Blooming in June

Well, things have been wild lately, so I thought I'd post some pictures of a place of respite...my back yard.  I used to really dislike this time of year, because spring is finished, and the flowers all start to die.  The grass can get a little brown from the heat, and the stuff that was so pretty just a few weeks ago isn't so pretty anymore. Then, I learned to plant stuff that can survive the heat...and I started to like mid-summer!  (I'm still trying to find stuff that can bloom in mid-January, under a foot of snow, so if you are aware of anything for THAT time of year, let me know...)

Well, thus far, the heat has knocked back the roses, and the lilies are pretty much done for the year, but the hot weather flowers are starting to come into their own.  Take a look...

Here are the green beans.  They're SUPPOSED to be bush beans, because I'm tired of dealing with climbers, but they're not acting like bush beans.  Very aggravating.

Here are some squash and cucumber plants...with a huge weed in the background by the bag of garden soil =)

I love these flowers - they look like firecrackers!

Pretty daisies.

This is our purple phlox, which James likes to call the "P-flox allstars."  He's so strange.

Purple puffballs.

Red Don Juan climbing roses.

Last of the yellow lillies.

Pink double knock-out roses.

Last of the pink lillies.

Can't remember what these are called.

Red snap dragons!

Pink climbing roses.

Last of the maroon lilies.

White marigold.

Here are some tomatoes!!!

Here's a shrub rose!

Clematis, climbing on the back gate.

Purple asters.

And my favorite of all the blossoms in the garden...

She's my sweet little under-gardener!

Playing with her daddy's pager and cell phone...

...oh, wait...I'm not supposed to have these?

Sweet little Belle.

Hilton Head Adventures

Well, I've been gone for awhile, as you might have noticed.  (Or maybe not.)  We had a very sick kid a couple of weeks ago, and then as soon as she recovered, we headed off to Hilton Head Island with the Patton crew for a week at the beach.  Last year, Ella was way too young to really enjoy the beach, but this year, she was right in the thick of it.  

My sister took some portraits of us, which turned out really well.  Here's Ella goofing off...

 

 Looking at a shell we found on the beach...

Little ham, playing in her tutu bathing suit bottom...

Loving on her Daddy...

The first morning we were there, we put her in her bathing suit and walked to the water.  James wanted to introduce her to the ocean, but she wasn't too sure about the feeling of the sand moving under her feet...

She totally freaked out...

...so we had the brilliant idea of putting her flip-flops on her, and she calmed down.  Score!!

Later that day, her cousins showed her how to play in the sand, and she gained some confidence.  These are those same cousins who taught her how to walk, and they are now teaching her how to talk.  I should really keep them around more often...

She eventually gained enough confidence to walk to the water on her own.  

And she even played in the tide pool!

On Wednesday, we drove to Savannah for a visit to my grandmother.  Of course, we also stopped by River Street Sweets, my favorite candy store in the world.  I handed Ella to James, who took her straight to the candy aisle.  By the time I showed up again, she had her mouth FULL of gummy candy (notice the huge cheeks here), and her hands were going back for more...straight from the bin.  Rather than stopping her from eating this candy (which we had not purchased, obviously), James just grabbed the camera.  

Look at that innocent face, as if she doesn't know she's not supposed to eat this stuff...

Of course, her favorite part of the week was playing with her four favorite kids in the world - her cousins Madeline, Anna Kate, Violet, and Tyler!