July/August Day by Day--sort of

This is the worst month yet of recording an every day photo.  It just didn't get done.  I was way busier this month with the garden in huge production mode and I was too busy to remember and too tired to think.  

This however, is the point, to remember those busy days because they can go by so fast and then I think: what happened? where did the time go?  what did I do?  

This post is a mix of some of the highlights as well as some of the main events.  Where I didn't take photos, I put in more of the latter.  

Some of these photos are hard to see, but it isn't the photos so much as what I want to remember about those days.

July

20. My hair is long enough to make a cute little bun.

21. Zane is an imaginative, innovative child.  He also likes symmetry is his work.  These were his Uncle Nathan's Lincoln logs

22. I bought new measuring cups!!  You may not think this is worth remembering, but the ones I had I've had for 25 years, even more importantly, I threw the other ones away, sort of.  I relegated one to the canning tools.

23. Apples!!  Here is a sink full of the first picking of yellow summer apples off the first tree.  I made applesauce.

24. Spray planes are a common sight around here.  There is a corn field just north of us so they fly right over the house.

25. More pickles.

26. Forget-me-nots.  I love their blue color.  I got the package of seeds as a gift from some campaigner.

27. Jim's got his head in a tree, picking more apples.

28. Mom and Dad came so Mom could help me make applesauce, and get some for herself.  Dad requested an apple pie.  We made three.  We ate two and froze one.  I rolled out the dough for the top crust and without thinking made the cuts for the breathing holes.  It's the pattern my mom made, and her mom made and ...

29. Mom and I had tea and pie in the flower garden after a busy day.

30. Cinnamon pull apart bread.  Like I didn't do enough already this weekend.

31. On August 2nd, we took Zane to the Air and Space Museum.  We have been wanting to take him on a little trip just with Gramma and Papa.  I didn't seem to take any photos before or after the big day so I have some snapshots of the trip.

Aug

1.  We also took him to the Wildlife Safari. Pelicans are funny looking birds.

2. Zane loves to get his hands on things, to feel them and find out how they work.  The first thing he asked when he saw this missile, "Can I touch it?"

3. This missile lineup was for me.  I can't express my feelings very well when I see these weapons of destruction.  I tried on a different blog post here.

4. Zane got the string between these balls stuck in the wires of my egg separator.  My first reaction was to grab it and take it out.  I restrained myself, and let him figure it out.  He did.  He wound the string through the spiral and there it was!

5. I just love to watch these boys play with toys my own kids played with.

6. And Christian is just plain cute.  That is worth a photo any day.

7. Mom. Coming back again to do corn.  We couldn't do all we had to do without her.  She likes to read when she relaxed.  Like mother, like daughter.

8. This is the next day's result of the hail we had in the night.  It broke the squash vines, bruised the tomatoes, and the winds blew down the corn we were ready to put up.  That just made it harder to pick, it didn't hurt it.

9. One load of corn, 36 doz.

10. The night of the hail, we crowded three little cars in the garage.

11. Blue-goose pie.

12. Obviously putting up 132 pints of sweet corn wasn't enough work for my mom.  We did 5 buckets of apples the next day into sauce. 

13. I love glads.

14. My daughter is an amazing artist.  Or, have I said that already?

15. And MORE pickles. This might have been the day I went insane in the garden and pulled up all the cucumber vines but two.

16. I love squash sliced length wise, oiled, and sprinkled with seasoned salt and garlic powder, then broiled.  Yum.

17. Another storm rolling in.  More rain and hail, .55"

18. I got a new mixer.  The one I had wasn't working properly.  This is the fourth Oster kitchen center I've had.  I have all these attachment that I use, especially during canning season and to replace it, it will take four different appliances.  So, as long as I can keep finding them on eBay I will use them. 

19. We have been working most of the month gathering the things Lynette needs to go to college.  She was organized and efficient and all she had fit in the back of out PT (without the back seats).

20. Moving out day, and moving in day.  Lynette is also an awesome decorator.

21. The note on my white board.  Lynette: "See ya later 300 Northview Drive!" Me: "You'll be back--this is still home."

22. I like to see if I can peel an apple in one long strip.  Some times I can.

23. Beautiful apples.  It is so fun to reach up in among the branches of your very own tree and pick apples.

Apples to Apples

We have a bumper crop of apples this year.  Our yellow summer apples have been picked and processed and we are nearing the end of our production season with the later red apples.  The problem is we have had SO MANY apples.  

These apples are large, beautiful and delicious. 

And for some reason, Christian wants one every time he sees one.  He holds it and nibbles away until it is gone.  That's cute enough in itself, but there seriously is nothing so cute as this little guy with his toddling steps, light flying curls, and his irresistible smile. 

It's another one of those "my heart hurts" moments.  I wish these days could last and last.  

Since they can't, the photos must do.

On another note.  

In a recent visit, Barry took it in his head to sit on the back of the couch and look out the window.  Zane was up right after him.

