Como Conservatory

I LOVE the Como Zoo & Conservatory in the winter time. Especially the Conservatory.

I love the plants, the flower show they have, the humidity levels. The smell of the Spice room. It's amazing. And such a reprieve from the snow and cold outside. 

Last year we saw mini pumpkins on a stick and so even though I don't have a green house, I put them in pots and the plants are growing - slowly but surely! This year the marigolds and chrysanthemums are GORGEOUS. I really like these Fireball Marigolds and I may have to hunt down some seeds!

So many mums to look at.

And ornamental cabbages and kales. 

And houseplants. And aloes. And everything.

 

Dog Wash Is In Use

It's officially winter. The boots are in use. Snow is on the ground!

 

Addition is Almost Done

Half the trim was installed yesterday. Today the plumbers and electricians are here. Siding was dropped off in the driveway yesterday and so they should be here today. 

No more window above my kitchen sink! Although now our kitchen looks super crappy compared to the new portion. At some point we'll have to do something about it. I really want an undermount sink to be able to scrub and clean really well but also - I'm in love with butcher block, with an undermount sink that might not be possible because I really don't want mold or water damage. I may have to do some research and figure out something new to dream about. 

I still need to touch up some stain on the shelf and add a coat of polycrylic to prevent water damage and save the stain. And then do trim touch ups and fill in some nail holes. I still need to do some detail touch up in the basement from last year so I'm just going to do it all at the same time. With the kids in school, I can plan to dedicate a day to just doing this so I'm pretty excited.

We're so close to done! I'm so happy!

 

Halloween Haul

Originally we all had costumes from Jurassic Park. Alan Grant, Ellie Satler (me), and 2 dinos - the kids. I decided to make the most of all of our costumes and so I signed us up for a Halloween Party at our local nature center. About a 1/3 of the way into the night, Simone was like "OH HELL NO. I CAN'T SEE TO WALK" and so her costume came off. Her face didn't stick out like Quentin's did and she just couldn't see through the plastic window and we decided to scrap the dino costume for her. And we really try to do family costumes but this year just didn't come all the way through.

Phil even joined in as the sacrificial lamb. Led on a leash. I wish we could have had a cage drop like in the movie but we weren't quite prepared. HA. 

And this was only half the candy! I can't believe that the younger kids went further than the older ones. They had so much fun. It was a great Halloween this year!