Planting flowers today

We had a busy outdoor day today. Most springs get past me and I don't put out any flowers. I think it's been 4 years since I even planted a few begonias. But this year Ben promised to help and today was GORGEOUS - about 70 degrees and sunny. Alek and Gary had gone to a Cub Scout camping trip Saturday night, so Ben and I got up and got working on some chores.

Ben scrubbed all the patio furniture and I painted it with rustoleum. I never thought 16 years ago that our patio set from Endicott would still be with us, but every couple years I paint the rust and away it goes for another year.

We went to the garden center and had a great time picking out flowers! Good think Gary's easy-going, because we spent a small fortune. I was afraid we got too many, but our garden is pretty big, and we ended up with some very nice,colorful, symmetrical arrangements.

The area under the bird feeders, before (he look, Gary's sitting in one of my newly painted chairs!)
Back garden before flowers ...

More back garden before any flowers ...

Nice view of some of the flowers we planted today - Ben dug most of the holes! Gary and Alek took two trips to the Home Depot and brought back all the mulch - we spread 20 bags (although the mulch is now package in 2 cu ft bags ... used to come in 3 cu ft bags!)

In the back you see two plants with long purple spikes - these are very striking! In the middle is a yellow daisy-like bush, and in the front are varigated bright pink wave petunias, and a yellow wave petunia.

The pink flowers under the hanging basket are Pentas.

Lantana on the left, purple spike plant on the right, and 'million bells' in the front.

The yellow flowers in front are called 'million bell's, and the Lantana on the right is the color 'Ann Maria' which it pink on the outside and yellow on the inside. On the far right is the 'shimp plant' which had tall yellow flowers, and on the left is a new plant that will have long purple spikes all summer long.

So Ben and I were talking today and he asked why we didn't have any plants inside the house. I told him that I used to have lots of plants in the house, then we had babies and I had to give all my plants away. So we agreed to find a couple houseplants at the garden store today when we shopped for our flowers. Well, true to form, Ben fell in love with the ugliest plant I have ever seen and now it lives on my kitchen table because it's too HUGE to put anywhere else!

Ben really liked the yellow and orange bloom ... oh my.

Haircuts

The boys got their hair cut a couple weeks ago. Ben's hair had never been so long, so we took some picture!
The front of Ben's hair, before being cut. The side of Ben's hair, before being cut.

AFTER! He likes it short, and it looks good on him!

The front of Alek's hair before being cut - he likes it long, which is fine, but sometimes it needs trimmed up. Looking a little bushy here ...

And AFTER ... much cleaner looking, but this was VERY SHORT for him!

The Cruise and Costa Maya Mexico

My favorite part of the ship - our room had a large balcony overlooking the back of the ship. I spent a lot of time out here reading. Ben crashed the first afternoon on the ship. He slept for three hours on the couch. The first night, we were all up after midnight doing fun stuff on the ship. After that first day, we all got into the late night/late morning groove.

In the hallway of the ship, ready to depart for Costa Maya.

Getting off the boat. Ours was the Grandeur of the Seas, one of Royal Carribean's smallest ships. On the right is the Independence of the Seas, two classes larger than ours. They were on a 6 day cruise, they went everywhere we went, but had stopped in Belize first.

Getting into the town of Costa Maya. The few building there are all painte bright colors. We got into a bus and drive for about 20 minutes to the Jungle Beach Club where the beach was awesome. We did a little shopping.

The Carlsons all together in Costa Maya. What a peaceful day.

The boys loaded up for sea kayaking.

Alek in the crystal clear waters in Costa Maya. The dark part of the water was coral that you could snorkel over.

Gary was pretty happy at the Jungle Beach Club in Costa Maya. It was hot that day, but the breeze was cool. Oh, and the drinks were FREE!

Ben and Alek on the beach at the Jungle Beach Club in Costa Maya. What a lovely place --- look at the clear blue sky and that aqua water. Absolutely breathtaking.

Carolina Crush 2010

Ben took first place in Youth D boys category in the Carolina Crush at TRC.
Climber's meeting to start the comp: Great reach Ben!

Looking strong!

He's really developed in his strength and stamina this season!

Awesome job!

Core strength is so critical ...

At the top!

One of Ben's Climbs from Carolina Crush

Check it out at You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3j6ZmH1Mhg

Alek's first scrimmage

Busy sports day today! Ben had competition at Triangle Rock Club (his home gym) today - and he placed FIRST in his age group! What a wonderful success. Even more impressive was his ability to handle his emotions and frustrations when he had a fall. He's getting better and better at handling himself at competitions.

Gary took Ben to climbing, so I got to spend the day with Alek. We started out this beautiful morning (68 degrees and clear and sunny!) at a baseball scrimmage! We absolutely love his colors this year - Illini and 'Cuse ORANGE! Guaranteed to be a great season! I love that the Apex league also matches their hat colors to their shirt colors. The team looked so great! (of course, all the pants are still white at the beginning of the game!).

Alek did well today - this league is kid-pitch, and it takes a lot of pitches to get the ball over the plate. I think Alek will probably give pitching a try during the season. Here are some pictures of his action today! Scooping the grounder at 3rd base for an out!

Just missing a foul ball at 3rd.

Smacking the ball for a base hit! Great form Alek!