Kite-flying and other distractions

I'm turning into a person who takes a lot of photos but never manages to get them off the camera. I have a bunch of things I feel like I should be sharing here, but I've been distracted with knitting, gardening, cooking, and the bumper crop of black raspberries that has popped up around the house. (Yay!) Food is so good in the summertime. I wish could spend my entire day picking, preparing, eating, sharing.
Since I can't pass a dish of homemade ice cream through the internet you'll have to settle for these photos of kite-flying and our growing boy. He's getting taller by the minute. I'm so grateful for a season of shorts and t-shirts with this long-limbed kiddo. Pant hems always seem to be floating just above his ankles. He's missing a front tooth, with the second one wiggling it's way out any day now. I miss those baby teeth. Adult teeth are so... adult, ya know?








Another thing checked off the summer list!

Go Billmeyers, go!

Three Billmeyers competed in the Verona Triathlon this year. Jim (Grampa) finished his first sprint tri and he did an amazing job. He said he didn't like the run portion, but he was all smiles on his way to the finish line.

Erin is an olympic distance finisher.

Half way through the run she said, "It's HOT!" But she had big smiles at the finish too.


And Nate was smiling the whole time. He competed in the the olympic distance as well.


We cheered for them all and gave high fives at the finish line.

Good work, Billmeyers! You're all awesome!

2014 Summer List

It's the first day of summer, so I suppose it's time I share our 2014 Summer List. We've already started checking things off and we have a lot more fun things planned.


We better get to it. Yay, summer! What's on your summer list?

SIX!

He turned six and we celebrated like crazy.
First up was a family party, with a Walter-made bike obstacle course for the kids. There was also basketball, tree-climbing, a variety of gymnastics, and cupcakes - funfetti with whipped cream frosting.






Next, on his actual birthday, he had his last day of kindergarten and we spent the night at the Hometown Days carnival riding rides and watching fireworks. Birthday fireworks make everything a little more special.


And finally, a party with his pals from school at the Middleton Fire Department. All the kids got to dress like little fire fighters and our friend Patrick gave the kids a great tour. It's really a beautiful facility and it was an awesome day.



I'd say six has started out pretty great. Can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings. Happy birthday, buddy.

The court

The perfect compliment to a new driveway is a new basketball hoop. Sure, you have to dribble around the chicken poop, but that's just a way to build precision dibbling skills (or something like that).

The boys made a "court" with chalk – each zone worth a different amount of points. Nate turned it into a math game, because Nate can turn anything into a math game, and Walter scored 107 points! Although that number changed, and got bigger, every time he told the story. :)



And, speaking of chicken poop, these girls got a little taste of the outdoors today. 4 weeks old now and on to the awkward teenage stage. They go from cute to not-so-cute in a hurry. But those pretty adult feathers aren't too far away.

Spring chickens

These little darlings, plus three more, are the newest additions to our flock. The lighter ones in the photo are Easter Eggers and will likely look a lot like Love (the grayish one, below). The darker two, and the three not shown, are Golden Laced Wyandottes. Such pretty birds! I can't wait to see them develop those beautiful feathers. And it won't take long. The new chicks are now three weeks old, and already about three times their original size. We haven't named them yet and I'd love to hear your suggestions.


Since we're doubling our flock, Nate is making plans to expand the coop a little. I hope these ladies will kindly welcome the new birds into their home.

Backyard experiment

A few weeks ago I was eating lunch with coworkers and I mentioned the black walnut trees in our yard and how annoying they are. They are like poison to half the plants in our garden. The walnuts, leaves, and especially the roots are toxic to plants like tomatoes, peppers, asparagus, eggplant, and rhubarb. Even though we have raised beds, these plants have not done well in our space. I've heard the trees can be sold at a good price for their wood but that still would not solve the root problem.

As I'm complaining, coworker Tom (Hi, Tom!) says, "You can tap those, you know."
WHA???
So I did a little internet research, and, yes! You can tap black walnut trees and make syrup. It's not common. Maples are far more productive and therefore the best syrup-making option. But you can do it! So I got Nate and Walter on board with this plan and we did a little syrup science experiment.

We tapped 4 trees and collected sap for about 2 weeks, which gave us around 3 gallons of sap. Nate rigged up a little cooktop in our fire pit with some stones and a grill grate. We all tended the fire, using up lots of branches and sticks that had fallen over the winter.




It took about 4 hours to boil those 3 gallons of sap down to about 1 cup of syrup. I know what you're thinking. All that for one cup of syrup? Well... yeah! It was a fun experiment and a tasty one too. It's very different from the flavor of maple syrup. A little less sweet, I think, and a little nutty.


We made waffles for dinner after our sap boil. The plates were licked clean. And the black walnut trees are now just a little less annoying.