Gardening Success

This year was our most successful year yet with gardening after a sort of failure 2 years ago and nothing last year. We started off the summer having planted watermelons, pumpkins, tomatoes, jalapeños, and eggplants. We ended up growing all of them, although the deer got too friendly and ate the pumpkins and watermelons. We harvested jalapeños, tomatoes, and eggplants clear until November! So fun and now we know how to improve for next year. 

Not only was it a good year for vegetables, it was a wonderful year for all sort of flowers, specifically our beautiful hydrangeas. 

Our deer friends were very interested in our garden as well and ended up eating all three of our huge pumpkins and our lone watermelon. We fixed the fence around September which kept them out for the remainder of the gardening season. 

Despite the deer, we were able to harvest lots of vegetables all summer and fall

Some more pictures of our harvests -- including finding out jalapeños turn red when they are ripening and are even spicier!

Chase didn't shy away from eating his home-grown vegetables. He said they were tastier (he rated the tomatoes 7/10) than in store (4/10). 

Painting Our House

[Previous home improvement projects: fixed fence and minisplits, reupholstered chairs and solar panels]

This year, our big home improvement project was repainting the outside of the house. We hired a local company and deliberated the color choice. We wanted a similar gray but also wanted to switch to a fun new door color. Thankfully, we managed to do both and we love how it looks now. The previous paint job didn't sand off the previous coat so the paint had started bubbling and cracking off the cedar siding. They sanded off all previous paint layers and also fixed a lot of rotten wood and other issues. It's so nice to have this done nicely and correctly for many years to come. 

Edit: Another home improvement that we did this year is we did indeed get a new couch for our TV room that comfortably fits all 3 of us. It's from La-Z-boy and has a mechanical side and a manual side along with a console and chaise. It is exactly what we were looking for and has been so comfy! 

Summer 2024

Chase had a very full summer! He spent the majority of it in camps in the morning and then spending time with his grandparents in the afternoons. Two highlights were some fishing camps (where he caught 14 fish in one of the weeks) and a STEM camp at Hamden Hall School which he just loved. We were all able to go on another trip to Barcelona to see his great grandparents for the first time since before Covid. 

Getting 1500 minutes in the local library reading challenge, catching a fish, and starting 5th grade!

Playing with his cousin uncle and the whole family together for my dad's birthday

Trip to Orlando for Chase's 10th birthday

[Previous Chase updates: 9 years, 8 years, 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]

Since Chase turned 10(!!) this year, we decided we needed to celebrate in a big way: a trip to Orlando. We were able to go to the Kennedy Space Center, Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and to Gatorland. We were able to go on pretty much all the rides we wanted between waiting in a few lines and a couple well time standby spots (specifically Space Mountain and Guardians of the Galaxy for Nate and me -- Chase isn't into scary rides). We also stayed at a cool timeshare/resort (Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee) that was huge and had 4 pools including lazy river and a place for fishing. It was a really fun vacation and even though Chase was not into Disney beforehand and still really isn't, he had a great time at the parks. 

Fishing at the resort and at Kennedy Space Center

At Magic Kingdom

More Magic Kingdom -- the castle during the day and at night

At Epcot (we took very few pictures there and although Chase loves countries, it was a bit disappointing as a park) and with his two pins for first time and birthday

At Gatorland with a turtle, a train ride around, and holding a small gator and snake 

Total Solar Eclipse!

Since the path of totality was close to us on the northeast, we took the day off work and traveled to see the eclipse. Originally, we were going to go to Syracuse, but with rain and cloud cover, that ended up being a bad choice. We quickly pivoted and ended up in Peru, NY -- very close to the Canadian border. It was such a surreal event! At totality, everything went cold and the streetlights turned on. I'm so happy that we got to experience it together -- something Chase will not forget for a long time! What hopefully he will forget is the 10 hour trip home (usually should only have been 3-3.5 hours). 

Easter in TN!

This year, we got to celebrate Easter with family in TN. We were able to have a long weekend together: play games, go to church, attend a Easter egg hunt, and spend time together out and about. So fun now that everyone in Nate's family lives around Nashville.

Winter crafts

Following up on last year, we did some more winter crafts this year. Chase designed Valentine's Day boxes which each had a key that would pop the heart out when inserted. Each key had the initials of each of his classmates. 

I also did a 3rd year of embroidery bingo from BonnahCo.. Still didn't win but a fun new theme this year and now I have three embroidery boards hanging at my cubicle. 

Chase designed these himself on Fusion360 and 3D printed them for his classmates.

3rd year of embroidery bingo in the books!