Garden: Payoff!

In the post Sea Of Green you got to see the installation of our new Xerilawn from The Turf Company. We have a huge lot of land, none of which has been particularly fun to walk or sit on. It was hardened earth with lots of divots, weeds and poor quality grass. I wanted to have a real lawn because I love walking barefoot outside, sitting on the cushy ground, and most of all I wanted a place to play with Porter outdoors where he didn't have to worry about staying on a blanket. Let me tell you, a crawling baby is not content to sit, or crawl, quietly within the confines of a quilt. I am so happy to be able to tell you that my dream has come true!

Today while Luke was lumber-jacking in the backyard I looked at our new lush green lawn and thought, "Gee, it would be so nice to sit in the sun on the grass." Since we've been babying the newly laid sod it hadn't even crossed my mind that we could now use it, duh. I jumped up, kicked off my shoes and plopped Porter onto the dark soft grass, and the fun began.

At first he didn't know what to do with it, or if he even liked how it felt on his toes. Before too many minutes passed, however, he was crawling from one side of the yard to the other. He found the hose and sprinkler and had a fantastic time in the warm autumn sun. We then had a family picnic on our new lawn, and it was glorious! Not only did we finally get to enjoy the fruits of our gardening labor, but Porter ate a whole meal of the same food that we were eating, bean and cheese burritos. No baby food prep, hurrah! It just goes to show you how much can change in a month. We went from no lawn and purred veggies to a picnic on the grass. Life is grand.

Squaw Butte

You may know that my husband and I are not natives to Idaho (unlike our son and kitties) and part of the reason we moved here from California was because we wanted to live somewhere new. Luke has a sense of adventure, loves to travel and we share something of a pioneer spirit. Maybe it's because in grade school we learned about the pioneers who settled the west, played the computer game Oregon Trail, or studied the settlements of the California missions by the Spaniards. Whatever the reason, my husband has a thirst to see new places.

Recently, for work, he sat down with a counselor to talk about what makes him happy and how he can live a better, fuller, less stressful life. One of the ideas that came from this talk was a goal to see somewhere new each month. For the past few months we've been going new places and seeing new things. You can read about our adventures in my previous posts: Outta Town, Shafer Butte, Big Days (and all the posts about our trip to Maine).

Last weekend we took our next adventure to the small farming community of Emmett, Idaho to Squaw Butte. It's a butte that we can always see from Boise because it appears to be sitting alone, to the west of the foothills. Now, whenever we see it, we can say we've been to the top and seen the view. And quite a tender view it is too!

We went with our friends Shaun, Chelsea and Lucy.

My happy husband.

Down in the valley is the town of Sweet, Idaho.

Yes, this strawberry blond baby with a comb-over belongs to me.

My new mommy mobile, a Toyota Highlander, has a V6 engine and 4WD. Making it the perfect vehicle for bombing up the muddy, unpaved roads to the top of the butte.

Chelsea and Lucy, sharing a moment.

This is Luke's smile, before I made him do it again.

This is his second smile, hmmm.

View from the car window on the way down the butte.

The road to/from the top was open range, moooo! Remember folks, if you hit a marked cow, there's a "you break it you buy it policy" and you don't get to keep the cow!

We finished the day at Cold Mountain Creek Restaurant. From the outside it looked a little shady, no windows, but on the inside it's spacious, clean and there's no smoking. The food was great and it was definitely a taste of Idaho. A perfect end to our grand mini-adventure.

9

I'm a few days late for Porter's 9 month post, but better late than never. He has stopped growing at break neck speed, but is still in the 90% for height and 65% for weight. He's 29.5" tall and 20lbs 13oz. He also enjoys feeding himself and cruising back and forth along the coffee table, but if he really wants to get anywhere he crawls. Playing guitar with his dad is an all time favorite, maybe Luke's dream of having a musician son will come true after all? He's also still sleeping through the night for up to 10 hours at a time. I, however, have been trained to go to sleep at 1am. If only I could cry it out and fall asleep sooner. Love this baby more everyday!

Reading! When he gets to the page where Count Dracula is sitting in the dentist chair, Porter leans over and gives the Count a kiss, tender.

Misty, aka Princess Kitty, is ready for her stroll.

Mmm, breakfast is so good, especially when it's in my hair!

Having a Santa Cruz moment in his baby Uggs and Santa Cruz sweatshirt. Thanks Gwen for the Uggs and Louisiana for the sweatshirt.

Shopping cart.

I LOVE these overalls, love them!

Love these blue eyes too.

Pretty Pretty Pumpkin

It's October and time to go to the pumpkin patch. We went to Cabalo's Orchard, which is a pesticide free tree fruit and veggie farm. I felt it was important to take Porter to a real pumpkin patch for his first pumpkin picking trip, but Luke was more excited by going to dinner at El Gallo Giro in Kuna. It is far and away the best Mexican food in Idaho. I had the Tacos de Adobo and they were the best tacos I've ever had, mmm green chile sauce. Luke came around and had a good time at the farm too. Porter, who decided that napping was beneath him today, was not in the best of spirits but cheered up and had a great time at dinner. All in all, it was a great success. I'm REALLY excited to get to carve a pumpkin myself this year, rather than share the task of designing with a group of 5 year olds.

Cabalo's Orchard & Gardens was a true orchard and farm. No pre-picked pumpkins stacked on hay bales here! We got to take our pick of beautiful pumpkins right off the vine, dirt and all. They're prickly suckers. Note, bring gloves next year.

To get to the pumpkin patch we got to take a hay bale tracker ride.

It's a bonafide tractor and Porter loved it.

On the way to the patch we crossed paths with the turkeys.

We made it!

There were pumpkins of all sizes and colors. These were the first ones I saw and they were BIG.

Luke and Porter acting as a scarecrow.

Looking for pumpkins was kind of like an Easter egg hunt, with bigger and more orange prizes.

The pumpkin in it's natural habitat.

There were warty pumpkins too.

Lucy and the farmer.

Tessa thought it was very important to share her name, she was feeling very serious at this moment.

Ahh, there he is.

I had no idea pumpkin plants were almost as tall as a 3 year old.

Our pumpkin, right before I snapped it off it's prickly vine.

She's perfect!

Assorted shapes and colors.

For Chelsea, pumpkin picking is serious business.

On the tractor ride to purchase our pumpkins.

See how happy pumpkin picking can make a man?!

Our pumpkin weighed in at a whopping 28 pounds! Bigger than Porter, at least for now.

That's Jack, Lucy and Tessa. The Lingo cousins are a tad loud for Porter. When asked if he wanted to sit on the back of the car with them (yelling) he promptly curled his lip and cried. I'll take that as a no? Little does he know that someday he'll be the screamy one!