Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!!  We had quite a nice Father's Day.  Patrick didn't have a swim meet this weekend- the only weekend in June that he doesn't have a meet- so it was nice to spend time as a family.  We took the kids to the park this morning and then headed out to Vinland Valley nursery, our favorite place to buy flowers and plants.  We had a flower in one of our planters that had died, and Vinland was having a sale on many of their flowers, so we decided to get a replacement.  

While we were there, we picked up some pepper and pumpkin plants.  A month or so ago we planted a small garden of tomatoes, squash, and lettuce.  Our tomato plants have grown so much and we have about 4 or 5 squash plants that have grown.  However, our lettuce hasn't done as well.  We've had one lettuce grow, but it hasn't gotten any bigger than the size of a small leaf.  I'm not sure it will survive.  So, we put the peppers and pumpkins where the other vegetables hadn't grown.  Hopefully the peppers and pumpkins will be successful!  

Here is a picture of our small little lettuce (no, it is not a weed):

Yesterday (Saturday) we had a rainy day.  We decided to do a fun project of painting our porch chairs.  We got our porch chairs for free two years ago.  We had sanded off a lot of the paint, but hadn't yet painted them.  So, we used fun colors and just had a little craft project.  One chair is flourescent, one has chalkboard paint and a pattern for a tic-tac-toe game, one is a green base, and the other is our ladybug chair.  Elle had lots of fun helping and she has claimed the ladybug chair as hers. 

Here are a couple of pictures from our butterfly garden in the front yard:

 

Elle has continued to take swimming lessons and she has come such a long way since her first lesson in NM in May.  She loves going under water now and has been doing a good job kicking her feet.  She takes lessons Monday through Thursday and then we try to take the kids a couple times during the week to the outdoor pool for some fun.