Escape from Fern Island!

We did it! We conquered Fern Island! What is Fern Island, you ask? The correct question is what WAS Fern Island! The answer? A horrid patch of ferns on the side of our house. Overgrown, ugly, annoying. Ferns choking on ferns. We started the process of digging out the ferns last fall and learned that not only was this patch of land full of ferns, but also rocks. Rocks as big as a foot across. Small rocks. Rocks, rocks, and rocks. We made some progress last fall, and this spring, we've been digging out a bit each weekend. This weekend we really put our minds and shovels to the project, and it's done! Dug out, soil turned with peat moss and compost and top soil. Replanted, mulched, and even bordered with the aforementioned rocks. We're very proud of ourselves.

BEFORE:
AFTER:
And look, we haven't killed the plants from our Victory Garden project!
And, we planted our vegetable garden this weekend. Hopefully this is the before shot that we can later compare with a bountiful harvest. We planted tomatoes, melons, beans, cucumbers for pickling, radishes, lettuce, and spinach.
More excitement for the weekend included a 4th birthday party for Charlie's friend Kali, and a trip to our new Whole Foods. I know that a trip to the grocery should not be very exciting, but it's within walking distance to our house, and it felt almost urban to load Charlie in the stroller and walk to the store and then grab a coffee before heading home with our groceries. It's the type of trip that we've been missing since our move to the 'burbs.

Big Wheel riding, pizza, and cupcake decorating at the birthday party:
Charlie is decked out in her shades for the walk to Whole Foods: