Opposite of exciting

Nothing and everything seems to be going on lately. Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary per se, yet still enough going on each day, y'know? I'd say it's all very humdrum, but I feel like saying so discounts the amazing opportunity I have to spend each summer with him. A few of the things that have gone on lately...

• Last weekend I made (with Rich's help)...drumroll please...108 spam musubi! It took half the day, and nearly an entire 20 lb. bag of rice. Though tedious, this was an honor to do, as it was for one of Ryan's hard working karate sempai (teacher), who we love and adore.
• Thanks to running with V & Y...I've managed to slowly get back into decent running shape. I wasn't running as much because one running friend left for the summer, and another had a work schedule change. But thanks to V (who pushes me out of my comfort zone)...I actually ran 6 out of 7 days last week...a first! I'm still not running fast, long or far (Achilles), but my hope is steadily build back up to longer distances again. 
• Last night Ry attended a friend's charity Uno Tournament and made it to the final round! He didn't win, but the charity he picked to donate his winnings to (if he had won) was the same as the one the winner picked (the Humane Society). So he said he felt like he won! Grateful to have inspirational friends who do good deeds.
• I *finally* opened my clay 'pellets' and uprooted some tomato plants to create my trial (manual, primitive) aquaponics garden. Whether it works or not, I'm thinking that I've at least found a way to create an eco-friendly, nutrient-rich, fertilizer source?

• The rest of the backyard garden is starting to show signs of life again...I see large green tomatoes, tangerines, lilikoi, tiny bell peppers, mountain apple seedlings, cucumber and basil in this corner of the yard.

• And on the opposite side...I spy eggplant, kale, papaya, bananas, avocado and tangelo. But again, I couldn't even feed an anorexic toddler for a week with what I produce, so we have a ways to go before we are producing 10% of our diet (my goal). 
• I'm actually in need of more yard space, I have no more places to plant trees! I can't fit any more trees in the backyard, and I already have two plumeria trees in our front yard. I read that the mountain apple tree can grow up to, oh...fifty feet tall. Give or take ten. (Yikes.) So we'll have to figure out to tame the beast (by leave pinching I suppose?) and wait SEVEN years until it starts to bear fruit.
• Last gardening note, I promise (but remember, I'm 40+, this is the shiz that rocks our world)- my compost pile finally has some real dirt in it! It smells so earthy and green. I have come to enjoy tossing it a few times a week. I marvel at how all the veggie and fruit scraps (and even the compostable take out paper goods) that have 'disappeared' and then gauge the progress of our dirt creation.  In the two short months we've had the pile... I can already see about a half inch of very moist, fertile soil?  
• Ry and I had our first beach day of the summer last week, at a beach we haven't been to in years. Our friend S invited us, and had she not...we still wouldn't have had a beach day this summer! ;-)  I know it seems like the worst possible sin (to not like going to the beach) when you live on a tropical island, so I won't mention that I also don't eat fish and don't like heat. ;-)
• A relatively recent birthday boy used a few of his Target gift cards to get a snow cone machine (a childhood 'must have' when you live in sweltering heat)! I still remember our Snoopy one from the late 70s. 
• And last but not least, we've eased up a bit on the schoolwork the last week and instead had few more playdates...I was feeling like a mean, Asian Tiger mom making him do school work each day, so we skip a few more these days...

So that's it. That's been the 'haps in our 'hood. A little mundane, but I'll gladly take the mundane when mundane means we're healthy, happy, together and (very very, very) well fed. :-D