Our new pets?

We had quite the treat in our garden today... lots and lots of these little tomato caterpillars, and one of them was not so small.

So what did the scientist and the teacher decide to do with these bugs? Kill them... no. Spray them? ... no. We put them in a glass container, put foil on top, and poked holes in it so that we can observe them over the next few days/weeks depending on how long they live.

Why?

Because we really don't like killing bugs, but we obviously can't leave them to eat our tomatoes, and we do like observing nature... so they are, for the time being... our new pets lol.

Summer

Many people are curious what I do during the summer. When I answer nothing, some people (like my dad) are concerned. He always wanted my summers to be filled, and usually they were with either a job, or summer school (to get ahead, not to make up for past mistakes) or both. During the time I lived at home, I only had one nothing summer that I remember, and it was one that I insisted on having between my senior year of high school and my first year of college. I wanted to do nothing. And I did, and I liked it. When I became a teacher, I had to make a choice about my summers, and so far, I haven't worked during any of them. And I like it.

I wanted to write a post about this summer, especially since, if things go according to my plan at all, it will be the last summer that I can spend like this, with blissfully nothing to do.

I am not bored. Definitely not bored.

I wake up, and I start the coffee (decaf) and I sit down with it for a while while I either read a book or watch tv. After a good bit of this, I decide I would like to see what is going on my message boards (I love ivillage, and everyone should join such a community). Then I look at random things on the internet such as facebook, and the other blogs I read.

Eventually, I decide I should eat breakfast (we are on this healthy eating thing, and breakfast is very important... but I would probably skip it if I didn't know, logically, that it is a wise thing to do).

I usually do a devotion about now, because I have time for it, and because I always mean to do one, but I usually am so crazy in the mornings during the school year, it unfortunately gets neglected.

After the devotion, I go back into my book world, which is very addictive to a veracious reader like myself. Around 10:30 or so, I decide that since I have still not gotten dressed yet... I probably should... So I head upstairs.

At this point, I should just go get dressed... but why not check my message boards and other internet stuff first... its not like I have a deadline I have to get dressed by after all.

I finally end up dressed by 11ish, and then I decide that it is time for lunch, with my book again. (I read much more than I watch tv, I like it better).

At this point I do something productive, so that no one (like my husband) can say I am not productive and helpful during the day. It usually involves cleaning the kitchen, and one or two other things that he asked me if I could get done today (today is laundry and cleaning the bathrooms).

Once I get these chores out of the way, I go back to my... book! (Bet you didn't see that coming).

This I proceed to do until Blake gets home, and then I spend the evening with him, making dinner, going to the gym, taking Roxie for a walk, and more of the same leisure activities (like a book, or the internet).

This glorious summer routine is broken up by lunch with friends, a Bible study and lunch with my mom on Fridays, errands that come up (like taking Lily to the vet because she hurt her eye), and my realization that it is almost August, and August is almost September, and I actually do need to get my classroom ready for next year at some point.

I have no idea if anyone reads this blog, or cares what I do during the summer, or if people who do read this will just be jealous of it, but I am recording this for prosperity. So that one day, years from now, when I have two or three kids running around the house during the summer, and I don't have a moment's peace, I can look back at this blog entry, and laugh at myself for once having such a calm summer, and wishing that I could add kids to it.

Hawaii Trip

This last weekend we went to Hawaii from Friday to Monday.

It started out rough with a 4 hour delay at the airport before taking off. We amused ourselves by playing games etc. but as you can imagine, we were beyond bored before we got on the plane. By the end of the 5 hour flight, I was so antsy, I was DYING to get off.

When we got off, it was already really close to the time we needed to make it to our only scheduled event for Friday, a sunset dinner cruise. The beginning photos on my video are taken from the cruise. Blake and I always enjoy boats, and this was no exception. This was our first realization that Wow! we are in Hawaii! The food was only mediocre, but it was a great boat ride all the same.

