Water, water everywhere

We've been thinking about building an ark out here. It has rained steadily for about two weeks, and although we keep trying to be glad that our risk of forest fires later in the summer is now low, it doesn't make up for the late, late start to summer we're really suffering from.

Today we got a glimpse of sunshine, and decided to head outside. Clara asked Christina to pick out her clothes; Elena came up with this ensemble:

The first thing the girls saw when they went outside was this cast iron kitchen set. Christina had unloaded it from the car when a dear friend (Jan) gave it to her, and forgot to take it inside. So, when the girls asked "What is it??" and she answered a kitchen, it didn't seem sufficient. So she added that perhaps gnomes had left it there after cooking last night, and the girls thought that was fantastic. A gnome is likely in our future now.

He's going to have to fight the girls for cooking rights, though -this set is too much fun!

After cooking on the mini-stove, we went to check out the garden. Everything but the onions are pretty slow moving in the vegetable section, but the flower section is taking right off. Favorites at the moment are the columbine:

And also the peonies, which are about to bloom. Christina planted these to honor her grandmother, who grew them beautifully - we are now up to three varieties in the garden.

Help, please! These are our mystery volunteers of the season - are these watermelon? Zucchini? Cucumbers? We've got dozens, and don't know whether to transplant them or put them back in the composter.

Even though the two weeks of rain have left everything decidedly watered outside, the girls still love the job of watering things. So, we took some time this morning to do a little extra watering.

Then, Elena and Clara decided it was time for some puddle jumping.

We were on our way back inside to dry off when we spotted this little guy:

We decided to bring him to the garden, where we figured he'd be happier than on concrete (so says Christina) and to find "hers Mommy and hers Daddy" (says Clara).

In-progress shot of the Mother's Day plants aptly named Elena and Clara. The Elena plant blooms beautifully (and with such unique blossoms!) and the Clara plant is holding off on showing off any color yet and is focusing on pretty foliage.