Memorial Day Weekend

Not too much going on over Memorial Day weekend this year.  On Saturday morning I did some overtime then we spent a couple of hours getting the last of our plants in the ground.  Now we are done with that phase and will be barking the yard in the coming weeks.  I'm excited to see it all done with the flowers blooming!  On Sunday we drove down to Olympia to go to our favorite Asian market, but it was closed!  We then drove downtown and noticed that Saigon Rendezvous was open, so we stopped for takeout.  Unfortunately, the restaurant had changed hands so the food was different than we remembered, but it was still pretty good.  We stopped in Tacoma on our way home and spent some time with Corey & Terrell eating and playing cards.  It was really nice to see them.   It rained all day Monday so we stayed inside reading and lounging around.  Nothing too exciting, but the extra day off was great and we felt well rested.

In downtown Olympia

 

The new flowers we planted.

Welcome Bertie!

So what do you do to beat the heat on the hottest day so far this year?  You go to a car dealership, of course.  I must say buying a car during the pandemic is pretty lame with all the social distancing and mask wearing, but at least we got a good deal and now Gabby has a cool new ride.  Say hello to Robert de Niro aka Bertie.  Get it? It's a Kia Niro?  Haha.

Yard Work

With the quarantine keeping us home and with not much else to do Scott & I have been working on our yard the past few weeks.  When we moved to our house I hadn't planned on doing much in regards to planting, but the plants that the landscapers put in were really ugly.  I think we've taken out everything they planted other than two trees and three rhododendrons which may also be gone soon as they are not liking being in the front of our south facing house with no shade.  We have put in several roses and lots of perennials that are supposed to attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies.  Our ground is basically rocks and clay, so digging holes requires too much work to have to do it every year, so annuals were just a passing thought.  I am excited to see what the yard will look like once all the flowers start blooming.  Here are some pics of our yard; it's starting to fill in a bit.  I also took pictures of the flower tags for reference.

We have that big bare area because it's in front of our gate.  I think we may put down some paving stones to fill it in. 

There are tons of these in our neighborhood and they are so beautiful in the spring when they're bright yellow! I'm excited to see mine next year!

I love butterfly bush, but it can get huge.  This one only grows to 2.5 feet.

Gabby picked out this one.  I love how it's speckled a bit.

My first rose bloom of the season!  This is a new rose that I just purchased...Cream Veranda.

Sorry! these are sideways...

Hike at Federation Forest

Today Scott, Gabby & I headed to Federation Forest State Park for a little hike.  Corey and I came HERE for the first time almost a year ago.  The Governor finally reopened the state parks so we decided to take the day off & take advantage of the weather and possibly less crowds since it is a Friday.  I guess we weren't the only ones with this idea as we ran into a lot more people than we anticipated.  I'm still glad we went, though.  It was nice to get out for a drive & a walk through the woods.  Nothing else quite like it to soothe the boredom & stress of quarantine life.  We saw lots of pretty blooms.  The trail was a little muddy in parts, but overall it was in good shape.  We are looking forward to getting in a few more hikes this summer!

Guess you still gotta wear your mask if you hug a tree...darn coronavirus germs!