Mother's Day Weekend

Our weekend began Thursday at 3:00 pm when I got out of work early so Lori could go to an appointment that was not kid approved.  She dropped him off at work and we headed to Megan's to pick up my Thirty-One order.  I bought a bag for Grandma and Meme and since we were on our way to see Grandma, I wanted to take it with us.  Then we came home, packed really fast and headed to Lancaster. 

One the way, the weather changed about half way there.  Forget texting and driving. You have never been distracted and driving until you have tried to take photos and drive and your camera does not give you a preview of the shot in the screen on the back. Good luck with that. One side of the turnpike was clean and the other side was dark and ominous. 

And then we started to see rainbows. Two of them by the time we arrived at Mom's.

Friday we went to the Herb Faire with Mom and Dad and we meet Molly there. We actually ended up driving in right behind her which made finding her really easy.  We split up and headed out in two small groups.  While we were looking for the heirloom tomato variety for this year we spotted a table of interest. 

Baylor picked a yellow Marigold.  It did not surprise me because he has always been attracted to the color yellow and has already picked out three other yellow flowers this spring. The potted up the flower and added a foam ladybug on a stick for added decoration. 

We had our wagon with us and Molly and Baylor headed out as I carried my plants chosen tomatoes and a few herbs.

Baylor was an eating fiend and was ready for a snack already. 

Baylor took a few photos along the way but this is what the Herb Faire is about, plants and lots of people who want to take them home.  

My little man loves to smell flowers and will always say they smell good even if they don't have any scent at all. 

Baylor's view of his new flower, just the stem this time. 

His view of the sky and trees. 

This year there were Koi and other goldfish for sale.  I have not decided if we are going to do fish again this year as we had tragedy after tragedy last year. 

The collection of old mill stones is a perfect place to sit and for a little boy to run around on. 

And play with his new fish watering can.

On the way to a restroom we went past the oxen field and stopped to check them out.  They are huge! 

We meet up with Mom and Dad at the food area and Baylor wanted a bowl of chicken corn soup.  He ate the entire bowl.  He loves soup! 

We went home with our loot that included a large metal flower garden art item and many new plants that need to get in the ground soon.  I played around taking pictures of the violets while Baylor played in the yard.  He stayed at the house with Grandma digging in the dirt and shooting Captain Hook off the deck with water while Dad and I went to the Green Dragon.  We found a new cabinet for the bathroom at the Amish made furniture store and bought local strawberries, a cantaloupe, and three ears of corn. And a whoopie pie.  I even got a hug from Baylor for buying him a whoopie pie. 

My brother and sister in law drove down for the weekend and we went to Lancaster Cen.tral Market in the morning.  I used to go there all the time when I lived in Lancaster but have not been since sometime before Baylor was born and I cannot even remember when it was.  It is a beautiful old market and I love going there.  I did not take my camera, bad blogger, but I knew I would be carrying a tired little man a lot and forgot to grab the smaller point and shoot camera.  I do regret not getting it because after lunch at a little place called the Fork and Spoon, we went to a fountain at a little court yard and let the kids play.  It was a great little place and Baylor really got into it.  After a while, so did I.  The water patterns were completely random and fun to see little ropes of water and big plops and little sprays all going on and off.  We were both soaked on the way home.  The rest of the group were sitting on the steps catching up.  The little girl in the purple shorts is Mabel who we met at the wedding in September last year.  She is going to be a big sister in October and they will find out the gender tomorrow.  So happy for Josh and Amelia and Mabel. 

We headed home after going to Mom's.  Baylor feel asleep in the car anyway and I did not want to wake him up.  Sunday we worked outside as soon as we could get out.  The first thing Baylor said when he woke up was that we were going to do weeding today.  He made this spider web at the tree so keep the bugs out of the yard.  Isn't he wonderful! 

He is also is a budding photographer as I have mentioned before.  He took this view of the mulch pile.  If it were not raining right now, I would be out there working on getting the mulch moved from the end of my driveway to the gardens that need it.

We live off a main state route and we hear a lot of emergency vehicles go up or down the road quite often.  We heard one come down the road and stop down past our house.  I did not go out front to see where it was but not too long after that we heard the fire hall siren go off.  Next the fire truck was driving through the field out back and was heading to the chain at the end of the road.  I told Baylor we may be getting a flying visitor soon.  When they put out the orange traffic cones, I knew I was right.  Living in a small town we knew just about everyone out there and I took some pictures of Baylor on the fire truck while we waited for Life Lion to show up. 

