Remember those bushels of tomatoes I joked about?

Yeah, I laughed when I mentioned having to give away bushels of tomatoes.  I laugh no more.

We've got three (THREE!) tomato plants and they all seem to be doing *very* well.

This is one section of the huge tomato corner of the yard.  

In addition to the "regular sized" tomatoes, there are two other plants with cherry tomatoes that are flourishing (and so heavy that I think they will crush the wire thing they are growing around... seriously.)

Here's a close up of the grapes.  Now imagine this spanning about 6 feet tall and about
15 feet wide (if not more!) and you'll have an idea of how it looks.

This is the pumpkin plant that seems to have outgrown the garden.  

And it's taking over the back of the yard.  There's also a vine growing toward the fence with the grapes. 

I hope our neighbor, Max, thinks it's super cool to have our pumpkins growing in his yard. 

Here it is again from a different view. You can see the grapes on the left and the vine growing into them.
(Just ignore the mini van on the right.  I don't think we should move it just now as the pumpkins have attached their little vines to the bumper.  Note to self: Move the van away from the pumpkins next year.)

Here's an *actual* pumpkin.  Who knew we would actually be successful in growing them!  This pumpkin also just happens to be growing on the vine currently attempting to reach the other side of the yard.  I posted those pictures above.   John's currently mowing around the vine.

And here's a more obedient vine, growing inside of the garden.  

It looks like we'll have a pumpkin on this one too!

Here's the watermelon plant.   And a real, live, actual WATERMELON is growing!  This was a shocker.  

I can't wait to see how this tastes!

Here's the watermelon again.  Same one, looks like we've only got one so far but it's lookin' good!

I love, love, LOVE my cucumber plant.  It's growing so well; I think I've already gotten 10 cucumbers off of it... and it seems like there are more to pick each day.  There's one ready to eat showing at the bottom of this picture.  Yum

Just a funny shape for the cucumber.

And finally, my pepper plant. 

These have been really good on tacos.  

Unfortunately, I'm not really into cooking with peppers but I've been able to give some away.  I don't know why I grew this plant... I guess I wanted something I wouldn't be too disappointed about if it didn't work.  I did *not* need to worry.

So that's it.  The quick recap.  I think we'll end up harvesting tons of tomatoes this week alone - John's already been pulling cherry tomatos and he and Katie eat them up quickly.  I'm more excited about my cucumbers and that watermelon!  And if we can get two pumpkins, I'll be thrilled... the kids can decorate them for Halloween and we won't have to buy any.

On another note, I think Katie has a hearing problem.  Her talking voice and her yelling voice are strangely similar.

On yet another note, I just pulled out the brand new package of mint chocolate chip ice cream I bought today (the only flavor I really like, all others are merely tolerated) and opened it up.  And then stared at it because it didn't look like mint chocolate chip... Sure it was mint green but someone had played a horrible joke.  Someone had switched it for mint chocolate COOKIE.  This was not funny.  

I know I tossed it into my cart and I realize that the ice cream maker isn't required to include a disclaimer, although something along these lines (which would have been helpful in bolded, red font... underlined) would have been helpful:

 *This is not mint chocolate CHIP.  It's the evil cousin of mint chocolate chip.  Do not buy this if you're expecting minty chocolaty crunch, because you will not get it here*

Because if they had included this disclaimer instead of relying on me to, ahem, more carefully read the flavor name on the container, I would not have bought it.   I would have stayed true to my mint chocolate chip goodness and not turned to the dark side.  Because I'm eating it as I type... and I'm thinking that *maybe* I could *start* buying two ice cream flavors...  Because *maybe* mint chocolate cookie isn't evil.

Maybe it's just... misunderstood.

Katie goes to the Dentist with Much Objection. (To put it lightly. Like, the lightness of a feather as opposed to the not lightness of a very heavy, very dense rock. A rock surrounded by cement and further weighted down with chains...)

So the last time we talked, I went on and on about our Farmer's Market field trip.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Katie had decided that she didn't want to walk anymore.  She got down and sat on the ground.  *Cringe*  She got up pretty quickly when I told her that people pee on the sidewalk downtown.  It's (probably) not true but it got her moving.

She still managed to pull out a smile for me...

We were all pretty tired by this point.

And after posting about the walking and the eating and the shopping, I was tired out and I just couldn't bring myself to rehash the terror that was Katie's dentist appointment.

But it's time.  I'm ready...

So, we were leaving grammy and grampy's house and I jumped the gun.

I made the mistake of telling Katie that she was going to get to go to the dentist (!!!) right now! and how exciting is that!?  In retrospect I maybe should have waited till we were in the parking lot of the dentist office and I should have distracted her with something shiny and maybe some candy so she wouldn't see any teeth related pictures there.  But I didn't.

In my defense, I figured I was golden.  I figured that since Katie had listened to Donovan tell her about his dentist visits - he's 5 and has already been to the dentist more than once! - and she seemed interested, and when I asked her if she thought she would like to go to the dentist, she said yes, that there was nothing to be worried about.  (And I was a little relieved she seemed so okay with this when Donovan was talking about it because, well, um... I had already scheduled an appointment for her a couple of weeks ago.)

Turns out that Katie was not interested in coming within a million feet of a dentist office.

She started to cry.  And scream.  And yell at me.  The Whole.Way.There.  At least 20 minutes of non-stop, ear-splitting shrieks and screams.

It was not a stellar experience.

At one point she even said she didn't want to go to the dentist, she would go to the doctor instead.  (Totally shocked me.  She never wants to go to the doctor either but she's got good reason... shots and strep tests and more shots are never fun for kids.  But no reason to be afraid of the dentist!  She's gone with me and her grandma and been fine watching everyone.)

We finally got there and I had to carry her in.  Gave her name to the receptionist over the sound of her cries and sat down in a far corner of the waiting room.  (Not that it spared anyone from hearing her.)

The dental hygienist came in and sat down next to us.  Katie cried some more.  The hygienist was really nice but no match for a 4-year-old's fears.  We did go into the room and she was able to count Katie's teeth while Katie sat on my lap, but no cleaning took place.  Katie still scored a new toothbrush, floss (that will end up in mommy's bathroom drawer - it was good stuff!), and a sticker.  And she didn't even have to get her teeth cleaned for it all!

We headed home.  Me with a sigh of regret that I'll need to take more time off of work to take her back (after today's reaction I would much rather be at work than at the dentist) and Katie with her loot.  And my assurance that we wouldn't go back for "a whole week"*.

* For Katie, "a whole week" can mean an hour from now, a month from now, or a year from now.  I'm not sure if she realizes that we do, indeed, need to get this done.  I don't think she'll be ready even if we did wait a year.  *Sigh*

Next up?  Jake's well check where I'm sure there will be shots.  Arg.