It's (Still) Earth Day

Orlando finally hosted it's Earth Day celebration yesterday at Lake Eola, and we stopped by for a few hours in the morning. How I wish we could have spent more time there - so many wonderful things to see! As usual, Noah went prowling for a new plant to bring home - and as a result, I have to figure out how to grow corn. Ava was thrilled to get her face painted and sample the Italian ice.

As for me, I walked around collecting ideas for things I want to build - which of course, really means "things I want Jim to build". Although I'm still waiting on my compost tumbler, I already have my heart set on some cool hydroponic growing systems and a rainwater collection barrel. At least we'll know how to do it when the time is right. It would make a great Mother's Day gift, don't you think?

We also found out about the Audubon Park Community Market, a Wednesday night community event that features incredible vegan food and local vendors selling earth-friendly products. The kids enjoyed a demonstration of how trash and oil ends up in our lakes and rivers and had great ideas on what we can do to prevent this. Finally, we stopped at the Food Not Bombs bake sale for a treat on the way out, reminding us that we want to look into volunteering some time with this great organization that serves vegan meals to the homeless twice a week.

It was quite a full morning, but I left feeling like we didn't see the half of it. Next year, we'll definitely plan an all-day outing!