Girl time anyone?

This week, Stella and I had a chance to have two days devoted to 'girl time.' On Friday, I took Stella to the Aquarium for a 'mommy & me' girl's outing. We put on our fancy dresses, a little makeup and toured the Ocean side of the Aquarium. Afterwards, she and I enjoyed a nice lunch at one of her favorite restaurants, Panera.

Stella also had her first sleepover at our house with her cousin. I took the girls to the zoo for the summer 'Zoo Grooves' evening. The zoo was open that evening and we had a chance to listen to some music, tour the zoo and play in the fountains. I think the girls enjoyed the fountains the most. My favorite was the new exhibit and seeing all the animals up close. It's funny how the animals are so different in the evening.

To end the weekend, Mommy had her own 'girl time' with some other mommy friends. It was a great week and we're looking forward to 'Farm Camp' this week, Stella had her first day today and fell asleep on the ride home. Sounds like it's going to be another exciting week!

Here they come...

This morning when the kids and I went to water our garden we found a wonderful surprise! We got to harvest our first veggie, a nice big cucumber. As we looked around, we found many little cucumbers growing. Stella's looking forward to watering again tomorrow to see if any others are ready to be eaten. (The top left picture is what our garden looked like when it was first planted).

So far, we're having lots of luck growing our little garden. Last month, I dug out a little 4x4 plot, made the garden box and put a little fence around it to keep the critters from eating the plants. We chose to grow squash, cucumbers, hot peppers, red bell peppers, tomatoes and Japanese eggplants. We also have herbs growing in planters that are really thriving.

Hopefully we can find some recipes to make yummy pickles and other goodies. I'm also looking forward to 'farming' again in the fall, maybe even plant another plot.

Night out with Tatay and Nanay

I had been procrastinating getting a new zoo membership for the family. The kids love going to the zoo so much I just had to do it and renew our membership. Yesterday, I went online and renewed it and happened to check the upcoming events. To my surprise, the zoo was having a member's only 'night out' at the zoo. Stella was so excited to go and she wanted to show our 'new zoo' to her Nanay and Tatay. The zoo was open later from 530p-8p and we were there the entire time! Hard to believe 2.5 hours was spent exploring the zoo. We were so excited that the animals were all so active and they were clearly visible from all viewing points. I think we were most excited to see the Tigers because last time we were there, they were hiding out in their 'cave.' It was probably one of the best times we've had at the zoo. Bro was so into everything and was amazed at all the big animals. He knew what they were and could tell me the names of just about every animal he saw. I was very surprised that the kids didn't fall asleep in the car because of all the walking they did plus it was way past their bedtime. Can't wait to go to the next event!