How Does Your Garden Grow?

Even though we are getting veggies from our CSA shares, we decided to attept our small garden again this summer.  The kids have really enjoyed eating the peas right off the vine!! 

Our garden is growing; however, the tomatoes have what looks like scars on them and SOMETHING keeps eating the fruits! 

 At least the animals are leaving the jalapenos alone!

 Going to have cherry tomatoes this year!  YUM!

 This is Savannah's insane raspberry bush!  Last year it was about 1/3 this size!!  It seems to be TAKING OVER!

I've heard ideas on using animal pee (such as wolverine) to keep the animals away....does anyone else have suggestions? 

FIREWORKS

We were actually at the ValleyFair on the 4th of July and had to drive back home that evening (it's a 3.5 hour drive or so) so we thought we'd missed out on fireworks this year!  Little did we know, we were driving STRAIGHT into a major storm that had already been through our little hometown!  Know what that means!?  It means, one of the local colleges (MSUM) - who, by the way, ALWAYS has a phenomenal "party day for families" and a gigantic fireworks show in the evening - had to postpone their light show for a day! 

It started at 10:30 so we packed up and headed to the Meadows golf course where we had a good seat....there were a TON of mosquitos (the people behind us actually brought 8-10 of those little citronella candles to burn!), but we survived.  Lots of "oohs and awwws".  This, of course, was AFTER Chad decided to put on a little fireworks show "Juntunen Style" on by himself at our house....I actually had to text the neighbors and warn them ahead of time!  It was pretty cool, very LOUD and the threat of being thrown in jail was ALMOST worth it!!  Hahahahaha.... :0)

 The kids thought it was really cool that msum was trying to "blow up the moon".  From where we sat, it really looked like the fireworks were touching the moon!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE!!

Buffalo State Park

So....before our dumb~ass state "representatives" decided to SHUT DOWN THE PLACE, we were able to go to the nearest State Park and check it out!  It was really hot on this day and the local pool was PACKED...plus, the kids were itching to do something different and to be honest, so was I!

Here are my 3 cuties and our adorable little neighbor, L.B. They all get along really well and he is so laid back and respectful, I had NO problems bringing him along!!

 LB and Savannah are good friends....they have really good imaginations!

 Parker is always so good to his little sister....love you guys!!

 And Aiden Lee.  He has such a big heart which is a blessing and also a curse.  His smile can just light up my day!

 The end of our trip....everyone had a good time and wished we could stay longer.  Now, if the darned STATE can get their shit together, maybe we can go again this summer!! 

Hope your summer has been filled with smiles so far!!

Radish Chips

We don't normally eat a lot of radishes at our house and weren't sure what to do with the ones we got in our farm box....then Parker and I found a recipe for these radish chips that are supposed to taste like potato chips, spicey ones!  We like-a dah spice in our family so we tried them out!

Such colorful radishes!

 Parker slicing them up THIN!

 He did a good job!!

 Next we mix them into the spices....

 And BAKE them!!  All in all, it was an easy recipe - they would have been REALLY GOOD if I hadn't messed up "steaming" them in the microwave first!!  Oh well, we'll give it another try next time - they really did have good flavor!

Pretty Lettuce

We got this BEAUTIFUL lettuce in one of our "farm" (CSA) boxes a couple of weeks ago.  It was DELICIOUS as well!!  Well, I thought it was....the kids still aren't used to the "earthy" taste of fresh-grown veggies and they call the lettuce "dirt-lettuce".  I'm gonna keep working on them though!!

Lazy Sunday Fishin' the River

On very RARE occasions, we get to head out on a lazy Sunday afternoon and hang out as a family!  I know, weird, right!?  Actually, today is NOT one of those days because Savannah is not with us ~ she's at a birthday party!  Today the boys wanted to fish and since we live at least an hour from the lakes, and have no lake place to call our own, they decided to fish the Red River which is all around us!  Of course, if they ever CAUGHT anything, I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole, but today it's not really about eating the fish as much as it's about FISHING for the fish!

Here my boys are....just relaxing!

 Since I usually help with baiting the hooks and such, I decided to take pics of the scenery instead of trying to fish myself!

 Such handsome men!

 Chad and Aiden in the water.  And yes, the river really is a muddy reddish-brown color.  However, it IS supposed to be a very CLEAN river...so I've been told....still not gonna eat a fish out of it!

