot of picking up the ball and I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt that we don't own a soccer ball. Or basketball or football or baseball or any kind of ball used for sports. Does croquet count? We have twelve shovels and 300 books but not much sporting equipment.

I so don't want to get into the whole soccer-every-Saturday-with-at-least-one-weekly-evening-practice thing but I can kind of see the draw.

The Small Zoo

We visited the "small zoo" today. When compared to the SF zoo or the San Diego zoo, it really is quite modest. I love it because Wyatt can run around to his heart's content and see every animal six times.

So far, so good for spring break. Wyatt and I are having fun adventures and we're enjoying the change of pace.

Long Lizards

My boys love finding lizards in the backyard. The past couple of days we've found some pretty cool ones and Wyatt even caught one that we're calling an alligator lizard. Wyatt and I both have spring break this week although I am expecting more "spring" than "break". I'm not sure how I'm going to do with the lizard catching and spider grabbing but I just have to make it until 5pm when Garett saves the day.