Well, Christian didn't want to be left behind and with great effort he got himself up on the couch.  Then he began to try to climb up the back.  I'm not sure what he would have done had he got up there.  Likely fallen right down over the back.  It's been done before, just not by him yet.  He had to give up, but there he is looking out, too.

I'm not sure what they are seeing out there, but I liked this photo, too.  It's not much different, but two little brothers are looking at the big brother.  

This makes my heart hurt, too.  

They are mine, that's why.

A Day With Zane

We've been waiting for this day.  

A day to take a grandchild on a special trip with Gramma and Papa.  

We chose this day a trip to the WildLife Safari and the Air and Space Museum.

It's a couple hours driving so Zane came prepared with coloring pages which lasted until we got out of town.  

His first, "Are we there yet", was not quite a hour on the journey.

Our first fill up stop netted Zane a new spiderman car to play with.  Sadly, it was lost later.  

I intended to start this trip paying attention to my photos for quality purposes.  You would think the thing in the way would be a car seat, not my finger.  I mean, a finger in the lens, after all these years!!

Our first wildlife was this herd of elk.  They are magnificent creatures.  It seems impossible that those bull elk can carry those enormous racks.  

This was Zane's favorite, turtles sunning themselves on logs in this algae covered pond.  He was convinced the water must be solid.  He called it "frozen" and had to throw a stick it to see.  I'm not sure he was totally convinced.  

Pelicans have a dark band of feathers that isn't visible in repose.  

The wetlands were populated with Canadian geese, sandhill cranes, and several duck varieties. I couldn't see any ducks, and I've seen too many Canadian geese, therefore no photos.

There is a little "petting zoo" and picnic area.  We were there at goat feeding time. The keeper feeds them on the rocks so visitors get the thrill of watching climbing goats.  She was letting some of the kids hand feed some and Zane thought that was a good idea until he actually had the grain in his hands.  

We finally got him to pat a goat, but all he wanted to do was thump on the side of this soon-to-be mama.  I hope the kids were already awake!

No trip with Zane would be complete without remembering his super-active personality.  This shows it well. 

Also, the day wouldn't be complete without a picture on the John Deere tractor. Zane made Papa's day by shrieking "a John Deere", as soon as he saw it. 

  

Zane hardly knows what these are for. 

I wanted photographs to remember this day by, and Zane wanted one with the antlers.  He wanted the biggest ones, but he couldn't be still long enough for a photo.  One thing done, and he's on to another. 

 It wasn't too hot that day, but eagles must like to be in the shade.  I'm not sure what kind this one is, but the Bald Eagles are almost hidden.  Look for the white heads. (second photoi)

This is Zane.  

I would have liked to get a lovely photograph of him full face with the bright smile he has in the second one.

But, really, this is Zane, too busy, too quick to sit still long enough to record that little memory.  What we get is the best we can get, action, and a memory in the heart. 

Some birds of prey are caged, these screech owls for example, they are all huddled up blinking sleepily.

American Black Bear, this may have usurped the turtles. 

We knew before we went that we would be seeing these scenes through the eyes of a five-year old.  Sometimes that means very quickly, as he runs through the exhibits and we trot after him.  

Even here, he reminds us of the simple joys of childhood running a hand across a fence to feel and hear that strange thumping sound it makes. 

Many wild flowers were marked.  These weren't

And what is a trip to any wildlife area without the buffalo, which are called bison nowadays, and perhaps always.  Who knows why they were every called buffalo anyway?

A barn owl peeking out.

Porcupine

Next stop: Air and Space Museum

At the base of a missile.

The first thing Zane saw in this building were the escalators. He would have been happy riding up and down the rest of the day.  

Except for one small break for the elevator.

It happened to be kid's day at the museum and I was afraid that would take Zane's attention away from the planes.  There were all sorts of games and things to play, but he didn't have enough patience to wait in the sometimes very long lines.  This was a bouncy house/space shuttle slide, and you can see by the photo, that he was moving quickly.

At last, something to get into and move!!

 We ended our day with ice cream.

Except...we missed the featured plane of the month.  So we went in.  It was rather a bust for Zane, since we could only peek at things, not go the length of the plane and touch everything in it.  It was a training plane for navigation.  Instead of seat, there were columns of desks with equipment mounted on them. 

Views from the museum.  It was mind-boggling to see the size of these missiles.

Surface-to-surface missile perhaps?

Sometime in there when we were walking around under the planes, looking at bombs, the size of the planes and an air raid shelter that it hit me, this is war.  These things are here for us to remember. 

To remember a time we don't ever want to see again.  

I can't describe the feeling that came over me.  

It was a feeling that I was touching a piece of history that was long gone, yet at any time might come too close.   

We need to visit these places; we need to take our children to them.  We need to remember those who have given so much for their country.

Even to the ultimate sacrifice.  

We need to remember what war means.  

There was peace in our car on the way home. 

The end of a big day that started with doughnuts and a new car and ended with ice cream and new planes.

A day that was in Zane's words, "Awesome!"