 Parker and Aiden Lee.  It almost looks like Parker is gonna push him in!  haahahahaaha!

 The boys found a sandy bar to fish from! 

It was a fun afternoon...until the rainstorm hit!  At least we were warned beforehand and were able to make it to the car before getting wet! 

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

June 7th, 2011

After doing some (ok, a LOT) of research regarding the concept of CSA, I decided it would be a fun and nutritious thing to try.  So I signed up with a farm that is about 45 minutes from here called BlueBird Gardens: www.bluebirdgardens.net (the website is FULL of cool information!).  Not only do they have delicious veggies, they have fruit, turkeys and chickens (eggs too)! 

 Basically, the concept is this, you pay to "invest" in the farm (can be monthly payments if you choose), and then for 20 weeks out of the summer/fall you get a box of produced delivered to a drop-off spot close to your home.... EVERY WEEK!!  Chad thought I was totally NUTS, but after he crunched the numbers by comparing what you typically get in a box each week to going to the grocery store AND included the harvest events (explained below), he changed  his mind.  Not to mention, we also will be trying new items that we wouldn't normally be purchasing in the grocery store!  There was also a story about CSA's in the paper the week after I went ahead and signed up, talking about how GREAT and popular they are - that didn't hurt my case either! 

The thing I was MOST excited about are what they call Harvest Events - we actually get to go to the farm and pick veggies ourselves!

Examples from the website:

Peas- Unlimited amount of regular peas, sugar snap peas and pea pods!!

Broccoli- Two five gallon pails

Cauliflower- Two five gallon pails

Beets- One five gallon pail

Carrots- One five gallon pail

Sweet Corn- Ten dozen

Cabbage - Twenty heads

Potatoes- A hundred pounds (four five gallon pails)

Tomatoes - A bushel (Two five gallon pails)

Kale- Unlimited

Onions - One five gallon pail

Green Beans - Two five gallon pails

Flowers- Ten bouquets for that special event!

Spinach- Two five gallon pails

Kohlrabi - Two five gallon pails

Zucchini- Two five gallon pails

Winter Squash - Twelve of your choice!

Pumpkins - Eight of your choice!

Fall Decoratives - Unlimited

Pretty much anything we raise can be a harvest event.

 That is a LOT of food!  Chad and I decided we are going to try our hand at canning/freezing so none of this goes to waste.  If anyone out there has some suggestions or guidance in this area, PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!  Neither Chad or I have ever even HELPED with canning (although I have researched it online)!  Hahahaha....this should be fun!

BlueBird Gardens also has a small grove of trees there and they encourage you to bring a picnick lunch and eat by the "magic forest" while your there at the events - SO COOL!!  

Since we invested in the larger share, we are able to participate in 8 harvest events (and are actually able to split some of them in "halves" and do, for example, 1/2 the bean pick and 1/2 the pea pick that would = 1 event).  I'm hoping the kids are going to be as excited about this as I think they are going to be.  None of us grew up on a farm; however, there are farms everywhere you look around here!  I'm hoping the quality time will be memorable for them (yes, I will be bringing my camera along!), not to mention hard work is good for ya once in a while!  The employees are there during these events to help with instructions on how to pick each item and on how to "be nice" to the farm. 

We got our first box of goodies (my pickup spot is about 3 blocks from my house!), the week of June 6th, and were amazed at this GIANT Chinese Cabbage:

After getting it all cleaned up, this is what we decided to make with it:

Chinese stir fry!  There are also radishes and chicken from "the farm" in there as well!  It was SO YUMMY!  Can't WAIT for our next box!

Banzaii is Ready to Rock!

June 5th, 2011

IT FEELS AS THOUGH SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!!  And to celebrate, we brought out the Banzaii slide:

Below you see my darling hubby Chad....he has a football.  When you have children that are a little older such as mine, having a slide with water falling on it is not as much fun as it used to be....you have to get a little creative!  I suggested getting a football, making the kids run from the other end of the slide and catch the football in the air as they splash into the pool end of the banzaii slide!  Aren't you just THANKFUL that you are not one of my poor, tortured, children!?  Hahahahaaaa (she laughes maliciously!)

 Parker!

 Aiden....he just ALWAYS has to take it to the extreme and almost break a bone....sigh....

 Even Savannah wanted a turn!  YAY!

