Andy, Goobers, and I had a great weekend relaxing at home on a RARE sunny Fourth of July in Seattle. We ate yummy Cuban sandwiches at the beachside stand Paseo and then visited the Phinney Ridge Farmer’s Market. We bought 2 flats of berries and should be set on pies, muffins, and pancake toppings until next summer!

Andy raised the flag on our front porch. We often forget to do this (like on Flag Day), so we were darn proud of ourselves for remembering.

We were finally able to enjoy our new backyard! And I think my little container garden may actually make it!

I was excited to start using the mint in some of my favorite drinks, and I made a caprese salad with our basil. I felt incredibly capable and cool, even though I know that if I lived on a Depression-era farm with only my gardening skills to feed us, we would starve!

Andy enjoyed the view from the patio:

Goobers enjoyed the sun in the backyard. We were airing out the duvet in anticipation of my birthday gift (which I knew about, having made Andy take pictures of it at Crate and Barrel with a list of what sizes to get!) and Goobers did a good job of not getting on it. Instead he sat right next to it, inching closer to it through out the day!

It was time to open the much-anticipated, not- surprising birthday gift!

Andy shucked fresh oysters and I enjoyed them in the hammock with some champagne!

Then it was time to downshift from fancy to patriotic– brats and beer! Andy mistakenly tried to grill ALL of the hotdogs present!

We enjoyed our food while watching, appropriately, Yankee Doodle Dandy. And then it was time for cake! My favorite– Mint Chocolate Chip cake from Baskin Robbins. 

Jeanne and Nathan came up for the weekend to visit the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum’s exhibit of the muppets. We had a great time, but alas, we couldn’t take pictures inside.

We had a little too much fun in the Science Fiction Museum’s gift shop. I will admit that we bought a Yoda car freshner, but resisted the Star Wars paper dolls. Just barely.

As it was two days after the death of Michael Jackson, it was neat to see how EMP was honoring him, with sidewalk chalk memorials, banners to sign, music videos playing, and a glass case with one of his famous white gloves in it (I didn’t take a picture, it felt weird. But it was cool to see.).

We had been around a lot of people, so after a Starbucks run, we headed out to the Ballard Locks to enjoy the sun, the park, and watch the boats go by. We were thrilled to see a seal catching fish and an otter playing in the water.

We were about done oohing and aahing at the yachts going through the locks when a huge research vessel (Atlantis) came in, complete with a submarine  named Alvin on the back. Jeanne later found out that it had been out researching underwater volcanoes and that it had also been to the Titanic wreckage.

It had been a busy day, so we stopped by our favorite neighborhood watering hole, Oliver’s Twist, for their killer garlic truffled popcorn, and then headed home for Nathan’s famous grilled cheese sandwiches. I was lucky enough to also get a Monte Cristo, my favorite sandwich in the world. Nathan thoughtfully provided appropriate head gear, which we decorated.

Goobers, as usual, was Nathan’s special helper.

We’ve had our little blog now for 2 years, so I decided to pick another theme in honor of the occasion. While these days our blog is more about our yard and less about amazing trips around the world, we know why you’re really here… pictures of Goobers!

As I write this, our lovely landscapers are planting the shrubs and flowers into the flower beds at the lawn perimeter, which is the last thing that needs to be done to the yard! We are excited to get out there and enjoy it.

Last week the rest of the fence, a new gate, and an arbor went in.

We also had our front door finished– we had a new door installed about a year ago, and being that our house is old and nothing is standard, they had to hack into both our walls and our deck to get the door in.

Perhaps there is hope in the black thumb department?

The area underneath our porch now looks like the underneath porch area of 2 young Seattle professionals, rather than a redneck backyard:

Our upper backyard:

Lower backyard:

The rest of the fence, the gate, and a new arbor go in this week, along with the first of the plants around the yard. We estimate two more weeks until it is done– just in time for Jeanne and Nathan (Treasure’s sister and brother-in-law) to come up and inaugurate the first outdoor gathering on the new lawn!

Amidst the outdoor chaos, we also had our bathtub and shower regrouted. It had been a disaster when we first moved in and Andy had valiantly tried to stave off the crumbling grout and mildewing caulk to moderate, albeit messy, success. We realized that we are good with technology and literacy and general planning, but that like landscaping, grouting is not our strong suit. So this was well worth the money to pay someone else:

While the new backyard install is going swimmingly, my attempts at gardening are going less than stellar.

Proof that we need to pay other people to do our landscaping. Our front yard:

The rhodies that I do absolutely nothing for are doing great:

My lone success in the potted plant area (but no blossoms yet):

The other “results”:

Slowly dying transplanted rosemary :

5 weeks without any mint sprouts:

Every day something new is appearing (or disappearing!) in our back yard.

We appreciate how hard our landscapers have been working:

No fence or gate!

Lovely lawn:

Our new stone path showed up in one day!

Goobers is anxious for the fence to go in so he can play in the yard again:

We have owned and lived in our house for 3 years now– 3 years of jenky doorknobs, custom door frames, 3 a.m. grout projects, an expensive “free” dishwasher, and a yard that began to resemble a jungle. It has been an adventure with a steep learning curve for us first time home owners, but we still love our house that has become our home.

The day before the sod was due to arrive, we had a thunder storm, resulting in a mud hole for a backyard:

Magically, the next day was warm and sunny and the sod was able to go in. We came home to insta-lawn!

Goobers has made the world a better place for 3 years now. We celebrated with our usual cottage cheese cake and a new toy. I also updated the Goobers page on the blog, so feel free to click on the Goobers tab at the top and enjoy our pictures.