Making Strawberry Jam

Yesterday I made strawberry jam with two friends from church. Katie grew up in Iowa on a ranch and her family did pickling and preserving a lot. She used her family recipe with Jen and I to teach us their family's technique.



We picked the strawberries that morning. Of course it thunderstormed 2 minutes after we got into the field so it wasn't as leisurely as we had expected. We all got soaking wet and returned to Katie's house for coffee:)



This farm is located in the PUNGO area of VABeach. It is all family run.




Our strawberries :) Fresh off the vine.




Little Maya thoroughly enjoying the fresh jam in a PB&J sandwich.




Some of the jam... We made about 30 jars total. Most were 8oz cans, and some were smaller.

Germany!

My visit to Germany was really great. It wasn't a cultural visit - as in not for sight-seeing - but rather to visit family. We did road trip to Nurenburg, and went to a monastery, and a working organic farm. It was awesome to wake up every morning and have coffee and conversations with Diane, play in the yard with the kids, bike riding around Ansbach, help give baths and read books for bed, and then stay up and have a beer with Diane and Scott. During the day, the kids were at school - with the exception of John - and Scott was at work. Diane and I planned in the morning and executing in the afternoon. We played "Furniture Chess" a LOT. Furniture Chess is when you move the furtiture from one room into a holding-zone room, move furniture from another room into the holding zone, and then rotate it all... The house was so clean and organized before I got there and then I trashed it! hah. But i did try to put it back together before I left. We redid the kitchen nook from a non-functional desk into a fully functional home office. We organized the dinning room so it looks like it's a picture from a magazine. We converted the sunroom/office into a music and craft room. We planned and bought supplies for the beadboard staircase. We weren't very good at taking before-and-after pictures, but here are some...

Photo shoot in the car

Nathan was first


John was in the mix



Connor post baseball, sporting the layering technique.



Tristan sporting the Iron Man glasses



Monastary that's been brewing it's own beer for over 500 years.



Bio-organic cow that thought I tasted good.


Diane interviewing Luzi for potential additions to the family :)


This is the office nook post development, it is missing the computer which moved in later, and needs to be cleared, but before this area held a cabinet with some food in it... It wasn't used a lot because it's so far from the main body of the kitchen. this way the Hamiltons will have a place to do bills, photography editing, and homework.



Imagine it with drawers and the doors closed, and it's meant for a magazine cover. The piece used to be green, but diane and i painted it and "destressed" it by yelling at it, ;)



The shrine to polish pottery. This is the before. We emptied it and organized it. It's much better now..

Leavin' on a Jet plane

Well, i'm all checked in for my flight tomorrow morning! It's scary how much you can do online nowadays. I know I've probably over packed but it's better to feel prepared. This will be the first time I'm traveling internationally all by myself.

This past weekend Dave and I drove up to Arlington for my Dad's birthday. We had an excellent dinner with my dad and my mom at the Melting Pot followed by Irish coffee out on the deck. Slider had his first sleep over - Doolin was very upset his playmate didn't come. Slider stayed at Greg and Becca's. Apparently he was a pretty good house guest. On Saturday Dave and I drove down to Richmond to go to the Richmond NASCAR race. We had a really good time tailgating and grilling out. Matt Dominick even brought his entire grill and made kabobs and grilled corn on the cob. It was all very white-trash-chic and delicious. The race itself was interesting...for the first 50 laps.. I think Dave and I would have enjoyed it more if it'd only been 200 laps instead of 400. And then the group we were with stayed in the parking lot to wait for traffic to die down until 145am! Ugh. We drove back to VA Beach that night and didn't get home till 430am. Oiy.

Dave's sad i'm leaving for two weeks. But he will get to bond with the cat and dog. :) I didn't even go grocery shopping before I left so it should be interesting for dave. But he'll be fine. :)

More from Germany later!

Cutest thing EVER

I saw this on Emily Wrigley's Facebook page. I thought it was the cutest thing ever!



I love all the characterizations! It really made me laugh.

Big News this week is that Dave had his first flight on Wednesday! AND I got to SEE him fly! I just happened to be traveling down Lynnhaven Parkway when I saw a Hornet fly overhead, and then another. I thought it could have been him, and then when i got to talk to Dave, he said there were only 2 hornets in that pattern so it was definitely him! Very exciting. He sent me a text message when he landed, "Landed. So much fun. Jets are awesome."

Dave's other big news is that he got contacts on Thursday. He was pretty excited. Everything was new and crisp. And he didn't have to sit closer to the TV to play Xbox. He was less excited this morning when he had to put them in and it took him 20 minutes. I think the neighbors thought there was some verbal abuse going on at our apartment because Dave was getting... pretty frustrated. Cam also got contacts this week, and decided he's only wearing them to fly in... i think it probably takes him a while to get them in to! Dave was super excited to be able to pick out a cool pair of sunglasses too, non-prescription!