According to taste

“Dash out to the garden and grab me about six basil leaves, please,” I tell Thing One.

“I don’t know which one is basil,” Thing One laughs.

Remembering that Thing Three used to munch basil leaves through the fence in the garden when he could just stand, I corral him.

“Please go get me six basil leaves.”

“Which one is basil?”

“It has long green leaves and tiny white flowers.”

Not quite. 

RIP Zinnia

Thing One laughs again. “Even I know that’s not basil!”

We did get everything straightened out and now basil has been determined so my zinnias may grow in peace. 

 

Tino’s tour of foods

Um, to quote Tantor from 'Tarzan'... "looks questionable to me." 

Are you sure airport sushi is wise?

Creme brulee! Now we're talkin'! 

(Totally separate occasion. Not at an airport. Might have been in London.)

I've never had a toast trolley before. Adorable!

Tino and his brownies. Tsk. Good thing we hiked all over!

I've also never had a veggie palm tree before. 

Lots and lots of lovely coffees, at cafes, in airports, everywhere.

Garfield's favorite, lasagna. No haggis for this guy!

Awaiting fish n chips in London, above

Holy moly, there they are and they put them on a sandwich!

Okay, this story is fantastic. I'd been having small breakfasts and running around all day while Dada was doing his training. And since we didn't meet the rest of the crew for dinner until 7pm, that's a lot of time to get into Shenanigans. On Wednesday, I didn't have a specific destination in mind, having already done Stirling Castle and the William Wallace Monument and therefore declared it a shopping day. I wandered around Stirling, scouting coffee and tea for a friend, perusing all the tartans, and so on. I realized I was getting hungry and knew dinner wasn't until late. As I was headed uphill, again, I spied a tiny little shoppe with a sandwich board outside that said, "waffles and ice cream" and I thought YES!!!!! 

So there I go, zooming into this adorable little shoppe where I ask, "do you still have waffles? With ice cream?" She smiles at me and asks, "Nutella? Or Biscoff?" "WhooHOOOOOO Biscoff! YAY!" One of the guys in the shoppe cracks up and says, "I LOVE Biscoff!" So there's me, outside, at a tiny table which is tilted because everything is on a hill, waiting with my fork and my knife for my waffles and ice cream and Biscoff, whilst everyone to my left downhill at the pub has their own little tilted tables of pints and what-have-you. 

I had WAY more fun that they did. Yummmmmmm. I ate every single bite and Tino may or may not have licked the plate.

In London on Saturday, Dada and I got to hit a farmers' market and we bought some tasty looking berries. You guys, these were the most flavorful berries either of us have ever had. I don't know where they grow them, but they tasted of Heaven itself. So juicy and plump and perfect- not an icky one in either box!

 There was plenty more food than that, but if you're ever in Stirling, I can recommend heartily: Brea's, Port Cullis, Mamma Mia's, Hermann's, and Gloria's for the waffles, ice cream and Biscoff!

Check out this fun little bug!

He's so cute! According to my bug ID app, he's an Ailanthus webworm moth, a species of Ermine moths. He looks like he was wallpapered!

 

Again with the gazebo (and other stories)

I am a big fan of looking at photos on the internet, and it has gotten me into trouble at least twice. I enjoy perusing PetFinder, checking out who is waiting for adoption in our area, where all the Newfies are, look at this cute bulldog, oh my gosh, looook! 

You'd swear I'd know better if you've met our two galoots. 

Anyway, I also enjoy looking at houses for sale on Realtor.com. Not regularly, not with real intentions to buy or anything, but just to see what's out there. This time it actually got us to a showing, and there was... A GAZEBO! 

Remember, according to our Munchkin game, "you must face the Gazebo ALONE."

That Gazebo doesn't stand a chance. 

It was an adorable house, I promptly fell in love and was informed we would not be living there. Eh, moving on. In my mind, I've moved my best friend in instead as it has all the special little touches she adores- built in shelves and drawers, window seats, an honest to goodness glassed-in sunroom!

Like I said, moving on. 

So. We've done some of this:

And some of this. Both of this: the sleeping AND the pizza consuming. Pizza boxes make excellent firestarters if you're wondering why the heck we have a stack of them by the fireplace. Especially as you're not supposed to recycle them unless they're clean and I rarely come across clean pizza boxes so, they hang out until it's time for a fire. We're classy like that.