 Then there was time to slide the regular way with younger friends....

 WAIT...did I say "slide the REGULAR way"!?!  OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE CHAD!  Hahahahhaaa....bet your gonna feel THAT one in the morning (not to mention a few days after)!! 

The End

Bella Blu's 1st Haircut

May 31st, 2011

We are new to the concept of having an "in-house" dog and I'll admit, I was a little nervous about getting Bella's hair cut for the first time.  I've seen what they do to these little dogs in the summer - they SHAVE THEM and that, I'm NOT a fan of (although I know it is necessary sometimes and that other people like it).  When I brought her in, however, she really couldn't see because her hair was soo long!  I asked the nice stylist to shave her face but leave the rest of her a little longer because we enjoy her looking like an EWOK (from Star Wars).  Here is the finished product....oh.....and while we were waiting, Savannah INSISTED she needed an "outfit" - these I am not a fan of either, but what ya gonna do!?

At least she's wearing the silly get-up with pride!!  She looks even better without the shirt...my silly little Ewok!

The Night That the Lights Went Out....

May 29th, 2011

in Dilworth, Minnesota!  Remember in my last post (about the RRV Zoo) how I said the temperature went from about 50 degrees to well over 80 in an afternoon and it was SO HOT and MUGGY!?  Of COURSE that is the PERFECT setup for a GINORMOUS STORM!  After putting the kids to bed, the sirens went off due to the 90 mile an hour winds (no, not an exaggeration here) and rain.  Then...you guessed it THE POWER WENT OUT.  No big deal you'd think except that I hadn't had the time to get our "storm survival kit" ready this season (it's been so flippin' cold afterall!).  I had the candles, but only ONE of the flashlights had working batteries, and I couldn't locate the battery powered radio I kept "for emergencies"!  GOOD ONE, BRANDI!  Once I located it, THAT'S RIGHT...the batteries were dead and I didn't have 8 size C batteries on hand!  Good Grief!

We got the kids and the dogs crammed into the TINY basement bathroom with most of the candles, blankets, pillows and SNACKS....they were TOTALLY set and actually seemed to be enjoying themselves.....check it out:

Then I snuck off and went back upstairs to watch the storm wreak it's havoc.  I think in a past life, or maybe one of my future ones, I was (will be) a storm chaser....I LOVE STORMS - watching them, feeling them, and even smelling them.  It didn't last too long; however, we were utlimately without power for almost 2 days - now THAT was a challenge!  I bet the sales of generators went through the roof in Fargo, ND during that time!!  Chad ended up borrowing one from work and I learned how to gas it up and string really long extention cords through the house!  I also got to clean out the back of where the fridge sits - YUCK! 

Parker had just learned about people who lived during "Pioneer Times" his last week or so of school, so we also spent time talking about how things were "back in the day" and TRIED to keep busy with things that do NOT require electricity!  It was actually kind of fun and I can see how families who actually lived back then were closer that families appear to be now.  Did you know that if you are carrying a candle around a dark house, you actually have to hold it WAY ABOVE YOUR HEAD so the light reflects off of objects so  you can see?  You can't SEE ANYTHING when you hold it out in front of your eyes....all you see is light!  And know what else?  A big honkin' candle gets HEAVY after a while and your shoulder gets sore!!  Good thing Pioneer ladies were muscular due to the chores they did back then!  THIS girl, NOT SO MUCH!

Secretly, I wished it had lasted a little longer....when I got my set of Little House on the Prairie books in 3rd grade, I'd always wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder....and just for a day (or so) I got to do that! 

And for those of you wondering, the day after the storm, I went (my truck still had power afterall!) to Target (a mile down the road and THEY had power!) and stocked up on batteries and flashlights with a basket to hold them in (along with my little battery powered radio) and stashed them under the sink in the tiny little basement we call our "safe zone" when the sirens go off!

PLEASE BEAR WITH ME

APOLOGY

So...I've been quite the slacker in the blogging department for a while.  The reason I started this was to actually have documentation for my kids and our activities.....for their future, you know?  Anyway, I was going to just start with where we are this past weekend and "jump forward" from my last blog until today (last weekend, actually), BUT...I couldn't do it.  SO....if you are following this blog to keep up on the kids, I am SO SORRY you have to deal with my backtracking.....I had to do it.  Someday, I hope to print the whole thing out and put it in a 3-ring binder for the kids and while they may know that I get behind and am somewhat of a SLACKER in parts of my life, I do NOT want them to think that whatever they were doing...while I was there with a camera....was NOT important to ME or important enough to blog about. SO!  Feel free to skip ahead to June, 2011!!  One day, hopefully in the VERY NEAR future.....I will be ALL caught up and ON TIME with my blogging!  At least getting it done weekly! 

