BABYmoon part dos

Checking in with what we've been up to!

We spent a day at the North Shore, snorkeling, laying on the beach, checking out the amazing Na Pali Coast from this angle:

Watching big waves:

And eating Shave Ice of course!

Then we headed to the South Shore for some of the famous sights:

And great hikes along the cliffs:

We found a sandstone cave that was totally cool:

And of course we've spent lots of time doing this:

(baby on the beach)

-CtF

BABYmoon part 1

Mr. Incredible and I are in Kauai, Hawaii to celebrate our 5th year anniversary and enjoy one last great vacation without the responsibility of another person (particularly a small, smelly, noisy person).

So to celebrate our five year, or the fact that I'm five months preggo we went on a five mile hike (not recommended... well the hike is very recommended but the 5 months preggo thing not so much).

We headed up to Waimea Canyon and were treated to a rare, clear view:

From there we drove further into Koke'e forest to the Pihea Trail... which led to AMAZING views of the Na Pali Coast:

Here we are all clean and not exhausted:

But that soon changed... but first, a lesson in what a professional mud trail hiker looks like:

Note the water shoes, big stick, and box of Cheezits... because mud hiking really zaps your energy!

We soon looked more like this photo... but with more mud:

We took the Pihea Trail to the Alakai Swamp Trail (just for you JT):

And it was incredible!  Ferns, moss, lots of mud... unlike any place we had ever seen with our own eyes.  Photos hardly do it justice but here's one of the jungle trail through the swamp:

After trudging through the swamp, we decided to start heading back up (and down) the mountain... basically back through more mud.  But we made good time and were rewarded with more amazing sights.  Check out our feet here:

5 miles, five months, five years... fun day and a memory we'll never forget!

-CtF

fruit update

[note: this is a papaya...not a gourd!]

things that happen in my garden without me really doing anything

My backyard garden has been, shall we say, neglected for a few months.  I know most gardens around the U.S. have been left to their own devices during the winter- mainly because of the piles of snow and ice that have covered them, but in southern California, we really don't have that excuse.  Things grow here all the time... all year round.  Which is wonderful.  Unless you're a kind of lazy gardener like me.

But I've noticed that despite my laziest efforts, my garden has been working on its own (yay!  now if it would only tell my trees to start raking their own leaves that would be truly wonderful...).  Seeing new flowers bloom and buds coming out inspires me (a bit) to help the rest of my garden look as nice as the hands-free part...

I planted these tulips at least two years ago... and every year after the spring I forget completely about them until the next year.  (yes I see those green bugs... I guess I'll have to go do something about them...)

These were my favorite tulips...

Somehow this gerber daisy survived the winter and the snails...

And then there's the ginormous geranium that I do nothing to yet continues to expand and bloom...

I bought these pansys because of their variety name- they are called Mickey-Penny's...

...Mickey and Penny are my in-laws... I had high hopes of growing them healthy and huge and giving them to the real Mickey and Penny but Mr. Incredible killed them (so I thought) when I was out of town... then all of a sudden they started to make a come back... so maybe there's still hope...

I started growing succulents this year... and they're doing well all on their own too! (Mr. I thinks that succulents may be my new calling since they are everywhere in our backyard...)

Crazy ornamental grasses.

And this daisy thing is doing really well (those are more daisies in the bokah background).

And this is Nora's mad face because I stopped throwing the frisbee for her to grab my camera.  Its hard to deal with this kind of disappointment but I know I can bribe her with a Milkbone and she'll get over it!

what I done did this weekend

Adventures in patchwork sewing... my first two attempts!

Scrappy Pillow...

And a baby sleep sack...

Both projects from an AMH book.

fruit update

NCAA Brackets...

Mr. Incredible and some work buddies are posting their bracket predictions for the NCAA 2011 Championship games on the wall of their cube.  Since for some reason its always fun to have people who know nothing about basketball participate in these things, he brought one home for me to fill out too.  I made all my picks based on which school's colors were the least tacky (with just a little bias for SDSU).

I also came up with the brilliant idea of letting Nora fill out a bracket too.  So Mr. I set up a simple, dog-friendly way to pick which team would win each game.

First, set out two pieces of Nora-food in a neutral location.

I think he alternated the higher ranked team from left to right to make sure Nora didn't have a bias...

Second, release the hound!

Nora made her pick by which piece of food was consumed first.  And she made some strange picks I hear... I guess there's a school called Wofford that she picked to win it all!  (I did see that their mascot is a terrier so maybe there was something to her picks aside from food...)

We'll keep you posted if Nora wins the big money from her bracket picks!

-CtF

JohnThomas and Marinela's Engagement Session

JohnThomas and Marinela are engaged!  We shot these first few photos at the Bernardo Winery in Rancho Bernardo.  While we battled crowds and the hot sun, we managed to find a few special places to capture these two.

Next we headed over to Old Poway Park for a trip to the wild west!  The old railway tracks and wooden buildings made a great backdrop for engagement photos.

Congratulations Marinela and JT!