How does your garden grow?

So the big project for this summer was redoing the landscaping at our new house. I should've taken before pictures so there was more of a comparison, but we got into the mood to rip stuff out and it was done before I could've grabbed the camera. Our moms have been asking how it looks, so I'll post now that it has filled in a bit more.

This was how the garden looked when I first planted it...
This is how it looks now. It did fill in nicely, but it sure took awhile. In this garden I planted a mix of annuals and perennials.

Lilies

Impatiens Clematis

PansiesAnd Dennis's favorite-Begonias

The only bad thing about the landscaping venture is that I am not happy with the front. I'm going to have to rethink that and do some more work there. It looks very sparse and there's not enough color to it. It's one of those ongoing projects I guess.

Our Summer Vacation!

About a month ago we asked our readers to provide us with some suggestions on where to spend a vacation. We appreciated all the responses and there were some really good suggestions. Since we both had about ten days off, we wanted to maximize our vacation time, so we decided to go to three places for vacation: Pittsburgh, PA; Alexandria, VA; and Horseheads, NY. (Be prepared for a lot of pictures).

Our good friends Riz and Tahera currently live in Pittsburgh with their new born son, Arman. So we wanted visit them and meet their new addition.

After spending a few days in Pittsburgh, we continued our vacation on to Alexandria, VA. On the way we made a pit stop in Emmitsburg, MD to the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial. Last year my uncle was honored here, and we were unable to make the trip down to be there, so we made sure to stop since we were in the area. From here we continued on to Alexandria, VA, where we were staying just outside of Washington DC. This was a nice cozy little town on the Potomac River with cobblestone streets, row houses and great restaurants.

We spent two full days in DC exploring our nations capital. This was the first time we had been to DC to take in the sites and learn a little more about US History (the parts we did not get to cover in AP History).

We visited the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial:

The Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool:The World War II Memorial:The United States Capitol Building (from the 6th floor balcony of the Newseum):The Lincoln Memorial:

And of course, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave:

In addition to the monuments, we visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the Newseum. With so many museums and things to do in Washington, DC, we definitely needed more then two days.

To finish up our vacation we headed home....two-fold. We initially did not plan on visiting Horseheads, so we had only arranged a doggy sitter for the duration of our time in Pittsburgh and DC. We drove to from Alexandria, VA (9:15am) to Buffalo, NY (5:30pm) to switch luggage, cars and pick up Molly. We then left Buffalo, NY (6:30pm) to arrive in Horseheads, NY (9:30pm).....What a long day of driving. Right Molly?

While in Horseheads, we spent time with family and friends and of course took in some fireworks on Independence Day.

We had a great vacation from start to finish. We enjoyed spending the time with close friends, new places and family to help us take a break from the reality of life....When is it time for another vacation?