We went to a Mud Hens game on the 4th of July. The boys went for the game whilst I can't get enough fireworks and there were fireworks scheduled for afterwards and boy, when they say fireworks, THEY MEAN IT. They lit them right from the field so it was practically in your lap and WOW, it was a tremendous display. Highly recommend. Six thumbs up. Especially the huge popcorn-y ones that sound like hail hitting a window. Loved it. There was also a hot dog buffet with chips and cans of pop and cookies, but the fireworks- whoo! 

It was pretty bright and nice and hot for a loooong time, too!

Another summer tradition of ours is to meet up with our friends, the Caves family. They camp around the US in the summer and squeeze us in for an ice cream date whenever they pass thisaway during their travels. This time they were headed to Indiana. Usually we catch them as their last stop before home.

 It looks like she's praying over him, but they were actually playing Duck, Duck, Goose, haha. It was fun to watch because our Thing Two could take about two steps and be on the other side of their circle, but they had a good time anyway. It's fun to see them year after year. This time they were especially excited because they're getting a dog next week. Safe travels and good luck with the new family addition, friends! 

Road trip!

Apologies as this is also not the Scotland post, but as I'm trying to blog photos so I can get them off my phone, you're stuck with it, haha. 

Thing Three finished school May 31 and as soon as he got home, we popped him into the car with Dada, Thing Two, and myself because Thing One had to work and relished the idea of staying home, watching the dogs, holding down the fort, etc. 

First things first, for a road trip you need some essentials; your GPS/map/atlas, your water bottles, "Road Trip Chips" which are Pringles- specifically the Sour Cream and Onion ones though I also grabbed a canister of cheesy ones- and a jar of Goober or imitation goober. You know the stuff- it has both jelly and peanut butter in stripes in the same jar. Grab a bag of buns and a plastic knife and you're all set for quicker rest stops and easy car food to stuff into your face, thus spending less money on vending machines or fast food. Unless you're Liam, who refuses to eat Goober because he insists you don't stir it. In which case it utterly destroys your bread by being unspreadable. Anyway...

I SWEAR we are all turning into Star Trek's Borg. Everybody wears ear buds anymore/anywhere, but I have to say that they do cut down on the backseat squabbles.

We stayed that first night in Lexington, KY because that was about halfway to where we were headed in Georgia. One of Dada's friends recommended the hotel area and we heard good things about the Double Dogs restaurant so we checked it out and gave it 8 thumbs up. We especially liked the "sit, stay, eat" motto. And that dogs were welcome!

 

This is Mr. Darcy, who became one of our bestest buddies almost instantly. Yes, I took multiple photos of him as well but will spare you from his irresistible cuteness overload.

We made it safely to our destination on June 1 and were welcomed with open arms by our friends whom we hadn't seen since 2016 or 2017. Their two biggest kids were both off in separate states with summer jobs, so we had the stair steps of our Thing Two, their Thing Three, their Thing Four, and our Thing Three, haha. They all got along really well and Damon missed them sorely once we were back home.

We did a bit of running around, seeing sights, eating ice cream, goofing off as well as time in their pool and on their porch. Their property is gorgeous and we had so much fun catching up.

Even saw my first Summer Tanager, who was attacking a wasp nest just under this railing. Brave little birdie!

This Honeybee Festival even featured a country music concert, which, as you can see from Liam's face, was absolutely right up his alley. He is my child. It was a fun evening of meandering around and checking out wares anyhow. 

We also took a trip into Chattanooga for more eating and sight seeing and general Shenaniganery. 

Bridge over the Tennessee River. I apologize that I don't know which bridge it is, but it isn't far from the Tennessee Aquarium.

We went to the Yellow Deli in Chattanooga and all eight of us had amazing meals. Everyone was completely delighted with the food, the decor, the breezy outside porch, all of it. Definitely check it out if you are in Chattagnooga! You can learn more about it here (and it will open in a new window.) Liam ordered Belgian waffles and when I looked over, he had demolished it. LIAM! The world's slowest eater. He ordered another round!

Our friends took us to Walker Rocks which immediately felt like camp. We had a wonderful hike and I, of course, took bajillions of pictures. I'll share only a few, I promise. 

Because everyone needs a photo of a dead armadillo. It's the only one I've come across in the wild. Sad.

My first Georgia flat-backed millipede. I have a bug ID app!

And the Damonater is now a full-fledged teenager, turning 13 whilst we were in Georgia. So more ice cream and cake. And someone learned a valuable lesson: don't eat an entire bag of blue Taquis in a single sitting. 

We were so sad to leave and hope very much that it isn't another 6+ years before we see them again! Made it home safe on the 6th in time to unpack, do laundry, repack, prep the kids and house for our Scotland trip. We left June 8. 

To be continued!