Summer's in full bloom

Wow...can't believe we haven't posted for almost 3 months! Well...we just got back from a month long (but it seemed like forever and a day) vacation to a place that was 3 time zones away. It nearly killed us. We have been back for over a week and we are still recovering and our kids are adjusting!!! We decided that a two week vacation is long enough...and that we need another week back at home before everything become somewhat normal again.

Anyway, great cheap and healthy (somewhat...considering all the other snack choices out there for kids) snack idea for toddlers and teething babies when you're holidaying or at home: ice cream cones sans ice cream. It kept our kids busy for a while, they loved the crunchiness of it, it melts almost immediately and it contains very little sugar, salt and food coloring, if any. The only warning is that it makes a terrible mess if you've got kids like ours...but who cares? When you're out, you're not the one cleaning up after them-- it'll likely just form a nice little "ground zero" around them.

Onto more green things...our garden has sprouted. All the transplants and seedlings that I've started myself and that I've moved out have died. My neighbor's father-in-law said that it was a waste of time and it rarely works. He's right!

So far, I've got 9 inch tall beans, peas, corn, gai lan, swiss chard, tomatoes, zucchini and green onions. How exciting! We just had our first harvest of green onions last night for these steamed green onion buns that I made and they were delicious! Hubby pointed out that the green onions tasted so "green" and fresh... and different. I told him to get used to eating fresh veggies!! Such a difference! It also reminded us that it's time to visit our farmer's market again for some fresh, locally grown goods!

We moved our raspberry bushes from the side of our house (looked like a disorganized mess of leaves) to a little patch in our backyard. We hope they survive the move and that we get to pick some of our own raspberries this summer!

I'm buzzing with excitement about what we'll produce from our own backyard this year!