Uncle Chuck

Goodbye, Uncle Chuck...

We got word today from Tommy's cousins that Uncle Chuck has passed away. I'm glad Rachel got to meet him and share some time with him when we were up the last time for Christmas.

My Secret Garden

 The garden is finally starting to share!  We are really doing well with the Banana Peppers.  This is just today's batch... I've been roasting them with a little oil & a tiny bit of fresh ground sea salt... they are SO yummy!  and we are also getting a fair amount of cherry tomatoes!  Rach thinks they are "sooo cute!"

We also have about 8 eggplants but they aren't big enough yet... also the 3 regular size tomato plants are LOADED... just waiting for them to turn red & hoping we get to them before the birds or bugs do!

We have 1 melon too, but I'm not sure it will survive. Nothing on the cucumbers, and our beans are... well, not worth it since we are only getting one at a time! kinda hard to incorporate 1 bean into a meal!
Hopefully, we will get the full bounty of the garden relatively soon.  Next up will be broccoli & cabbage... but not till it starts to cool down... a LOT!

Oh by the way... Every now and then I like to explain a bit about this journal... for instance, not sure if you all have noticed, but every post title is a song title. Some are obvious, but some are REALLY obscure... I like to mix it up a bit. 
I try to keep things interesting, or at least share some good pictures, but bare with me if sometimes I let things get a little personal.  After all, this journal is really for Rach for when she grows up. I'm trying to find a way to save the whole thing in a book or something, but until then, This is it!

June Afternoon

I just feel like it's been so long since I've updated this blog!  I know, I've said that same thing so many times.  Not sure why time just seems to get away from me.
Basically, this entry is just some random shots of Rachel in various poses of her choosing... I just said I wanted to take her picture, and she decided to ham it up a bit... I'm glad.   She's a cute ham!

It's her "I'm a little angel" look...  could you ever say no to a face like this?

She SO wants to take ballet lessons!  So much that she's started learning some of the poses on her own!  I wish we lived somewhere more culturally aware... maybe then we'd have lots of choices where we could take her for lessons!

Our little beauty...

True Colors

 Rachel decided today was a good day to get creative.  First order of business was painting.  She likes working with her water colors (pretty sure it's mostly because she likes to change the colors of the water! LOL

 While Rachel was busy painting, Abbey decided to come off her perch & climb up on my lap to pay me a visit on the couch!  She was in the mood for some good old snuggle time with Momma... and since she wasn't trying to add a new orifice to my body, I was more than happy to oblige!

After painting, we turned on some of her favorite music, and our little butterfly girl was dancing & flitting around the room.  She REALLY wants to take dance lessons... Hopefully, we can find something within our budget and get her started while she is still so enthusiastic! 

A Veteran's Song

It's another Memorial Day... which means it's time for our 9th Annual Memorial Day Shrimp Boil!  I can't get over how fast time flies!  Luckily, Tommy took off a little extra time to prep for this year's event.  It was so much harder for me than I expected it to be.  I had to keep taking breaks to let the swelling go down in my leg, my back did NOT want to cooperate while I tried to clean the house, and I just couldn't get myself as happily motivated as usual.  I was getting nervous that we wouldn't be able to get things together in time, but my hubby went above & beyond to make sure everything went well.  I love that guy... I think I'll keep him  (hee hee).

Rachel also wanted to help!  She is growing up so fast, it's scary!  But she helped clean up her toys, and is now our resident dishwasher emptier... at least as far as the plastics & silverware are concerned (AFTER I remove all the knives... oy)

Anyway, the party was a success as always, despite the weather being a little uncooperative for the very first time!  It rained on and off throughout the day, but EVENTUALLY (after dinner!) it was dry enough to let the kids play in the pool for a while! 
We are just so glad everyone seemed to  have a good time...  and as usual, we had old friends and some new ones to share the day... I just can't believe someone actually stole one of the American flags off the front lawn! I just hope they did it so they could remember our Service Men & Women... not just to be rude...  Because even though we spend the day enjoying the company of our friends & the fantastic food (thanks to my honey), the TRUE reason for the day is to honor those who have kept us free... So for that reason, I personally want to share my heartfelt gratitude... Thank you to all the Military families of the USA.  The soldiers fighting for the right to be free, and the families of those soldiers who are keeping vigil at home...  And to those who made the ULTIMATE sacrifice, BLESS YOU!

 The buffet table... shrimp boil was still being prepared but you get the idea... lol

 Some of the family & friends... It worked out pretty well! Most everyone stayed out poolside, but the rest were either in the family room or in the bar (where Rachel learned the fine art of winning on our slot machine! Thank you Uncle Bill!! LOL

 Meri & Lexi, who shocked the *@#^% out of me... I almost fell over when I saw just how TALL that kid has gotten!  such a beauty! 

 some steamers for snacking... Most of the rest we did raw... poor Tommy was shucking forEVER... lol...

