Gardening Outside

Since last year we only grew plants inside, we were super excited to grow lots of stuff outside this year. We even had a garden already in our yard. We planted some raspberries, strawberries, peppers, and some flowers. We waited eagerly for those to grow. 

One cool thing was our deer visitors. We have a mama deer and two babies who hop our fence (or get through a section that's a bit broken) and hang out in our yard. They were especially into these berries that get dropped on our bocce ball court in late spring. We especially get excited to see them on our ring camera at our front door and race around to see them jumping into our back yard. 

The rest of our yard had some plants from the previous owners: plenty of orange day lillies, lots of hydrangeas, and even some fox glove (which we found out is actually quite poisonous to humans!). 

In the end, our strawberries, raspberries, and peppers totally didn't grow, and only some of our sunflowers grew. However, what we did get is tons and tons of tomatoes! In good CT style, even though we didn't plant them, they must have been there before and really took off! It was very fun to have lots of fresh tomatoes through the mid to late summer. We now better know what to expect and will hopefully have better luck next summer! 

Sewing an Octopus with Chase

This summer, Chase showed interest in sewing a stuffed animal. Since he's into all things ocean, he scoured the internet on cool things to make and settled on making an octopus. He picked the colors: navy on top and light blue on bottom. Looking online, we sketched out a pattern that had a square head with an 8-legged body. To weight down the bottom, we included a small circle patch with poly pellets that Chase sewed himself on the sewing machine. Chase decide on a face with two large eyes and 4 light blue patches to the left of the eyes. He wanted a tiny mouth that we did twice since the first time wasn't quite right to him. 

Since I received a bunch of sewing things from my mom when they moved, I had many of these iridescent buttons. Chase decided he wanted them on each leg as suckers and he wanted 8 because Octopuses have 8 legs. We sewed on each of these buttons before stuffing the Octopus and sewing the head onto the body. 

Chase really loves the finished Octopus, which he named Coba like in the Octonauts. Coba sleeps in Chase's bed and he really likes the suckers made out of cute buttons. 

Anniversary trip to Bermuda

For our ten year wedding anniversary, we left Chase with my parents and sailed away on a cruise ship to Bermuda. We had such a fun time! In Bermuda, we went to the National Museum, toured the island by boat, got to see a shipwreck and snorkeled in the blue, coral-filled waters. On the boat, I think we literally did all the amenities that were offered (trivia, comedy, shows, art, gym, pools, mini golf, etc, etc.). Ten years ago, the day after we got married, we toasted to our one day of marriage “may there be 1 more.” Now, we toast to ten years, may there be 10 more… :)

Chase at 8 years

[Previous Chase updates: 7 years, 6 years, 2nd year of school, 5 years, starting school, 4 years, 3 years, 25-32 months, 2 years, 15-20 months, 1+ year, first four months in Cambridge, data analysis from first 2 months, first few months]

Chase turned 8 years old this spring. On his actual birthday, we played an escape game together. For his birthday party, we had planned an outdoor lawn game party with crafts. He was very excited but unfortunately, it ended up raining all day so we had to move the party to an indoor play place. Chase still had a lot of fun with his friends and we ended up playing the lawn games and doing the crafts over the summer during various play dates. Chase requested a van Gogh cake that Nate had made at the local Stop & Shop. It turned out great! 

Baltimore and DC trip

For Easter weekend, we visited Tahir, Anaan, and Azhari in Baltimore and day-tripped to DC! It was Nate and Chase’s first time in the Capitol! In Baltimore, we visited the harbor, the National Aquarium, and a baseball game (Chase’s first one, and on Jackie Robinson day: Orioles vs. Yankees). In DC, we walked a lot around the mall, went to the National Gallery (where Chase traded his normal Van Gogh love for Monet), the National Archives to see the original Declaration of Independence (super faded!) and the Constitution, and the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We also ate lots of Baltimorian foods (crab cakes, pit sandwiches, and a famous brunch place) thanks to our nice hosts! We lucked out with some beautiful weather and a very chill trip due to taking the Amtrak there and back. 

Baltimore harbor and baseball game. 

Walking around the Mall.

Some posing in DC. 

Us near the Washington Monument and Chase near some Monet. 

Some sun in Charleston

At the end of March, I went to the South for the first time. I joined some Articles Club ladies and we ventured to Charleston, SC. We stayed at a beach house on the Isle of Palm, where I was able to go running on the beach in the mornings and relax outside, soaking up the sun. We also ventured into Charleston, visiting the McLeod Plantation (super interesting tour from the perspective of the slaves), the Angel Oak, touring a historic house in the city, and checking out the many waterfront sites. We had a great time catching up after not seeing each other for many years and I really enjoyed my first time in the warm (both weather and people-wise) South!

Strawberry picking!

Charleston downtown and the beach. 

Angel oak and walking around downtown. Not pictured are the multi-colored houses all over downtown. 

Embroidery Month

Thanks to a local craft shop (BonnahCo; IG: @bonnahcofiberarts), I participated in a February (embroidery month… who knew?) bingo project. They made different 5x5 boards for all participants, drew a different stitch every day, and demo-ed it in a daily Instagram live. I had so much fun learning new stitches and it was the perfect amount of time and energy commitment (most stitches were 15-30 minutes a day except for satin and turkey work which took wayyy longer) to feel like I was being creative but not overwhelmed. Love the look of the final project. 

The finished product: front and back. 

Close ups of some stitches.

Update: In the month of December, BonnahCo did an ornament class which consisted of two consecutive Thursday nights for 1.5 hours each. We made this cute ornament using fun stitches, two buttons for the birds, and some fun sparkly beads. So fun! Since February, I have also been working on another of their kits called Bloom and Bee.