We came home to a garden that had exploded in our absence. The cucumbers are taking over, the lettuce had bolted, and the potatoes are flowering. And the lilies! These were here when we moved, I am beyond excited to see them blooming. They are gorgeous. Everything else is blooming as well. I am loving all the color, this is what I wanted in a flower garden. Now, to mow, weed, clip, and clean up everything.

Lantern Festival

Friday night, we headed to the big city to attend the Lantern Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. Aunt Kiki had invited us, and it was an amazing experience.

It was a little stressful leaving the farm. Lem hadn't been anywhere all week. The skies opened up and dumped rain the hours before we were supposed to leave, and we were worried about flooding on the roads, and the creek was really high. But luckily, it stopped, and after we waited about 30 minutes, everything was fine.

Mike met us for dinner at the Thai House in Columbia, and we got to the gardens later than we planned, but it worked out perfectly. We arrived about 10 minutes before 8 p.m. when they turned on the lights.

It truly was magical. Amazing lit up exhibits showing Chinese culture were placed around the garden. It wasn't crowded at all, not at all like the Garden Glow at Christmas, so we could move at our own pace and not worry about losing each other. And it smelled so good! All the flowers were giving off their best scent for the night. Everyone attending seemed so happy and calm.

I didn't bring my camera, because of the potential rain, so all my pictures are from my phone. I think they turned out all right.

Information:
Lantern Festival
Thai House

We have been spending long, lazy summer days at the farm. Tonight after dinner, we headed down to the lake for a swim. Lem and Gwyn were so excited to go -- they would have eaten dinner in their life jackets if I had let them. They had planned an epic water fight.
Well, of course it started with tears. I got in the water with them, Oma and Grandpamp stayed on the dock. Lem immediately shot Gwyn right in the face,and then Lem cried because he got his water gun taken away. But they all got over it when I started shooting Grandpamp. He had a bucket he kept filling with water and throwing it on us. The kids really got a kick out of it.
Lem is so funny, he is only happy if he is on the raft not touching the water. And he won't paddle himself, either. So he kept floating off toward the corner of the lake, and Gwyn and I would have to go rescue him. He'd just sit there crying until we caught him, then he'd be back to water fun fighting.

This morning, the first thing the kids wanted to do was go fishing. After the excitment of last night, they couldn't wait to get out there. They finally got going around mid morning, and unfortunately, the fish weren't biting too much. It was getting hot, so it was time to give swimming a try.
Gwyn was super excited to go, she and Oma hopped in first. I came down a little later, and then Lem came skipping down. We spent a long time floating a splashing around, it doesn't get much better than this.

Tonight, I made dinner for everyone -- tacos with bean and corn salad, and green salad. After dinner, we decided to do a little fishing. Grandpamp, Lem and I headed down first. We all started catching some right away. Then Gwyn came down, and Grandpamp set her up with a worm and bobber. She started catching fish as well, and then she hooked a BIG one.
She and Grandpamp battled it for a good 15 minutes. They slowly worked it over to the bank. Lem was lying on the dock watching it, and said, "that's a huge fish!" Unfortunately, it broke the line right as they got to the bank. Grandpamp said it was a huge bass, maybe a 5 pounder.
Gwyn was so, so exited about it. She kept saying, I have to go fishing again and get that bass. She wrote about it in her journal, sang a song about it, and emailed Win.
The kids helped Grandpamp clean the fish as well, they weren't the least bit squeamish about it.

Earlier today, Oma, Gwyn and I went to town for a little shopping and groceries. Lem refused to go. He went over to Mabel's and hung out with Uncle Mike for the afternoon. Lem is just happy being at the farm and not going anywhere.

On Saturday, we had a party with all the Fuhrmans. Dad grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and it was a beautiful day. All the cousins played -- they loved the hammock and the sandbox. Lem got a game of poker going. Uncle Jack got into it and he and Lem played for a while. Lem wanted to play for money, but wisely, they stuck to just poker chips.

Before everyone came, we got a little fishing in.

Oliver!

First day of summer, and we zoomed up to the Farm to see Oliver, Paul, and Lindsay. They were visiting, on their way back to Minnesota from their epic sailing adventure.

The cousins took to each other immediately, particularly Gwyn and Oliver. It was great to see Paul and Lindsay, too. Lem, of course, immediately challenged Uncle Paul to a game of chess, once he heard Paul claim that he could beat him in four moves.

Mike and Johnna came over in the evening, and Dad grilled pork steaks. We all sat out on the porch for dinner, Lem monopolizing the conversation from the head of the table.

The only person missing was Win. 

This is our first "harvest"! I think the soil in my first bed is lacking ... it has taken a while for my greens to come up. I mixed this in with our salad tonight and sliced up the radish. Delicious!