Red River Zoo with Friends....

May 29th, 2011

The morning was very cold and rainy....we were worried we'd have to spend the ENTIRE Memorial Day INSIDE....dum, dum, dum.....but then....the sun came out and it got H-O-T!  So, off to the RR Zoo we went with our friends, the Perry family!  Again, of course, I took ENTIRELY too many pictures so I will TRY to keep it under control and share the highlights with ya!

Here is THE CREW at the NEW enterance!!

 BELOW: A white wolf.  At the RRV Zoo, there are a number of  exotic and native animals, in addition to plants from areas around the world with similar climates to the Red River Valley. Over three hundred animals of seventy-five species reside at the Red River Zoo.  We think it's pretty cool, and whomever did the artwork/decorating for the different animal enclosures is a flippin' GENIOUS in my opinion!!

Above is the American Bald Eagle with it's nest.  Pretty cool and HUGE, isn't it!?  The crazy part is that this exhibit DOESN'T HAVE A TOP ON IT!!  And...they don't fly away!  WOW!

Below:  THE BOYS! Amazingly, it went from 50 degrees in the morning to 86 degrees while we were here at the zoo!  Only in MN/ND I think!!

 On the LEFT we have cute little things that burrow into the ground....they caused QUITE a stir by their pose; however, it turnes out this is the way they MEET each other!  On the RIGHT: the elusive Red Panda!  He is RARELY out when we are visiting the zoo and apparently he is an exotic animal that you can't find at your more "common" zoo!  YAY FARGO!!

Savannah found her "pretty horse"!  This carousel is SO PRETTY....it's restored from old antiques and the person that took the time and effort to make this place for us to enjoy, deserves a TROPHY....or whatever they think would be really cool!  They CERTAINLY have MY thanks!! 

 Did you see the Sichuan Takin (LEFT)?  He is standing on those stumps!  COOL, huh!?  Not every zoo is gonna have one of these, baby!








RIGHT: Aiden on the "American Horse" at the carousel.  As soon as they open the chain gate, the boys RACE to find the red, white & blue horse!  This year, Parker was too big and "too cool" to ride a horse....I was gonna take his pic as he went by, but I found him on one of the moving benches TEXTING for the love of Pete!! 

This is a Blue Toed Tree Frog (LEFT)!  He is VERY poisionous!

This is the Blue Tounged Skink (LEFT).  It is Aiden's FAVORITE animal.  Too bad he wasn't sticking out his BLUE TONGUE!

Here is one of the camels (WAY LEFT)!  I guess SOME camels can handle winters!!  hahahaha....there is actually a baby too! 

BELOW: is the Perry Family....yes, yes it IS hard to be friends with such PERFECT people! hahaha....they actually have such kind hearts and are SO FUN to be around!  PLUS...they must have high tolerances to put up with the Juntunen clan!!  LOVE YOU GUYS! 

 Look at these girls....so sweet and so cute....LOVE 'EM!

 Here we have Parker and his buddy Isaac in their "token move".... "can you give me knuckles, buddy?" Parker will say, and YEPPER!  He can!  After I took this pic, Parker wanted to look at it on the camera.  He said to me, "mom, you HAVE to make that black and white and write the word "knuckles" on it".  Here you go Parker, just for you!!

What a GREAT day at the Zoo....and we didn't leave empty handed (of course!).  The kids got a trinket and mom got some goat's milk soap (3 kinds) that smells HEAVENLY!!



Aiden's Sprouts

One of the final projects Aiden did in 2nd grade this year was to try and grow a bean plant from seeds.  You know, the teacher hands out seeds and the kids get a paper towel damp and they put it in a sandwich baggie to bring home!?  Well, Aiden was very concerned that he wouldn't be able to get his to grow....

BUT LOOK!  They DID GROW!! 

And now I wonder....what am I supposed to do with this!? Is this an actual plant that will grow beans you can eat?  Ohhh dear....