It worked. Those seeds? They grew. Into gorgeous little green shoots. Then the wind kicked them all over our balcony and some snapped and died; others survived. Some were replanted or reborn (not kidding). But the end result is that we have five enormous tomato plants, three green pepper plants, one ghost eggplant, one Brussels sprout and lots and lots of herbs.
I hadn't really considered the fact that each of these plans would produce SO MUCH FOOD so the dilemma quickly became what to do with them all, but fortunately, my family and our neighbors have been gracious enough to help take some off of our hands. Fortunately, Miss D loves her some tomatoes! :)
Now that fall is starting (I'm still mourning the end of summer, for the record...) I have to figure out what gardeners do with these luscious crops once they've stopped producing. Funny how that never occurred to me when I was feverishly planing away in the spring! What a great journey, though. Next year? Fewer tomatoes. More herbs. Cucumbers. Red peppers. More Brussels sprouts. And pretty flowers in baskets hanging from the railing.
Yesterday we discovered a new little "zoo" in the area that was dirt cheap, easily accessible and just right for little ones. This zoo, unlike most, caters toward its youngest patrons and instead of giraffes, elephants and polar bears, it houses mostly farm animals. Plus a few llamas, raccoons and bobcats for good measure. 
The highlight of the day was getting to feed the ducks. For $1, D got to buy a cup of "duck food" and then stand on a little bridge over the pond where the ducks were quacking away hoping to get a bite. D threw one pellet at a time, and counted to three every time. We could have easily been there for several hours had Grandpa not helped to speed the process along a bit! 
