Nature is so great

I was so bad at the garden this year and nature was still so nice to us.  Just look this beautiful rose! Wow.

Week 16 and 17- Late.. .but here it goes.

For these weeks I decided to work a bit in the garden - pulling lots of weeds and getting an idea of what I need to replace and what I can leave longer hoping it makes it.  Last year we planted a lot of new plants so I am still hopeful that most of them will make it... but so far one hydrangea seems not to :(  Combining gardening I decided to take a few pictures of how my garden is looking so far  - so that gives me 2 of my hobbies - flowers and photography and after having a very 2-3 busy weeks I managed to download the pictures...

This is the tree in front of our house :) It gives this beautiful purple flowers around May then the leaves turn green :)

We have a couple "renting" in our property.  Here is the girl!

This is a new guest moving in the house.. Can you see what it has in his mouth?

This picture looks magical!  Sun and flash... Can you see my purple irises coming up? (Well, no flowers yet)

This is a lilac that I planted last year.  I did not expect flowers, but it is doing better than I thought.

This bush was here when we bought the house, but it has grown quite a bit in the last 3 years... the birds love it, and this year it gave us a lot more flowers than normal. 

Our burning bush help us to protect the birds when they are eating from the bird feeders and in September - October it turns into a super nice red...

This side has a lot of new plants.. the "mini tree" in the corner is a Tiger's eye (planted 2 years ago) and the strawberry bush next to it in the right was planted last year.  Plus, my water bath is new since our previous one broke.  We are still trying to find the perfect bench...

Mike's favorite evergreen tree is a lollipop bush and when we bought it looked down in its luck - the poor thing.  They were practically given it away for 35 dls from the 135 or so regular price.  We figure we did not have much to lose and took a chance.  Well, it has thrive and looks so lovely.  It is one of my favorites now :)

One of my two Japanese maples.  This one was planted last year and it is bigger now than the one I planted 2 years ago! 

Lots of rhododendron and azaleas were planted last year.  So far, 1-2 seemed dead but the other eight are doing great!  I am still giving them a chance for the other 2... Once I thought one of my clematis had died, left it one more year and the next year came back more beautiful than ever... goes to show you :)

And here ends some shots of our backyard !

WPP#15

"Our" Cardinal found a partner!  Must be Spring Love :)  They seldom are together to take a picture.  They are nearby, but never in the same frame except for this shot...then they flew apart again.  They seem to like the bird feeders that we put in front of the house.

Honk Honk!

This is the first ride that Arianna has in one of those car carts at Home Depot!  She loved it.

And then we needed to go to Kohl's to buy some clothes for Mike's job.  She hated this cart when she was younger.  This time she was better, but she was getting so tired.

We tried the Indian restaurant by Orland Park Taj Mahal and it was very good.  Mike got the Frontier Chicken (Right side) and I opted for the buffet and found out that I like Chicken Vidaloo (may be misspelled)
and their Rice pudding. Arianna was very happy that she was singing and she was also a bit silly.  ;)

Then we went to our evil store Barne's and Noble , evil because we like a lot of stuff, but we only bought a magazine per person.  Arianna picked one book and I got her a really cool puzzle (about doggies).  There is a picture of it below.

Then, we came home to play a little in the yard and to re-fill the bird feeders and Mike hanged 2 more bird houses!

We were so tired that we came inside and rested for awhile.  How was your day?

WPP #13 Bird Bath

Thinking about Spring even though it is not sunny and it is cold... but knowing that my plants are showing new buds gives me hope!

In a moment...

Here is a picture of 2 of my gerbils - Esmeralda and Sophie.  Arianna likes to look at them for time to time and tells me that they are either eating or sleeping.  " Gerbils are sleeping"

 Then, after looking at the gerbils, Arianna went to the dining room and told me that "Jack and Betsy are looking at birds".

"Mommy the squirrels are hungry"

"Oh, I love to feed the birds".  After we refilled the feeder and then she saw the Cardinal.

 Then, she said " You want to play balls? "

When we went inside, she said " All done".  "Coat off"

 "Let's draw!"

 And that was just a moment in our lives :)

Random stuff...

Isn't she adorable?  This is Misty and she had not lay down like this in long time.  Well, we did bring another cat in the house...

Remember this plant Evelyn?  It is still budding!

Mike got the pots out of the garage ready for planting... is that a hint honey?

Mike was working in the swing set... he cleaned the space in the garage, put his phone as a radio with some good songs for cheering and just work and work...

Then Arianna decided to speed the process by lending a hand... (She was sooooo excited when she realized that it was a swing.  She kept saying " I love swings") (I will post pictures of the done swing later!)

My mother has a beautiful hand when it comes to knitting and crocheting.  She is so even in her points.  Not too tight, not too loose.  I envy that (in a good way).  I wish my crocheting was as uniform as her.  I guess I need to keep practice :) Aren't these blankets beautiful?

Day 6 -Leaving

Some nice weeping willows trees to say goodbye to, and hopefully we will see you again! Our last stop before heading home was Crackle Barrel. I know there are some around the suburbs where we live, but for some reason the food here is bigger and tastier to me although if I get a chance I will go to eat to the ones by my house, still pretty good :) Maybe all the extra butter and sugar in the south makes the difference. Anyway, if you can go to one, try the Apple Streussel French Toast. It is so worth it the run in the treadmill for this tasty dish. Mike had the regular french toast and Ari ate quite a bit of a pancake.



Here we are done and ready to start the close to 10 hours ride back home.



Bye birdies! Bye houses! See you soon! (That was Ari's goodbye)


Oh, grandpa I took this picture just for you!

Crossing the line between Kentucky and Indiana.


A shot of the many factories in Indiana. I liked this one for some reason. And to answer Mike, no I just took one shot :)


Our one stop to stretch our legs and refuel our tummies (we only stopped 1-2 more for gas). Arianna was so happy and Mike picked this McDonalds because it had the play area for her to run a bit. What a wonderful daddy!


Love how the clouds look here.


Mike happy to be home after driving so much. In Gatlinburg, we went to a cigar shop, our first time in a shop like this, to buy a thank you gift for our neighbor that keeps an eye when we are not here and waters or puts back our garbage or whatever else we may need. So, he likes cigars so we got him 3. I did not know all the different choices and prices. The guy was very helpful and explained to us differences, smells, brands ,etc... Then, we picked 3. It was a nice experience.


Arianna's favorite gadget/toy from Gatlinburg was this long doggy (or snake according to her) that holds one of her favorite things -Crayons! She did not see it until we got home.

And that ends a very nice and relaxing vacation. :)