Morning at the Garden

It is still ridiculously hot down here but we are starting to get a little relief in the early mornings. We decided to take advantage of the cool (85 at 9:00 am) weather and head over to the Botanical Gardens for a stroll.









We love the Botanical Garden. It's peaceful, beautiful and about 5 degrees cooler than the rest of the valley. Recently I've been fortunate, through my work, to partner with the Botanical Garden in installing a demonstration front yard vegetable garden in S. Scottsdale. One lucky S. Scottsdale resident is going to have the Botanical Garden design and install a vegetable garden in their front yard - less rock, more vegetables concept. I meet once a week with the Garden's horticulturist, landscape architect, and education manager to plan the project. Since I work for the city, our house isn't eligible (darn!) but it's an incredible learning opportunity that I feel lucky to be a part of.

Night, Night Book

We have a pretty good nighttime routine down. Bath, books, glass of milk, and bed. Sometimes a request of, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is thrown in before bed but that is pretty much the routine. It's nice. Recently, if Owen isn't ready to fall asleep when he is supposed to, he wants to bring a book with him to bed and "read" it.


We love that this kid loves books.

From The "You're Doing It Wrong" Files:

Owen, my man...

You're doing it wrong.

Veggie Lover

This is the second time Owen has stolen a yellow pepper that I was going to use to make dinner. You really cannot get mad at a kid that secretly steals vegetables and runs off to eat them. I'm not sure if it's normal for a 2 year old to love raw vegetables as much as Owen does but we are not complaining.


His favorites are yellow peppers, corn on the cob, and onions. Plus he loves garbanzo beans. Add a little oil and some pepper to the beans and you have yourself a happy Owen.


Because of him, I make sure the fridge is stocked with veggies. I feel guilty if we don't have a vegetable with lunch/ dinner just because of the fact, he will eat his veggies so if he doesn't, it was because I was too lazy to give them to him.


Now don't get me wrong. He is not a health nut. If he knows there is chocolate or a cookie anywhere in the house, he will whine persistently until he gets it. (He loves chocolate.) But as long we keep veggies in front of him, he happily snacks on them. He is some of the best motivation we have to eat healthier. Thank you Owen.

Post script: Owen's shirt says, "I'm 2 and there's nothing you can do about it." My mom, Debby, got it for him in Seattle. Some days that shirt is way too appropriate.

Death Defying Stunts: By Owen

Oh my gosh, you have a dinosaur riding a motorcycle off a cat scratching post ten times his size! The suspense is killing me.

How did this death defying stunt turn out?


Oh, about how you'd expect, I guess. The stunt was designed and executed by a two year old.


Great to see Owen using his imagination, though.

Almost Got It

Out of the hundreds of photos we take, very few include a shot of the three of us. And of those shots, even fewer include all three of us looking at the camera and smiling.


Well, this is not one of those rare shots but 2 out of 3 smiling isn't bad.

Rise And Shine

Good

Morning

Everyone