My Husband, the Gardener

We have a small patio in our apartment but that doesn't stop Russell from growing a whole bunch of fun things.

Here's a few plants growing in our balcony:

Peppers

Herbs

Mint

Basil

Thyme

Green Onions and Tomatoes 

No tomatoes pictured

Papaya

Grown from seed from my dad's papaya tree

Cantaloupe

Don't ask.

And...Tea plants

Lemongrass, chamomile, catnip, a bunch of other ones with names I forgot

We actually just had our first cup of tea harvested from our own tea plants! Mmm. I've asked Russell to grow me some lettuce but so far those seeds haven't sprouted. Also, he's planted me some flowers upon my request and they've grown, blossomed...and died. So looks like we will stick to planting edible plants which is a-ok by me.

Oroville, CA

Russ and I went up to Oroville a weekend ago. It was his grandma's 80th birthday and the whole family came out to Aunt Linda's house. [Side note, Aunt Linda kind of has the party house. We got married on her ranch because it's such a fun place. She makes her own wine, makes homemade ice cream, has a pond, great wrap-around porch, and not to mention the beautiful scenery] Many of these people we haven't seen since our wedding so it was a treat to be able to catch up with everyone again.

Time to sing Happy Birthday to Grandma!

While we were there, there were lots of activities to do. Aunt Linda had set up a 2-player basketball game similar to what you find in arcades, there were water guns, bubbles, a beach ball...there was a lot going on and what can I say except party house.

Also, we did a lot of things I normally don't do (or have ever done, actually), such as...

Fishing:

Trying.

Russell's family has a lot of professional fishers in it. His cousins win fishing tournaments. It's that serious. So of course, fishing poles were brought out and Russell tried teaching me. During my brief time trying, his cousins would shout suggestions from across the pond. "Reel it in faster!", "Try to cast it parallel to the where you're standing." I knew right then that fishing is never going to be my thing. When I handed Russ the fishing pole, he caught a pretty big bass (see picture above) almost instantly. I mean, the skill must run in his family, right??

We also went sailing (Wait, what? Yup, sailing. In Aunt Linda's pond which is deeper than it looks):

Mini sailboat, during sunset. I was lucky enough to experience this.

When the little cousins went, they just rowed the boat. But later on Russ wanted to try the sail. Little Addy (who was also one of my flower girls!) was brave enough to join us. I have to admit, she was braver than I. I kept fearing that the boat would topple over and her reasoning would pierce through my fears when she calmly explained, "...but there isn't even any wind."

Our dog Lewis had a fun time too. He amazed many of the guests with his "Bang!" trick which is when you yell bang! and he comes to your feet and lays down on his back to play dead. Sweet dog.

Doggy dog world.

Even though it was only a weekend, it's always nice to be back in Oroville. The scenery never ceases to amaze me.

New York, New York

I didn't realize how many pictures I took in New York. It took me awhile to go through all of them. So here you go...

The Henrys Take New York City:

Times Square 

NY Skyline