It did not take long and they were here.  This is the third time I have seen them back there but I knew they have landed there more than that.  The neighbors keep us posted on such things. We sat on the stone at the end of their barn to watch the happenings. 

Apparently, a man was painting his roof and fell off.  I don't know what his injuries were that required a life flight and I did not ask.  He was moving his arms when they took him out the ambulance and I did not see any blood. Which was a good thing . See the girl on the right?  I was not the only one taking photos but she was the one who drove the fire truck in and was on top of it for some of her shots.

Lori was out getting the cars washed and filled out and brought home lunch from the fire hall dinner.  We watched them leave from our yard, lying in the grass. 

We had a nice lunch on the deck and Baylor was so excited there were green beans in the dinner 

We spent the rest of the afternoon working outside, ran to the grocery store, made a cake for work on Monday, and just had a nice day together.  My little man is growing so fast and I could not be happier to have him in my life.  Thank you Baylor for making me a Mommy.

Aquarium Update

We are still going strong with the aquarium and have not lost any fish and only a few shrimp have died, that we have found.  But the shrimp are breeding away and we have tons more than we started with. 

We will never have a cocktail with these babies but they are a cute to watch swim around and eat. 

Our Panda Corys are growing and this little one was resting on a leaf.

Some of the Emerald Catfish eating breakfast.

The Emerald Catfish like to breed, a lot, and we find eggs everywhere.  Thankfully the other fish like to eat them so we are not running amok with catfish fry.

We have a nice school of Rummy nosed Tetras and they are quite pretty even though they are hard to photograph.

We bought some nerite snails to eat the algae  They do not breed crazily and are a good addition to the tank. 

I took the background off both tanks and like it better.  The shrimp tank gets natural light now and I like how it looks in the evening light. 

Our Easter Island Chia is doing well and his shrimp friends keep him nice and clean. 

We also added 4 Ottocinclis Catfish to the big tank.  Baylor was really cute asking the guy at the fish store for 4 ottocinclis catfish please said in his three year old voice.  We may have lost one because I can only find 3 of the four at one time but we have never found a body. They are small little algae eaters and are very cute darting around the place. 

Yellow Breeches

Sunday Baylor and I made two trips to the creek to play and get rocks for various collections.  He is three and everything is a collection and I am a gardener and I need rocks to decorate my garden collection.  We went down to the creek and he looked so cute playing, throwing rocks, and taking 'dips' in the creek that we came back to the house, with a full load of rocks, and I picked up the camera and some plant trimmers.  There is a climbing rose/thorn vine right where we cross into the canal that is always pricking us.  Not any more! 

He loves to throw the rocks into the water and make big splashes.  He looks for the perfect rock, "Yes that is the most perfect rock to throw" was what I heard the whole time.  That and, "Get me more rocks to throw Mommy!"

A couple came walking down the canal with their dog who was a great friend for Baylor to entertain himself with.  He was having a ball throwing the rocks to get the dog to chase them.  The couple was nice and did not mind Baylor trying to get their attention all the time and playing with their dog.

On the way home I handed him the camera to hold as it was not going to work being around my neck pulling him and the wagon full of rocks and Baylor.  This was the second trip we made too.  I forgot and left the camera on and my little photographer took about 400 pictures of the way home. Pretty much one every few seconds.  I did not know about it until I was down loading the pictures and wondered why there were so many.  It was pretty interesting to see them all in progression. Except the photos of my backside. 

First we went through the woods.

The Bank's Barn.

The tree of the left.

Going past the tree.

The Landis' Barn.

The neighbor's with the white barn.  When I give directions to the house, I tell them to turn on Brenda Ave count 4 brown barns and one white barn and then turn right.

And finally we are home. 

We have six maple trees.  In the spring they make lots of seeds.  When I was young it was fun playing with all the helicopters.  Putting them on our noses, throwing them in the air.  As a home owner and a gardener, they have lost a lot of their charm.  Baylor still enjoys playing with them but I just see thousands of possible trees growing everywhere that will have to be pulled out!  Not so much fun anymore.