Quarantine Journals - Gardening etc

You know, I had a lot of concerns about our days feeling empty or off kilter when school ended, but I feel like we've done pretty well so far with little additional effort. We've been spending more time outside, and the kids have had the freedom to get really creative with their play. Penny is very passionate about helping around the house, especially meal prep, even forgoing tv time (To district Oliver) so she can come help me make lunches. We haven't had iPads out thus far, with the exception of her video chats or screen time during naps.

This morning, we went outside to play almost first thing. The kids has been playing great when I got up, and penny was really chipper about what a great mood Oliver was in.  When they started to bicker, we moved out front to let them scooter, but shortly thereafter, the neighbors came out With their sitter, and we had to move out back. So the kids played in the sand while I checked out the garden. There were tons of giant flies swarming, so I can't say the experience was all that enjoyable, honestly. But the tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rosemary and basil are doing great. The spinach hasn't grown much and the baby peppers are getting eaten, unfortunately. I have more inside that are bigger, but I'm waiting for Richard to help me finish building the guards. The larger peppers had some kind of mushroom growing on the stem. 😳

Inside, we have an issue with gnats. They are so annoying and entirely from the seed starting trays. The mint in there isn't really growing much, and I kind of want to just toss them all outside and be done with it.

The tomatoes are flowerIng both inside and outside. The peppers aren't far behind. 

After dinner, the kids went outside to splash in the small pool and sprinkler, but Richard has only recently filled it and the water was cold. They didn't last too long. Penny opted for an early bedtime so we could play board games beforehand. It was a brutal round of Sorry. 

Oliver has now started describing anything he doesn't want as "not safe" and "dangerous."

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