The next morning started out really early since we had a 6:30 scheduled shark cage encounter. Yes... I went in the cage!!! It was really fun and an amazing experience. I would totally do it again. I can only compare it to my trip to the Grand Canyon in which you know it is real, you know you are seeing it with your own eyes, but you still can't believe that it is right there in front of you. I took the great picture of Blake, but somehow I wasn't turned around when he tried to take a picture of me... but it was my back. :-) We got a lot of pictures of this because it was so cool.

We went from there to the Dole Plantation, where they used to grow massive amounts of pineapple to ship out. It still has some pineapples growing on display, a maze and a great gift shop, but is no longer really the plantation. It was fun to do the maze, although my brother and dad quit before we finished. We looked at many different varieties of pineapple, and ate a TON of pineapple products (frozen yogurt, fresh, juice etc. )

After this we were supposed to go on a submarine to the reefs, but unfortunately, after the boat ride to the sub, they decided that the conditions were bad, and they would not be able to take us. It was also too tightly packed of a trip to go another day. It was okay though because I really was nervous about being claustrophobic in there, and was kinda happy I didn't have to take that risk.

The next morning, we started with snorkeling in the bay. It was really fun seeing all the different types of fish. I have always compared snorkeling to swimming in a big fish tank. We got oodles more pictures of the fish, but decided to spare you most of them.

This afternoon we had a dolphin encounter. It was actually really educational as well as fun. We learned that you can tell dolphins apart from their dorsal fins which are as different as our fingerprints! We got to learn how to have them do tricks, but we also learned that they are treated as pets there. They are not forced to do any tricks they don't want to do, just like with Roxie, our dog, she does them because she wants the reward. Also, they change up the activity all the time so they don't get bored. The other interesting thing is that last time I swam with a dolphin, I was pulled along, but here they made a point of us swimming alongside the dolphin so that it really was a partnership, not making them do all the work.

Once we got back to the hotel we enjoyed a luau that had great food and great dancing. The last dance was with lit torches. It was incredible, and I was amazed that no one got hurt.

Overall it was an amazing, fun, unforgettable trip and I hope you all enjoy the pictures of it.

Kitten compilation video

I made a very quick video using footage I have taken of the kittens over the last few months.

p.s. yes, the first scene is also in another video of them... but aren't they cute!

Our Garden

I used my new camera and my video editing software to make a video of our garden and how it has been progressing. Everything is actually even bigger now... but it is also really crazy out of control looking so I decided to end it with a nice look of the garden. Enjoy.

Pets

So I have not posted in ages... Well... I have been really busy. My whole time at school is spent preparing the walls for Open House. Which basically means dragging out every thing they have done all year long worth saving, putting it up somewhere nicely, and adding a great border to it as well.

At home, we had gotten into a really good healthy kick for a while where we were exercising every other day either with Wii yoga, or swimming or tennis etc. This was great for us... but meant that we didn't have a lot of computer time. Then Blake bought Lord of the Rings online... and I have lots of time again. :-P

But this post is supposed to be about my pets. I got some great pictures of all of them, and I wanted to share those and our last week with the three of them. First, Lily and Argon got spayed/ neutered a week ago Wednesday. They are totally healed fine now, but it was a tough week. They couldn't be together during this time out of fear that they could lick each others' scars.

This meant in practical terms that Lily, with a cone on her head that she hated, had to be confined in the closet of our room and Argon had to be confined in the front room of our house. They both meowed like they were being tortured any time we were around to protest their state.

Lily pulled a Houdini the first night too, waking us up with meows that were definitely NOT coming from closed doors at 3:00am. She had succeeding in banging herself against the accordion style door enough that it had cracked open, and somehow either before it or in the process also gotten her collar off! We had to put her back, but we barricaded the door to make extra sure she couldn't escape again.

After a few days of total isolation, we decided that as long as they were supervised, they could be with Roxie and us... still not together, but a step better. This turned out to be a GREAT thing. When it was Argon and Roxie out, they became very close, even to the point of sleeping together, as seen here:

Then in the bedroom, Roxie and Lily had bonding time as well where either will start the licking fest (not just Roxie like before). It is great to see the pets bonding like this.

By this point, all is well, and the kittens are free to roam the house once more, no longer with any chance of making babies together.

Our trip to the fair

Just a few pictures from our trip to the Renaissance Fair