I’ve just been too busy to provide good updates on the garden, which is super happy going into the first week of July (is it almost July?!?, fark!). Here’s an overview:

Most of the garden:

Strawberries and Herbs:

Lettuce, bokchoy, and peas:

You Know Your Squash is Happy When:

Tomatoes:

Peppers, Onions, Basil, and Nasturtiums:

Beans, Broccoli, and Greens:

Tomatoes and Squash:

A Tasty Pear (there are many more):

The part of the garden we don’t eat:

The buckeye:

Happy hops:

Baby pumpkins:

I share my birthday with our good friend Patrick, and our good friend Jean has her birthday on the 18th, so for the second year in a row we’ve gotten a group of friends together to do something fun in celebration of the anniversaries of our births. This year we borrowed Chandra’s co-worker’s family home in Sun River, Oregon for a weekend of outdoor adventure, and indoor merrymaking.

On Saturday we visited the Newberry Crater National Monument, which is home to one of the biggest obsidian flows in the United States. It was a major hub for Native American trade for thousands of years. On Sunday we hiked along the Deschutes River. Here are the photos:

Falls coming out of Paulina Lake:

Mineral lake near the obsidian flow:

Eric playing in the snow near the obsidian:

Obsidian flow I:

Obsidian flow II:

Obsidian flow III:

Paulina Lake:

Paulina Lake Trail:

Kitchen Crew:

Deschutes River:

Bridge Youths:

The day after Chris’s wedding in Chicago, he and Erica were gracious enough to coordinate and organize a tour of Wrigley field. We spent a fun couple of hours getting a guided tour of the park from the press box where Harry used to sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ to the Cubs club house. Here’s some photo evidence:

The view from the bleachers:

The scoreboard:

View from the pressbox:

Ernie’s jersey in the clubhouse:

Ronnie’s jersey in the clubhouse:

Clubhouse view I:

Clubhouse view II:

Big Z’s locker:

Kathe and Chandra are ready to take over for Lou and Larry:

Eric’s on deck:

Harry watches over us:

Chris, Kathe, Marv, and Eric:

A bald eagle flies in from the scoreboard to the pitcher’s mound:

Over Memorial Day weekend Chandra and I went back to Chicago for my cousin Chris’s wedding. We had a fantastic time, and it was a gorgeous wedding that we were very excited to be a part of. Here are some photos from the weekend:

Eric in the garden before the wedding:

Chandra in the garden before the wedding:

Evanston Art Center Garden:

The lighthouse at the Evanston Art Center:

Garden Walk:

Eric and his Mom:

Eric’s cousin Meghan blowing bubbles:

Eric’s Parents, his Uncle Ted and Kelli look forward to greeting the new husband and wife:

The new husband and wife:

Chandra and Eric in their finest:

Eric unwinds between the wedding and the reception with a martini:

Chandra unwinds between the wedding and reception with a glass of bubbly:

The wedding “cake”:

Eric and his brother Evan:

Eric and Chandra:

Time for the new husband and wife to rock it on the karaoke stage!

Oh yeah!

We had a great spring rhodie flowering this year, unfortunately we were so busy that we never took many pictures of the beautiful flowers. This was also the first rhodie flowering these plants have had against the house since it was painted last year. Enjoy!