 Rachel was having the time of her life with her "Boyfriend" Nick.  (Yes, I know she looks too serious here, but that's because she got mad that I insisted she let me take her picture!)
These 2 were INSEPARABLE all day!!!  Nick was absolutely WONDERFUL with her!  He kept her laughing & happy the whole time he was there!

 Kissie, kissie, kissie!

 The cat that ate the canary? 

 2 of my girls from the M.O.M. group (Meeting of the Minds).  wish the rest of the group could have made it... ONE of these years! LOL

We decided to have Mom dish out her INFAMOUS salad!  That way we knew everyone would get a little of everything!  She is the best salad maker on the planet, as far as I'm concerned!  Thanks Mom!!!

Spiders And Snakes

 Tommy was checking the veggie garden, when he realized there were a load of bees swarming around the water plates (they look like tiny  . It's where the water company does the meter reading).  So I called the water company to tell them they need to get someone to clean it out, before their folks try to check our meter again... So here's the weird part... they tell me WE have to take care of it... My first thought was that I sure hope their employees aren't allergic to bees!
Lucky for them, they had the name of a bee keeper... I called, and he agreed to come out immediately (since he was going on vacation).

Turns out he also owns a store locally, where he sells the honey he collects from all the bees he retrieves!  So he does not charge a fee for collecting the bees.  Good thing, huh?
He was also willing to give us the honeycomb, but as it turns out, this was a fairly new hive, so there was no honey in it yet.  It was, however, HUGE!  He was scooping bees out by the handful to put into his "beebox". 
He left the box there for a couple of days, to be sure all the worker bees found their way in... he was quite certain he had scooped up the queen & gotten her into his box.  He was smoking them to calm them down, and just scooping up massive amounts of bees & dumping them in... it was kinda neat to watch!  Really glad to be rid of them though... I was nervous since they were so close to the garden & Rach likes to help out in there!

We also had another little visitor to our lanai, but we couldn't get anyone to get rid of THIS pest for free, so we had to do it ourselves... TWICE!  (guess he really likes the lounge chairs! LOL) 
Here is the one I was TERRIFIED of...

 As you can well imagine, I was NOT a happy camper when I found this guy hanging out so close to the pool!  We've never had one on the lanai before.. at least not that WE had ever seen!

Oh, and before anyone thinks I got suddenly brave, I was using the zoom BIG TIME on these shots... wouldn't catch me within 10 FEET of a snake... YUCK!!!!!!!

Mother

 Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's reading this :-)

My Mother's Day started out with a yummy box of Shari's Berries! They are delicious chocolate covered strawberries... yes, I know I don't like chocolate, but they have WHITE chocolate ones that I eat, Milk chocolate for Rach & Dark chocolate for Tommy!  LOL...

Next up after a nice relaxing afternoon, was dinner... A few years ago, Mom & I decided to start a new tradition... Lobster for Mother's Day!  For a while, we were really lucky because there was a pretty terrific place in town that had live Maine lobsters at a relatively reasonable rate.  (Reasonable as compared to the price at Publix).  They were also some of the best, sweetest lobsters we had ever had!
This year, was a little bit of a let-down.  Our favorite place closed a couple of months ago, so we were forced to find someplace else to go...

 We went to another local seafood market, and bought enough lobsters for all of us to have a nice dinner... even Rachel got her own (much smaller) one. 
I was a little upset that they do not steam them for us.  I really hate cooking these guys myself, but oh well...

So I cooked them up, & we packed them all up along with a big batch of asparagus, and headed over to mom's. 

 Here is almost 10 pounds of cooked lobster!
Once we got to mom's, I roasted up the asparagus and mom had made spaghetti with white clam sauce.
Dinner was delicious, although we were actually a bit disappointed in the lobsters.. they seemed to be a bit salty... (turns out the next day when we reheated the lobster leftovers, they tasted much better...)

Easter Morning

 Easter at the Brown house!  Margie went all out as usual, and had lots of fun planned for the kids! 

Easter baskets, loaded with lots of goodies!

 And of course, the annual Easter Egg hunt was LOTS of fun!  This year, Rach had some help!  Charlie's grandsons were both helping her find some of the hidden eggs!

Someone sure looks happy about her basket full of goodies!

Ma Nishtanah

This year, Passover started on a Monday night, so since we love to celebrate the holidays at home, we decided to do a little Passover Seder at the end of the holiday so that Tommy could be home with us.  I made a brisket for the first time, and was VERY pleasantly surprised by the outcome.  It was really delicious!
We had my parents over, as well as Margie & Charlie.  The meal turned out really well, and we had a very nice evening!

I hope by next year, maybe Rachel will be able to read the 4 questions!
I can't wait until she really understands what the holiday is all about.

Hatikva

Passover is once again upon us! Since it falls during the week, I decided to make a Seder on one of the last nights instead of the first nights!  So we will do our little family Seder on Saturday night!
On Tuesday we went to "Auntie Ruth & Uncle Dick's" for 2nd night Seder. Rach had a very good time.  She ate Gefilte Fish, Chopped Liver, Hard Boiled Egg & LOTS of Matzo Ball soup! 

She sat like such a big girl at the table.   She's growing up so fast!