Happenings in our yard

Today as I walked out to move the sprinkler I noticed a beautiful butterfly on our abelia shrubs. I think it is similar to what our butterfly will look like once it emerges from its cocoon. I had a hard time getting close to it since it would fly off every time I moved. As I was doing that I looked down and Oscar P. looked so cute next to the flowers I had to take his picture too. He's still recovering from his double cryptorchid neuter. He'll get his stitches out on Friday so until then we're trying to get him to take it easy.

Oscar P.

We have a cocoon!

Overnight our black swallowtail caterpillar spun his cocoon. Grant is enjoying watching the transformations. We will hope for a beautiful butterfly soon. I'll post the pictures if it happens.

Our Garden

Our Okra is finally producing. You can see the beautiful bloom and new okra growing. Our cantaloupe continue to grow along with the watermelon, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and peppers.

Okra bloom

Okra almost ready to pick

Cantaloupe

A caterpillar from our garden

Today Grant and I found a strange looking caterpillar in our garden eating parsley. We put him in Grant's net to view. After doing some looking we discovered he is a black swallowtail (papilio polyxenes). It's actually a really pretty butterfly as you can see below. We are going to see if he will spin a cocoon. Young black swallowtail caterpillars are black with a whitish saddle but these quickly transform into smooth green caterpillars with bands of black with yellow spots. Also known as the parsley caterpillar, it has a preference for plants of the parsley family, including Queen Anne's lace, carrot, parsley, dill, and celery.

Grant and his new goggles

Grant loves to wear his new goggles. They are a little big but hold the water out much better. He's really getting good at swimming. I think he's already better than me. His Dad is a great teacher.

Grant 3 years old

Weekend at the Gaylord Texan

We had a great weekend in Grapevine at the Gaylord Texan Hotel. Baxter Chemical was there for a tradeshow but it wasn't all work. We found time to play at the Gaylord, Grapevine Mills Mall, Rainforest Cafe, and Grapevine Lake.

View of Gaylord atrium from our room.

Grant and me on a Carousel at Grapevine mall

Grant eating pizza at the Rainforest Cafe

with a personalized airplane balloon hat
Grant at the Gaylord.

"Oscar P. and Me"

Our puppy, now almost dog, is a character just like Grant. Grant and Oscar P. both enjoy running through the "pinkler" on these 100+ degree days we've been having. Oscar also loves to ride in the back of Grant's wagon on his tractor. That suits Grant just fine.

Oscar P. and his favorite bucket

Potty Time

We are going through the difficult potty training stage. I thought we would be through this by now, but with school approaching quickly we are going to full force potty mode. Grant is now going completely naked on most days around the house. This is the one way I've found to get him to use the potty. Last night I put "big boy" underwear on after a successful day of using the potty. After just 15 minutes Grant has already had a big accident all over the guest bed and floor. He's back to no clothes on today.

Grant loves the water

Grant loves the water. He took two weeks of swim lessons and thinks he can swim on his own now. Sometimes he wears his goggles in the bathtub and John likes to throw him in the air. Grant can actually get dive toys off the bottom of the pool and swim for short distances with no life jacket on. His favorite thing is jumping in the water.