Venture Patrol Outing

This photo is a bit out of sequence, but it was the best one Mrs. Gentry sent of the kids on the dock and the boat. This is reboarding at Blake Island. Ian has the green backpack on.
Ian and Alex Hildebrand.
I personally love this shot.
A bit of Titanic? (He's never seen it!)

Ian believes he's Captain Jack Sparrow a la Pirates of the Caribbean.

Using the winch to raise the sail.
I like this photo, too.

Dust and Water

Generally these two elements really do not mix well ... they make mud. Today they are highly productive!

One side of the house is covered in a very fine dust as Daryn and Ian set to sanding the back porch, prepping it for stain and water sealant.

The other side of the house has Evyn, Ethan, and Amber scrubbing away at the bug and van. Daryn's first inspection set them on a rescrub. I guess they didn't accomplish what the initially set out to do in the beginning ... get a clean car. More elbow grease is needed to make them sparkle. My guess? He wants them working as hard as he and Ian.

I am plugging away at loads of laundry. Funny how it mysteriously appears in the laundry room, overflowing the color separated baskets. It's almost like the Great Hall at meal time at Hogwarts, when all the food magically appears on the tables from the kitchens below for all the students to eat.

My other project was completing the boys' scout sashes. Today I finished Ian's. All the badges he has earned, save one (which he earned in 2009 - photography) are now sewn onto his sash. I have also put his old rank and troop positions on the back of the sash, as well as some of the other patches he has earned. He wasn't that interested in sporting his popcorn patches, so those have been left off. The back of his sash now only has room for about 3-4 more troop positions and 2 more ranks. The front has room for a handful more, or so, of merit badges. After that, he'll need a new sash. He wanted to have it ready for the next Court of Honor, whenever that will be. The only one he's been able to attend was this past weekend when they had one at Family Camp at Dosewallips State Park. Sadly, our troop doesn't like to do scout things on scout night and like to schedule on different days during the week. However, with all the kids' dance schedules, we take up all the rest of the days of the week. We only allot Monday's for scouts. That means the boys never get their merit badges. It's a tough pill to swallow. Urgh. It's an ongoing battle for me with this troop. I so want them to leave ... but the boys want to stay. And, it's all up to them.

On that note, back to the laundry. Sanding is done for the day. Car washing is done for the day. Funny ... my job never ends!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our blueberries are starting to ripen!
The cabbage hasn't quite formed a head yet.
Corn on the cob! It's not ready to pick yet and we patiently wait for it to ripen.

Evyn gets his braces

Open wide! Mouth is prepped so they can work on drying each tooth and applying the glue. The tube leads to a sucking device which removes his saliva.
Applying the glue.
The bottom brackets were placed in a tray made from the impressions taken the week prior. The technician prepped his teeth and then put the tray on and then sealed the brackets to his teeth. The top ones followed, and then a very thin wire.
Top 10 and bottom 10 teeth now have brackets. Next month he gets spacers and a week later he will get the new herpst appliance. Much smaller than the one Ian had to wear!

Cascade Raspberries - pickin' 'n' jammin'

We went to Good Shepherd Farms at the end of their season to pick their glorious Cascade Raspberries. These berries are huge, fantastically flavorful, and, here's the bonus ... THORNLESS!
Amber reaching into the middle of the thicket to get a clump of berries. I was on the other side!
Mom was filling up baskets pretty quickly. She also admitted to tasting a couple berries. Yum!
Evyn down the middle of a couple rows.
Grandpa was off by himself down a couple rows away from the family. I had to search for him to get his photo.
Ethan displays half of what we've picked.
Our total amount of berries. It only took us about 15 minutes (maybe less?) to pick all of these. We really weren't at the farm very long. Would have loved to have picked more. We didn't get any berries last year. Next year we hope to go earlier in the season, and then again at the end.
Ian and Grandma ... still picking! You can never have TOO many berries for jamming!
This is the size of these wonderful berries.
Ian begins the washing process ...

Then comes the crushing ...
Followed by the measuring ... meticulous measuring ... for jam the measurements have to be pretty darn close to exact. We measure out the first bowl of sugar very carefully, and then we weigh it. Every batch after that, we weigh the sugar to get the same amount. Much quicker.
Measuring out the crushed berries.
Daryn doing his jamming magic ... about to add the pectin.
Our final results! Yum!