Fun at the Museum, almost 2 year old style

While we were in DC over Memorial Day weekend, Nate and I visited the Natural History Museum. The video posted below needs a little explanation. You see, we were in the main hall, looking at all the dinosaur skeletons, and Nate saw everyone taking pictures of the bones. Naturally, he thought our video camera was a regular camera, and insisted on taking some pictures. When it goes super-blurry, that's Nate holding the camera up to his face, as if he were looking through a viewfinder.




Also, afterward we ate a sandwich on the Mall. I don't know why I like this video so much, but I do.

Garden Update

So as the heat really ratchets up here in Texas, I thought I'd give another update on our garden. But first, some thoughts on the overall experience.
Going into it, I sorta envisioned something fairly nostalgic. Probably along the lines of "victory gardens" and all that. I'm now understanding that, like most hobbies, the wonders of modern industry can do a far, far better job than I could. Not only can I get good quality produce from a grocery store, but it comes in far cheaper than the effort I've put in so far. Now, a lot of that was initial cost, and next year (yes, there will be a next year) probably won't be nearly as expensive. Since I've started viewing it as sort of an experiment and with less of an end state in mind it's been much more rewarding. And who knows? Maybe it's just the ridiculous Texas heat that's keeping things down. For those of you that don't know what Texas is like, the past week highs have been in the high 90's, and soon we'll consistently be hitting 100. It will stay this way, with little to no rain, until September.
But with that, onto the photos. We've got one monster cucumber that's still waiting to turn green, and another smaller fully ripe one. We had more cherry tomatoes, but I'm pretty sure the birds are eating them. We're getting a few sweet and hot peppers too, and a few onions as well. The fennel is coming in nicely.
Also, our pigeons are back. Can you find her? Note, she's not the one eating our produce. If we didn't have pigeons nesting, I'd get one of those owl statues to protect the garden.

Again, growing up

Some of you may have seen the photos on Jill's facebook page, but Nate's got himself a new bed. While the position of it in the video below is no longer accurate, it's fun to see Nate jumping around in it.



He's generally sleeping just as well in the bed as in his crib, with the added benefit that our backs no longer have to haul him out of his crib. And while we put some pillows down on the floor next to his bed, he's already woken up once when he fell out of bed. I guess the rails weren't quite big enough. Stay tuned for more updates, to include our resident pigeon and a garden update.

Cooking with Nate and Dad

Following a strong family tradition, Nate helped me cook and we made a mighty pasta sauce together. As growing proof that he's getting older, here's a nice video of him chopping up some mushrooms with a dinner knife. Note that the knife isn't sharp in any way, nor is he even holding it right. But the concentration is fantastic. We'd previously gone over the ingredients we were going to use, but man, he was just focused on those mushrooms. More proof that he's growing up soon.